Back from Paradise – Part 3

Have you been following on Part 1 and Part 2 of my trip to paradise?

If not, here’s a quick recap:

Day 1 – Travel to Kahului, Maui
Day 2 – Synchronize internal clocks to Hawaii time.
Day 3 – Luau and Fire Dancing! (Check out the Fire Dancing video)
Day 4 – Hiking to the waterfalls and some jumping off waterfalls
Day 5 – Road to Hana and horseback riding up the mountain
Day 6 – Submarine ride!
Day 7 –  Ziplining (Watch me fly through the air!)

And now we come to the last part of our trip. The final days in paradise.

Day 8:

We had taken it “easy” on ziplining day. Ziplining took all morning but gave us the afternoon to rest up. So I had no qualms with scheduling another trip for early the next morning. Bright eyed and maybe not quite so-bushy-tailed, we arrived at Slip #11 at Lahaina Harbor for our combination Snorkel and whale watching cruise. The morning air was brisk and we kept up a quick pace to get to the snorkel spots before the other boats arrived. There were a couple of times where we had to stop because a whale popped up next to us, which was exciting.

We got to our first stop was just off the coast of Lanai. We geared up with our snorkels and flippers and dove in. The water was a little cold for me but the other folks took to it like fish in water. There were tons of colorful fish swimming around. I felt almost foolish because I kept mumbling (remember, I was wearing a snorkel) and pointing at every fish that I saw. Mumble – point. Mumble – point. Here are two of the fish I mumbled and pointed at:

After about 45 minutes we were called back into the boat and taken to the next stop – Sweetheart Rock. The others jumped back into the water. I was cold and stayed on the boat simply enjoying the view.

On the way back, we floated around the outer edge of a cove and watched spinner dolphins jump out of the water and spin in the air – a sight to see if you’ve never seen spinner dolphins. Then….THEN…on the way back, we had the most awesomest uberest sight ever. A baby humpback whale calf jumping out of the water. This video shows it all. PLEASE WATCH THIS WHOLE VIDEO.

Wasn’t that totally awesome? I will never, ever forget that sight. Truly amazing and a once in a lifetime experience.

Day 9:

After so many days of adventures, we need a recovery day. We headed down to a couple of nearby beaches and hung out on the lava rocks. I did a little bit of tide pool exploration and discovered a sea urchin and a sea slug.

We also saw this…

What the heck is this? The closest thing it resembles is a purple pentapus from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

But seriously. WHAT IS IT? 5 points to anyone who can tell me what that is. A few hours later, we took one last look from the rocks, and head back to the hotel to get ready for the journey home.

We left Hawaii around 11PM that night, arriving back in DC the following evening. Our original connecting flight out of LA got cancelled and we couldn’t get booked until 5 hours after our original flight. Plus the airline lost one of our bags….but that’s another post for another time perhaps.

Overall, I simply put had the best vacation ever. Amazing views, amazing activities, amazing friends, amazing time. The Lord truly blessed me by giving me the opportunity to go and I am so, so thankful.