September 10th, 2001

Maui, Hawaii - Day 4

Some High Resolution Pictures Now Available for the Island of Maui!!!!

Tour Operator: Maui Dive Shop (http://www.mauidiveshop.com/)

Boat Harbor: Kihei Boat Ramp, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii.

Boat: Kai Anela

Checkin 6:15 AM, Departure 7:00AM

30 Minute Boat Ride

Sites: LaPerouse Bay and by a black sand beach on the south west coast.

Today, we went snorkeling with the Maui dive shop.  Unfortunately, the ocean swell was very high and visibility was very poor.  We first went to LaPerouse Bay on the south side of Maui, but the visibility was only about 10-15ft.  I couldn't really take any pictures here but what we could see was pretty neat.

Next the dive boat took off to another site that was somewhat protected from the ocean surge and swell.  We did see a turtle there 

On the way back, we did see the coolest thing of the day....  The captain of the boat spotted some spinner dolphins out in the water about 100 yds off the boat.  He immediately stopped the boat and incredibly, the dolphins came right up to the back of the boat...

There were six Spinner dolphins in all in this pod.  If you look very carefully above you can see them all.

They played around the boat for about 20 minutes or so until the captain fired up the boat and started to move.  They immediately swam to the front of the boat and started "racing" the boat by swimming at speed under the bow of the boat.  Next they were behind the boat playing in and jumping over the wake of the boat.  It was a VERY neat experience for us....

After this we checked out some of the local shops and then prepared for a casual dinner cruise aboard the Maui Princess.  

We pulled out from Lahaina Harbor and saw some nice coastline.  

After a delicious dinner of steak and other things, we saw a nice "postcard sunset."

After we got off the boat, we walked around Front Street in Lahaina.  It was a street packed with little shops, some native to the area.  Laura had a lot of fun walking around here.  After that is was late and the Dramamine we took for the boat was really kicking in....  time for bed......