Maui 2016 - Day 6
Today we woke up super early and drove to Lahaina to do a Turtle Dive! After checking in we boarded a snorkel boat and got a VERY light breakfast of banana bread, pineapple, and water as the boat headed towards the Molokini Crater. The boat arrived early and so we got a nice tour around the entire crater. Heading towards the outer rim out guide explained the numerous holes shown all over the large rock. Then explained the military use to use the crater as a target for shooting practice, darn military.
The boat anchored and we began to snorkel! We saw a TON of fish! Having been snorkeling nonstop for the past two weeks, M and I immediately slid down the slide on the boat, into the water and took off… We saw parrot fish, angel fish, Moorish Idol fish, lots of yellow tang fish, sea cucumbers, and Hawaii’s State Fish, the humuhumunukunukuapua’a.
Following some good snorkel time we got back on the boat, drank some hot chocolate, and laid out until we were at our next stop, turtle bay. And we were on a mission. It was M’s dream to swim with a turtle, he wanted to ride a turtle, like holding onto its shell as the turtle surfed the waves and then they would high five fins. The boat was pretty far from the bay and knowing how many tourists were surrounding us we quickly slid off the boat, into the water, and swam towards the trench. It took a while but we saw our turtles, in fact, we saw 2! M did not get to swim with them as expected and getting photos with them was a bit difficult for two reasons. One, the turtles are protected and it is actually illegal to go up and touch them. Two, there were a lot of tourists following the turtle as well. Maybe one day we will return and go out there by ourselves to follow them as we please.
Overall, it was an incredible experience. We got to swim close to giant turtles and see some cool fish. We got back on the boat, had some lunch and were returned to the island. Exhausted, we went back to our hotel and immediately collapsed on the couch. We slept the afternoon away and then enjoyed some pretty amazing BBQ later that afternoon.