Honu Swim

I'm feeling a little under the weather, but it's too hot to sit around the house, so I took Bryan's suggestion and went to the beach.

I ran into some friends on the beach, so I camped my gear by theirs and headed right into the water for a swim.

The moment I kicked a few strokes out from the beach, I was greeted by this very friendly, very curious honu or sea turtle.

He swam under and around me, then circled away before swooping back towards me.  He seemed to be especially interested in my toes.

{charging towards my toes!}

{shaka with honu}

{there were a few instances that he got so close, I had to quickly back peddle so we didn't collide--it's a big no-no to touch sea turtles, so I tried to give him his space}

{close enough to touch--but don't worry! I didn't!}

{swimming over a fishing line}

{cruising away}

{a short, wobbly video of swimming with my curious honu friend}

After he swam away, I took off to explore the reef a little.

After my snorkel, I got out to sunbathe and chat with my friends.  After a bit, we all got back in and my turtle friend was still hanging out.  I swam with him for a bit.

Note to self: sick days are always better when spent under the water.

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Hana on Maui: Less Troubles, More Fun

Bryan and I took Hana to Duke's for lunch.  We had a gorgeous view of the ocean from our table.

We got mean grinds (like this mahi mahi sandwich on a Taro bun with avocado and shoestring french fries).

Hana is working on her goal to eat sushi EVERY. DAY. with this yummy sashimi platter.

After lunch, we went north to Kapalua Bay--my favorite swimming and snorkel spot, but the parking was impossible.  We headed further north to Flemming's Beach where Hana and I attempted to the shore break and tumbled along the beach underwater.

We dried out on the sand and read, then headed back to Kapalua Bay.  By then, the parking lot and the beach had cleared out quite a bit, so we were to squeeze in.

Hana and I snorkeled and swam with a giant sea turtle before cruising the rest of the reef looking at brightly colored fish.

{Hana and I at Kapalua Bay}

{look at how gorgeous and clear that water is!}

We soaked in the rays after our snorkel sesh before heading home to relax before our epic sushi feast at Kobe's.

Hana treated Bryan and me to dinner!

After sushi, we went to Cool Cat Cafe to watch our friend Will play music.

Hana got an epic milkshake: chocolate ice cream with Reese's peanut butter cups with peanut butter syrup.

I wanted to take a picture to document the moment, and this is what we got:

{Bryan giving the thumbs up but also ordering a drink from Cameron, our favorite Cool Cat's bartender}

{Bryan boldly staring down the camera, but Hana and I are totally losing it}

{can't control the laughter!}

{Will playing tunes}

We ended moving from the bar to a table right in front of Will.  We joined our friends Will and Scotty, Dusty and Tina and watched Will jam.

When we got home, our housemate Jess told us she left us a treat in our fridge:

{yummy grub from her gig on the sailboat}

Jess currently has earned the title of Best Housemate of the Month.  Man, I love our house.  We have the best neighbors ever.

Hana is completely wiped out, and is in bed (at 10 pm Maui time).  She's been such a trooper, and we're getting her ready for tomorrow, which will be a late night.  We're going to do dinner at Kimo's and hang out to watch TOLO perform 9 pm to 11 pm.  We'll see how long we make it!

Our daytime hours will be consumed with exploring/shopping Paia and then making a stop at the aquarium on the way home.

Expect many more photos soon!

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Under the Sea at Airport Beach

Bryan and I had an epic day of errands and shopping on the Other Side on Wednesday, so we decided to take yesterday off to really relax.

It had been a while since Bryan had been to the beach, so we grabbed our gear and camped out at Airport Beach.

My main goal was to fix my terrible tan lines from last week's sun burn, but I also spent a good amount of time in the water with my mask and fins and my underwater camera.

Here are a few snaps from the day:

I saw this sign tucked in among some coral.  Not sure what it means.  I've done a little bit of google researching, but was unable to dig up anything relevant.

The highlight of my swim yesterday was listening to the whales singing every time my head was under the water.  At one point, the song had intensified in volume so much that I knew the whales must be close by.  I surfaced, and as I did, I saw a whale breach.  The whale was less than a football field away from me, and it breached over and over again.  It was absolutely incredible.

After my big swim, I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach whale watching from the shore.  The action was great yesterday.  I'm hoping to get on an afternoon whale watch sometime soon to get in a little bit closer!

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