Day 5: Molikini Snorkeling and Lahaina Sightseeing

We took a boat trip out to Molikini in the wee hours of the morning (well, 7:00) on the Four Winds II, a large powered catamaran. They were very service oriented and ran a great operation - they provided plenty of food and drinks the entire time and didn't keep us on too tight a leash (figurative!) at the snorkeling site.

Molikini is a crescent-shaped crater that has abundant fish life and coral growing over the lava. We were given two hours of snorkel time. You can see me floating around there taking a picture on the left, and Bill diving down on the right. We have fifty million fish pictures of course, which I know you are dieing to see.

It took an hour each way, and on the way back, the captain took us by a spot


where green sea turtles congregate. We probably saw ten, maybe more and that was neat. I am still waiting to see turtles right next to us while we are in the water snorkeling! All in all an amazing trip. Visibility at the crater is around 150 feet which is much more than we are getting at the cove sites. There was a greater variety of fish at the crater, although I would say there were actually more fish per area amount in the La Perouse cove 3 & 4.

Once back from our snorkeling trip, we had an afternoon to decide what to do, and we decided to continue on up to Lahaina for some sight-seeing of the old town.

Lahaina's Front Street runs along the ocean shore and has tons of little shops of all kinds. Lahaina also has some historic type things - a courthouse, prison, and the Banyon Tree Park.



We walked Front Street up and back, and on this particular day, there were vendors in the Banyon Tree Park, so we looked over their wares. There were some women selling leis and other beaded jewelry, as well as other artisans selling pictures, painting, ceramics, and some selling junk.

I decided to get a lei to commemorate my trip - I chose one made of kukui nuts and shells. I will bring this bit of Aloha spirit back to cold New England and infuse it into our stoic culture. : ) I also got Abby a shell lei, but don't tell her yet - I will surprise her. (Abby if you are reading this, pretend to be surprised when I get home and give you this!)

We then finished off our day back at the b&b, eating our leftover dinners from Cafe o' Lei (yum!) and zipping down to the beach to catch the sunset. We had originally planned to finish that off by going to Cold Stone Creamery, but we couldn't remember where it was!!!!!!!!!!! and so, having forgotten our trusty guidebook, had to go home empty-stomached. This was probably for the best.....