Day 5 in Hawaii - Maui

We had an early start. All of us had to report at the harbor at 7.00 am for our snorkeling cruise scheduled at 7.30.  Our boat was called QuikSilver. We had breatfast on board and their plain chocolate cake was YUMMY!! Few minutes into our cruise we spotted a whale flip-flopping in water far away. The whale season just began in Hawaii and we were very lucky to spot oneJ

Our first stop was at Turtle Town which we assumed was flooded with turtles (otherwise why would they name it so). Anyways, we wanted to be the last ones to get off the boat as we didn’t want to cause any obstruction to other passengers with our new-to-snorkeling skills. Dimpu started out first and then I followed. She was off the boat but initially I couldn’t let go of the boat. We were in middle of the ocean with a flotation aid and a boogey board!! Was that going to be enough??? After one of the crew members assured me that I would never drown with my flotation aid, I mustered up the courage to let go.

When I put my face into water, I ended up swallowing some salt water. This kept happening for some 15 minutes when I realized that I had to block my snorkel with my mouth to let in any water. Once I figured that out, there was no looking back!! I drifted away on my own and the sights I beheld at the bottom of the ocean 20-35 feet below were simply amazing. Once my head was in water, I felt a peaceful silence and was part of a whole new world that I knew existed, but had never experienced. I saw a lazy turtle at the bottom of the ocean with its head out but it was in no mood to show off. That was the only one I could spot while I was snorkeling. I did see some amazing fish and corals and before I knew it was time to go to our next stop.

Now that I swam in the ocean once (albeit with flotation aid), I was all excited and raring for our next snorkel stop; the Molokini crater, which is supposed to be one of  the best snorkeling spots in Hawaii. This time I was the first one to get off our boat and the last to return J. Oh Ocean, I love thee!! Now this place had some wonderful variety of fish and living corals. It was once again so peaceful and beautiful down there, I could just spend hours looking. Damn, why didn’t I ever do this before? And more damn, why didn’t I ever learn how to swim? (well, I had gone for a 2 week swim class 7-8 years ago, but never actually learnt how to swim L, so that doesn’t count :P ). I promised myself that I would seriously learn swimming once I get back to San Jose. Back in Kihei, we watched sunset by the beach and had our thanksgiving dinner at a nice Mexican place and that was it for the day..