Photos of the Day

I had a quiet day, so I decided to post a couple of photos from today.

Big Bash

I attempted a swim out to where the whales were cavorting today, but turned back when my murk meter went off the scale. I am convinced the whales intentionally stir up the ocean floor to help hide themselves from predators. Like me.

If I can't see them from in the water, then I will do it from shore. I wandered out to the end of the old lava flow near my house and watched them pass back and forth. A couple of guys came out with several rods each, baited their hooks and slung them out into the water. Moments later an eel was hauled in. While one guy held the pole the other brought out a baseball bat and whacked the eel. Still wriggling on the ground, he bashed it again and again. The bat began to splinter as he continued striking the eel on the rocks until, eventually, the struggle was over. I had to turn away, I could not watch the brutality against the helpless beast. I do lead a sheltered life. Like most Americans I am content to eat a hamburger as long as I can believe that it originated at a meat counter and not from an animal.

Take it Off 2

It felt great to be swimming au naturel again (no wetsuit or fins) in our tropical ocean - the chill is gone. Hooray! Bruce the shark was home today, but his guest was shy and hid in the back of the cave when she saw me coming.

There were lots of turtles out and about, and the whales were once again rather elusive. While on shore I even got to watch a rather large monk seal swim past. This one wasn't curious about the people in the water, in fact it was a bit standoffish. Kind of like me.

I don't know what kind of magic he was using, but Doug managed to drag me out of the house for dinner at one of our favorite Maui restaurants, Cafe O'lei, in Kihei. Yum yum yum, yum yum. And then sunset at Kamaole Beach Park 1 to top off a perfect day. My life keeps getting better and better. Who knows, some day I might even stop complaining.

The Search for Shade

Some people will go to any length for a little shade on a hot spring day. Yes, there is someone on the top of the ladder.

Actually, tree trimming is ridiculously aggressive on Maui due to liability fears about falling coconuts and fronds.

Take It Off

Yet another perfect Maui day today. I got to swim for an hour this morning in clear, warm ocean waters. Yes, warm. Spring is here and it may be time to retire the swimming wet suit for another year.

Kayaking Heaven

We have lived on Maui for almost seventeen years now, yet I have only begun to fully appreciate the ocean over the last couple of years. Before then I had never swum with whales, dolphins, sharks or rays; and now it doesn't seem like a good swim if I don't encounter at least one of these large creatures.

Again, thank you Lynda for letting me use your kayak. I went out in it again today and saw more Humpback Whales. I think today's video is the best of the kayaking series - click HERE or below to watch it.

Teasing the Swimmers

Most of the Maui Pink Cap swimmers were doing the Swim for Your Heart ocean swim race today. Four of us decided to duck the peer pressure and have a fun swim instead. We even swam in a different direction than usual - up north toward my house instead of the usual south course (wow, what rebels). The water was flat, flat, flat and we even discovered a cave entrance in my back yard which I did not know about. We swam with a white tip shark for a while and saw lots of whales in the distance. Each time we would start swimming back to shore, we would see whales out where we just were. We would swim out, and, nothing. We would swim in a bit, whales outside. What teases they are. We even tried drawing them in with our own breaches. Click HERE or below for the video (with two whale breaches from yesterday). On one of our in then out swims we found the remnants of a sunken boat surrounded by at least twelve spotted eagle rays. The most I had ever seen together was six, twelve was exciting!