Maui Wowie

Ah, Maui. We went there as a 1st Year Anniversary present to ourselves. We were in love with the shorter flight, the beautiful weather and the variety of underwater climates to explore.

We snorkeled at Black Rock in Ka'anapali and we swam with a sea turtle. Actually, the sea turtle appeared to be attracted to Bruce. I got some GREAT photos of Bruce with this sea turtle who just couldn't get enough of him for about 30 minutes before we decided it was time to get out of the water. Once in a lifetime photos. They were amazing!

We lazed on the beaches in Ka'anapali and Napili Bay (which we thought was Kapalua, but we were wrong.). We voted Napili Bay the best beach because it had a little bit of everything. People watching (especially this little boy who just ran out to the waves and let them bring him in for at least an hour, that's it. He looked so happy. And the elderly people who fell down in the waves). was awesome, there were 2 types of water - big waves and calm. There was a huge area great for seeing tropical fish and the view was amazing. Importantly, there was a lot of shade to go around and the sand was soft. We had one of the most relaxing days here.

We stopped at the Olivine pools. Haha, I say "stopped" like it was on the way to something. No. We had to go way out of our way for these pools and we doubted they were even the right pools (there was no sign but there was a sign saying, Do Not Walk Past this Point. Danger. Which we ignored.). When we climbed down, we were sure we had the right pools but, because it was so overcast at that time, it wasn't as beautiful as in the photos of Frommer's. It was pretty neat to see tropical fish living in relatively tiny pools in the lava rock off the ocean. The pools were big enough to swim in, well maybe one person to swim in. There were sea urchins and anemones and all that good stuff too. We saw a small blow hole that sporadically erupted and we met some nice people who had wanted it to be a beautiful day as well.

We went on a boat snorkeling tour to Molokini Crater and "Turtle Town" where we saw so many amazing tropical fish! We saw an eel out for lunch and those huge spotted shells you see in stores. More amazing photos were to be had in this clear water. Turtle town was a little murky but we saw 4 turtles - all smaller than the one that was trying to cozy up to Bruce, but they were cute nonetheless. Then. It happened. Our underwater camera broke mid picture. Fear and terror struck. When we got back to the condo we couldn't get the pictures to come up. All our amazing, beautiful pictures were gone. I read about recovery software so I couldn't let this get us down. It started to get Bruce down but he pulled himself out of it and we continued to have fun in Maui.

RIP Maui photos. After a professional photographer attempted to find the photos, they were gone. We're mourning the loss of those photos but we still have the memories. We just can't visually share them with you.

We plan to go back to Maui in about 2 years. We would love to go with family and bring a better underwater camera that won't break next time.