Today, I adventures, burned, packed, snorkeled, grilled, sailed, and tired myself.
After many days in the sun, I finally got my obligatory sunburn.
5am feels like 5am after a week on Maui time.
We were in the car by 5:45am. 2 packs and a beach bag. We felt late driving past the bird preserve. Parking was not a problem. We were right next to the boat, but I guess Trilogy is an early boat. Maalaea Harbor. We signed a release, dropped our shoes in a bucket and headed aboard Trilogy V, a double hull catamaran.
We settled below deck. I realized pretty quickly that it was a small boat. I also realized there were only about 20ish people. The amount of people was comfortable and intimate. Other boats looked more crowded.
We started with some hot chocolate. Then pineapple juice. We got an orientation- good cheer, comedy, and safety messages from Captain Chris. Our were the only wee ones. Chris has kid charisma. Both my kids fell instantly in love with him. Cinnamon buns were cooking in the background. The girls were getting hungry. The crew walked around serving us the buns and a nice platter of fruit. Both my girls gobbled down the buns (they’re not normally fans).
We started motoring and then transitioned to sailing. We got some whale sitings along then way- tails and breaching. Nothing fancy. It’s the end of their season and I didn’t expect anything.
Laura shouted that we were coming to “our volcano” as we approached Molokini, the half moon crater island next to Lanai.
We parked to the right of the crescent. We tried to be last out. My eye glass popped out while Wayne and the girls were already in the water. Luckily, Brandon was our guide for snorkeling. The girls just hung out on his surl board. I felt nervous as they got farther away and I waited for a replacement mask. Both the girls had PFDs on.
They each had their own personalities in the water. Both have become more comfortable in the ocean over this week. Sara wanted to swim on her own, but never stuck face in the water. Laura held onto a board the whole time, but got lots of underwater looking. Both were pretty comfortable with masks. I’m glad they didn’t futz with them must once we were out. That did a lot for their comfort and protecting them from swallowing salt water.
The coral was 20 ft initially but got closer as we approached shore. Visiability was great. There were a fun assortment of fish. The best was getting back into the boat and seeing the deeper water fish gather by the hull. The second time, I swam thru a school of unicorn fish.
Chips and salsa filled our tummies once we got back. The girls had unlimited coke.
A coulple of folks got tagged by jellyfish. One girl started to fall into mild shock from the pain of the sting. She laid next to us. We headed to shore to sent her to the hospital. Along the way, Wayne watched then crew save 4 self boated snorkelers who got caught in currents away from their boat and were close to drowning from exhaustion. Quite a day.
Turtletown, the second stop, had deeper waters. Brandon set us loose. We got a boogeyboard for each girl which was more successful. Sara kept swimming apart from us. Laura did well except once she slipped off the board and was hard to get back on because she was upset. The winds to swim back to the boat were tiring. Sara spent half the trip on Whitney’s board. Sara’s new hero is Whitney, a young, blond, Maui native who’s a Christian.
In all this, Wayne and I did actually get to snorkel and see lots of fish. No turtles. The kids had lots of fun.
As we got out, we were handed a plate of grilled teriyaki chicken. The girls both turned their nose up at this. Seating was more tight due to the expansion of the galley down below. So I sat and tried not to drop my plate in the ocean while getting snacks in the girls.
This is where I made my mistake. It took me longer to finish my lunch. We started motoring to home. My sunscreening this last time was less precise. I didn’t realize I’d be holding that seat for the next hour with no sunhat since the wind blew it off. I sat at the head of the catamaran with Sara snugged in a towel next to me. The boat hit the choppy water and Sara and I were in te splashzone when we hit a wave wrong. It was a heady feeling being so close the waves with the wind whipping and bouncing up and down at fast speed. Laura slept in the hull.
Back at 1:15pm after another sail. Great, engaging crew.
Back home, Laura asked why the house kept bouncing. I could relate.
We napped while the kids watched a movie. packing seemed overwhelming, but got done. We grilled steaks for dinner. It was our first night without evening tradewinds. Beautiful sunset to end the day.