Maui Day 2

We had the best day yesterday. I wanted to post last night, but I was so tired by the time we climbed in bed for the night that I just didn't have the energy to keep my eyes open. That and I had a stomach ache from dinner. So I just needed to go to sleep.

Well yesterday morning I woke up at 5:00am Maui time. Couldn't sleep. Jesse was sound asleep so I just decided to get up and hide in the bathroom and watch a show on Hulu. My internal clock is so regulated it's hard for me to adjust to new time zones. Maui is 4 hours behind home time. So my body was thinking it was 9:00am and was ready to wake up. Anyway, so I grabbed a yogurt from the fridge and sat on the bathroom floor watching my show until Jesse woke up. I think he's good at sleeping whenever because of his job. He adjusts pretty well because he has to.

Around 7:00 is when he woke up and I was able to go in the bedroom and hang out with him. We talked about our plans that day and then made protein pancakes for breakfast.

We decided that we wanted to go find a local fruit stand to buy some Mangos, Pineapples and Papaya. Then we wanted to go hang out on the beach and go to the Black Rock area where we saw that turtle the night before. Maybe we could see some more?

We found a fruit stand and were surprise how much the fruit was. I know Hawaii is expensive but we just figured that the fruit would be cheaper since they were grown here. This one stand charged  $12 for a large pineapple and $10 for two mangos. Eek. Well we heard the fruit was so good here that we just bought them, They were really amazing. But I think we might try and find another stand that could be cheaper. We heard from a couple that we met with on the beach that there is a outdoor Farmer's Market up the street on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. I think we might go check them out and see if things are cheaper.

After all our running around we were eager to just go play in the ocean and hang out on the beach. We made it back to the condo, packed ourselves a little lunch and headed out there with all our gear.

We got all settled and first thing we got in the water. That first initial time getting in is shockingly cold you can't just ease in, you just gotta go for it.

Jesse asked me if I could hear the whales singing under the water. I told him I couldn't, but it was because I could only hear my breathing through the snorkel. But when I held my breath and listened I could hear the whales as if they were right next to me. It's the coolest thing.

As we slowly made our way around to "Black Rock" we saw a decent amount of fish. Black rock had tons, but that wasn't the cool part. On our way over there we are swimming along with nothing much to see when Jesse all of a sudden points down to the bottom of the ocean where there was this dome shaped metal piece of a ship or something. He had seen some movement and sure enough out comes this sea turtle and it's coming to the surface. RIGHT in front of us. It was almost like he wanted to come say hi.

He came up and just hung out on the surface for a few minutes taking breaths every once and a while. We were able to be right by him and he didn't even care. I was able to get right next to him and look into his eyes and feel his shell and flippers. I had seen a couple of sea turtles in Barbados last year, but they just swam away when you tried to get close to them. But this guys was so friendly and happy to let us check him out. I'm not going to lie, it started to make me emotional. It was just amazing.

Thanks to Jesse and his GoPro camera we were able to record the whole thing and later take these snap shots from the video. I took the camera from him for a moment so I could get him in it with the turtle. Then the turtle took it's last breath and headed back down to the ocean floor. What an unforgettable experience this was.

I really like this picture. Jesse had swam down below me and the turtle to get a look at us from below. It's so cool with the sun above us.

After that we made it to the "Black Rock" area. It was packed with fish and packed with tons of snorkelers. Quite the popular area. People were also jumping off the Black Rock into the ocean. We stuck around for a bit then started to head back to our beach. Mostly because we were hungry (and when I say "we", I really mean "I"). I get hungry instantly so I was on a mission to just get there. All I could think about was my turkey sandwich. I may have left Jesse in my wake just determined to make it.

We ate lunch and then just hung out on the beach for a bit. The sun felt good at first but then it was feeling so hot that we wanted to find some shade. And that's where we met that couple that told us about the Outdoor Farmer's Market. We talked with them for a good while and then headed back to our condo.

We stayed there for an hour or more watching our turtle footage and figuring out how to get the pictures from the video. We were amazed when we started watching the footage that you could hear the whales in the footage. I love it. So now you won't think we are crazy but that we actually heard the whales singing. Once that was done we just grabbed our towels and books and just went out on the beach to read.

About an hour or so of reading (napping) and watching whales from the beach breaching and making lots of splashes on the surface,  we walked down the Beach Walk to find a place to eat. We came across the Cliff Dive Café that had tables right by the ocean. The timing was perfect because we were able to eat dinner as we watched the sun go down.

I guess every night at sunset at this Café, a man runs up the Black Rock and lights the Tiki torches and then dives off. Apparently it's a big deal, but we just happened to be there so we got to watch it. From the picture it's kinda hard to tell that it's a man and not just a cross at the top of the rock. But right before he dove in head first he spread his arms like that.

After a satisfying and very filling dinner (I feel like I can't waist any food we buy because it's pricey) we walked down the beach walk some more and found our way to the Whaler's Village Mall and just browsed around some stores.

We walked past this one store that had some kids clothes. Jesse stopped and grabbed a little Hawaiian girls dress and just mentioned that he really hopes we are having a little girl. I thought it was so sweet. Granted I know and God knows that if we have a 3rd boy we will be just as happy.

As it got later and later we needed to head back to our condo which was about a mile away. I didn't mind because it's good to get a little exercising in.

When we made it back to the condo we showered and just crashed in bed by 9:00pm. But what a day. I loved that we just were able to fly by the seat of our pants today and have such a good time. So far Maui has not disappointed us. I mean how could you complain? It's practically paradise here.