Maui Day 3 (Whale Watching/Snorkeling)

Yesterday morning we got to be lazy. We did go to the Farmer's Market up the road (which was fantastic). The produce was amazing and things were much cheaper than at that fruit stand we went to the day before. So we will definitely be back there to get more produce throughout the week.

 

Pretty much after that we were able to just hang out at the condo until noon when we needed to leave for our Snorkeling and Whale Watching Tour. I was actually happy to get a chance to be lazy, especially since my tummy was still recovery from dinner the night before and I had a headache come on. I was able to get a short half hour nap in before we had to leave. Once I woke up I was feeling much better.

 

We made our way to the Maalaea Harbor to check into the Pride of Maui Tour company. Once everyone checked in we were able to board the yacht and get all settled. I thought that the tour I paid for was going to take us to the Molokini Crater, but when we got on board and they were going over some safety items and such, they mentioned that they weren't. What a bummer, we were looking forward to that part of the trip. I guess I misread what the tour provided. The Molokini tours were in the morning and I had picked the afternoon tour.  

 

They took us to "Turtle Town" or they also called it the Cleaning Station. I guess turtles go to this area where the fish will clean off their shells. And throughout the duration of the 3 hour tour we were whale watching. It's mating and breeding season and there are tons of whales, so it didn't take long before we saw some.  

When we arrived at Turtle Town we anchored could just jump into the water to start snorkeling.  Jesse went first and recorded me jumping in (I had no idea he was doing that). So we got this snap shot of me jumping in (It's a good shot of that baby bump).

 Snorkel Selfie. Haha. The snorkeling in this area was rather disappointing. Truly there weren't very many fish to see. But that's ok. Getting to play in the ocean is just as fun.

But we did get to see 3 or 4 different turtles. So that was cool. I liked getting to see them swimming along with all the fish munching on the turtle's shells. They were a lot more shy than the one we saw on the first day. They hung out at the bottom usually and when they needed to come up for air they would only take one breath and go back down. But I think it has a lot to do with the fact that there were 10 people in a circle watching him, I think it makes them nervous to come up with that many people around them. We were told by the captain and the crew that we were suppose to keep our distance from them so that they could come up for air.

I love this picture of Jesse. He's so good at diving down really deep. Me on the other hand I'm not so good. It just kills my ears. I try to equalize them, but I struggle. I just need to practice some more.

 

After snorkeling for an hour we all got back on the yacht and they had lunch prepared for us. Burgers, Hot dogs and Chicken. It was actually really good. I feel like snorkeling makes me super hungry. So I probably would have enjoyed anything they served us. Haha.

So while we were waiting in the food line they spotted yet another whale. It was really hard to get a good picture. Most of my pictures were too late and all that I captured was the after splash. But I didn't happen to get this calf breaching. We saw so many calves breaching and you could also see their mama's right by them. The calves were so playful. I loved it.

K, then things got really cool. They spotted this whale slapping it's tale over and over again on the surface of the water. I captured this picture and then decided to record it. I got a 3 1/2 minute video of this whale doing this. Granted the video is a little shaky because then boat was trying to get closer to it. I struggled trying to counteract the  bouncing of the boat to keep the camera steady. But it's ok. I got it and that's all that matters.

When you go whale watching you live for that one small moment of breaching. But on this day we saw whale after whale. I can't even count how many we saw. And then to end on that amazing moment of that whale slapping it's tale on the water over and over.... SO COOL! I could watch that video over and over again.