Humpback whale
In the morning we went snorkeling. We traveled in a double hulled catamaran with 2 floors. (http://www.lahaina.com/actshow.php3?ID=8) They serve a continental breakfast before you dive and BBQ lunch after the second dive. Any time they see whales, the boat always stops so we can see them. I wasn't really impressed with the idea of snorkeling until we actually got to the first dive site.
Humpback whale
First you visit Molokini which is a volcano that never made it all the way out of the water. Only half of the crater rim is above water and that is a bird sanctuary. The floor of the crater is under water and a marine reserve. You cannot land there and you cannot touch anything underwater or feed the fish. It was all absolutely beautiful. There is coral and fish in every possible color imaginable.
Dottie and I did the snorkeling thing with an underwater camera she rented while Michael sat on board watching a monitor of the video one of the crew members made while scuba diving. They bought me a copy of the video too. By this time, I had a much better idea of why Dottie loves snorkeling so much and was having the time of my life.
The second dive site is called Turtle Town. Here green sea turtles congregate on the underwater lava formations to have the local fish clean their shells. I found 2 of them right away resting on one of the lava and coral reefs about 35 feet down. I parked myself above them and got several great pictures of them as they came up for air. I was actually less than 2 feet from them at one time but you can't touch them either. I dived down and got a couple of shots of them at the bottom too. It was truly amazing! Later I found another and swam with him for a bit.
Sea
Turtle
That evening we returned to the resort and attended the Maui Marriott Luau (http://www.marriottluau.com/). They had a pig roast buffet (and a ton of other foods), coconuts husking & palm tree climbing demonstrations, and lots of beautiful people dancing Hula. The dances were quite varied, much to my surprise. They did the very typical grass skirt type dance, the men did a Samoan Slap Dance, a fireknife dance, and several more.
For the final dance of the night, they pull people out of the audience and I was among the 30 or so people chosen to play. Unfortunately Michael wasn't feeling very well so they went back to their room and missed this part. The MC had all the women then all the men dance for the audience. I was chosen out of all of them to stay and dance with one girl and then all the girls of the show circled me doing incredible hip gyrations. Last of all, I was given 2 plumeria flower leis and the evening came to a close. I was just flying!
When I came off the stage, there was a man at the next table over who volunteered to send me pictures of my “performance” if I gave him my address. On April 10th, I got an envelope with the pictures but the return address only said “Aloha!!!” so I can’t even send a Thank-You note. Get this~ the cancellation on the stamp was from Houston, TX!