Day 3: Snorkeling, Food Trucks and Sunsets

We started a little early today but since we aren’t adjusted to Hawaii time, a 6am wake up time is still doable time for us. We have a day of snorkeling at Molokini Crater and Turtle Arches planned, so we woke without too much grumbling. We are headed to Wailuka, about a 30 minute drive down the coast of Maui. The boys were amazed by the different regions that seemed to be squeezed into Maui – Mountains (from dormant volcanos) on one side of the street, gorgeous ocean views on the other side with tree lined streets in the middle

We arrived at the Pac Whale Foundation, checked in and were ready to go when our crew gathered for briefing and loaded the boat. We chose this tour because everyone on board has a college degree, masters or PhD in Marine Biology so there was a little education sprinkled into the trip 🤣As we headed out, the waves were not terrible and it was really cool to see these land masses just rising out of the ocean. We also learned that Hawaii is made up of over 137 islands all scattered along the Pacific in a chain. I suppose there is a minimum size the land must reach to be qualified as an island? So far, my seasick guys were doing okay. We had breakfast on the boat of fruit and pasteries along with juice and coffee, so we were looking good…

We arrived at Molokini Crater and the boys were off and snorkeling. We tried a few pictures with our underwater camera in the pouch but they were blurry at best… you do get to see one good picture of Mike and a great picture of someone’s arm 🤣 I was a little disappointed and Leo told me we would just laugh and remember that we tried ♥️

I also realized that I did not get one picture of us all together… I have individuals so guess we can make a collage 🤦🏻‍♀️

The snorkeling was amazing. The water was so clear you see 100 feet to the bottom. All different colors of schools of fish and coral reef. I don’t think even the best camera would be able to capture how beatiful it was. As we got back on the boat and headed to the second snorkle location, my seasick guys were starting to feel the ocean a little more than they wanted. We had hoped that being in constant site of land would stave off any motion sickness, but that wasn’t the case. Thankfully, when they were in the water, it was okay. So they pressed on and made it through.

One of the funniest parts of the day was meeting the Kerrigan Family. Initially when we sat down, another family sat nearby and of course, we started talking… turns out they were from NC. And then turned out they were from Greensboro and then turns out that we have SO MANY mutual friends! It was crazy! We had a great time getting to know them and even exchanged info to keep in touch.

Mary and I snapped a picture to send to a mutual friend – such a small world!

The captain took off part of railing on the top of boat to let folks jump off and you know two boys who were absolutely not going to miss this!

We had lunch on the boat, but Mike and Leo decided that would be a bad idea for them, so once we were back on dry land, we decided to find some food trucks. Hawaii is famous for its food trucks, so off we went… found them! Barbecue, Traditional Hawaiian, Burgers, Mexican, you name it and it was in the rectangle of food trucks all circled up with covered picnic tables in the center.

We explored Kihei a bit, and then decided to head back to the hotel and just relax for the rest of the day. We learned 2 things today, seasickness will get 2 of my guys no matter if land is in sight, and 2 hours of snorkeling is exhausting!