We had an early start – and a long day but we made the entire narrow part of the loop before dark, so that was a success. What was NOT a success was that, after promising the kids we would all swim in the 7 sacred pools at the end – we found out that it was no longer allowed. Covid? Insurance liability? Dont know, but it would have been nice to have known. Davids photos show some of the beauty. We found a great lunch on the way – food trucks! Ribs, fish and chips of blue marlin, coconut shrimp, and grilled chicken. We stopped at the waterfalls and even hiked maybe 20 mins around the Kenae Arboretum before it started raining. Actually we were very fortunate overall with the rain. That is a crazy lush side of the island.
We were late home but everyone pitched in to create a wonderful dinner of grilled steak, ears of corn, and sauteed veggies.
Heather treated us all to the submarine Atlantis. We went out about 20 mins on small boat, and then watched the white sub surface dramatically. It
was quite interesting. We saw the sunken ship, Carthaginian, which has an artificial reed; an octopus!!!; 2 little and 1 large reef sharks; and a very rare Hawaiian stingray. Plus 2 rare cinderblock fish – just kidding – evidently these are part of the underwater GPS. We were submerged about 45 mins. We wandered Lahaina a bit, buying a few shave ices, returned to the condo for lunch, and then drove about an hour to Kihei area to snorkel. Unfortunately it was terribly full of sediment. We did see a number of whales nearby, and one turtle while we snorkeled. We picked up food at a nearby takeaway, L & L barbecue.
Friday – yikes, our last day. Even though the weather was threatening we decided to do our last snorkeling in the morning, which is generally less wind. So off we went to the Black Rock again, and were just about the first 10 people there at 9:30 ish. (funny sign, a stores hours: open 8:30 amish, close 5:00 pmish) Island time. But might also be how the Amish work! The visibility was poor until we got out the end of the rock, and then it
was wonderful. We saw turtles, many fish, even a tiny eel about 12 long. David and I were soon joined by Heather and Megan. WE COULD HEAR THE WHALES!!!!! It really was the best possible snorkeling. Andrew even came out, although Uncle Dario very sweetly had rented him a boogie board to try. Another turtle was spotted and chased a bit – very slowly. It looked like rain so we headed off the beach, grabbed Maui Tacos for lunch, and drove north in the rain to see the Kapalua golf course. Hacketts went off to shop at Hilo Hatties and also bought some lovely Maui on Metal. We the New Years right across the street as Java Jazz – excellent dishes all round. Quick time for lighting some sparklers off the tiki torches and some final chatting.
