Day 8: Snorkel time

Much of today was spent wearing mask and fins, so there are fewer pictures. (Thought about looking for a disposable underwater camera... but never got around to it.)

We arose early to have buffet breakfast for the 4th day in a row. Have I mentioned how great the buffet is? It's pretty great. It's $27.95 great, if you're paying for it. (Which we're not.)

The nice man at the dive shop was giving out maps, and we were delighted to discover that Black Rock Point, one of west Maui's best dive points, is only a mile or two up the road. This called for a quick drive up to the other end of hotel row, to park illegally in the Sheraton guest lot. We hoofed it through the edge of the 13th hole (I'm kidding. I don't know what hole it was) and down to a small beach. It was an odd feeling to just walk out into the ocean holding diving fins.

As it turns out, we started on the wrong side of Black Rock Point. So, we swam out and around to the correct side, which is at the far end of the beach that runs the length of hotel row. The coral reef there is incredible. It's like looking into an exotic fish tank, except the fish are within an arm's length, and often swim right by your face.

We landed on the beach and took a break for a few minutes, and then retraced our steps, so to speak, back around the point to our point of origin. Unfortunately, the current was against us on the return trip, and it was a very long and difficult process to get back to our shirts/towels/sunglasses.

Once we landed, I discovered that my attempt to keep the car key and alarm fob dry, using an advanced, water-proof container commonly known as a zip-lock bag, had completely failed.

Luckily, the key fob still worked, so we were able to drive about an hour south, along the "South Maui" coast, as far as the road would take us. Once there, we parked in a pile of lava rocks, basically, and walked down to the shore.


The cove was very blue and inviting, but the good coral reefs were around the corner and up the coast a bit, and it was very windy. I recalled that some of the literature we had received considered this area to be in the intermediate category for snorkeling, and it was very choppy. We took some pictures and retreated back up the coast a little bit.


On the way, we passed back through a large lava-rock field. It looks like freshly-turned soil, but is indeed jagged, unforgiving lava.

Just up the road a few miles, we stopped at Ahihi Bay, which is in the middle of a large wildlife refuge (also includes the lava fields). There were more kinds of tropical fish in this one bay than I've ever seen, even if you combine every aquarium and pet store I've ever been to. Some of them are so brightly-colored, you can see them from the surface.

Just past that, is another amazing chunk of coast, which is overlooked by a mansion owned by some rich jerk.

In the distance, we could see the Molokini marine refuge, which is a partially-submerged cinder cone a few miles off the coast. Apparently, it is some of the best diving/snorkeling in the world, but it's only accessible by boat, which would mean a most-of-the-day excur$$$ion.


There really isn't much to see in South Maui except beaches, so we headed through the resort area of the town, on the coast, and headed back up towards Lahaina. The lifted pickup is still King of the road, even down here in rich-white-people territory.


On the drive back up, Sabrina got a good shot (standing, out the sunroof, while we sat in traffic) of the wind farm on the edge of the dead volcano. None of them seemed to be turning...


Halfway to Lahaina, around mile marker 14, we stopped to see the coral reefs at Olowalu. As it turns out, there're almost 50 acres of coral reef just off the coast here, in a location that we had driven by 4 or 5 times in the last few days. Unless you took note of the people with snorkels and masks (or had a special map), you might never know that this was there, merely 10 yards off shore.

The sheer volume of coral was incredible. It just kept going and going and going, seemingly forever.

After about an hour there, we returned the snorkel equipment on the way back to the hotel, just in time to sit between the pool and the ocean, to read and watch the sunset.


Pics start at #3 onpage 95.