Turtles, Turtles Everywhere?

Saturday

Hawaii's time zone is two hours later than Seattle (this week, anyway). This works out pretty well because the days tend to start and end earlier than they would back home (well for us, anyway). This morning we woke with the sun and had a nice leisurely breakfast with a spot of Earl Grey tea. This was accompanied by our personal whale serenade out our window. If you come in February, do get a room with an ocean view, I think it is worth it. And, while I am on the subject, do get a kitchen. It is really nice not to have to eat out for every meal.
After breakfast we quickly packed up our car, including emergency back up food, for our search for the elusive turtle bay. Actually, there is officially no such bay, but we heard that it was kind of at the south end of Makena beach. Now it turns out there are several places to park at Makena, but I thought the one closest to the old church looked best.

Ye Old Church

As we were walking towards the water, a local gave us the 411 and pointed us in the right direction. Quickly I donned my trusty mask, fins and snorkel and headed for the water. Oops, there was quite a big surf, and I had forgotten how to properly get in the water with all of my gear on. After a couple of comical attempts, I managed to plunge myself into the water and right before my eyes was a turtle, swimming for my vouristic pleasure. After snorkeling around for another hour or so, I saw exactly zero more turtles. I did see a lot of cool fish and some other snorkelers, but no turtles.
Okay, it was clearly time to blow this dive and head on down the road or at least to the end of the road which is La Perouse Bay.
La Perouse bay is at the end of the last lava flow that occurred on Maui (around 1790). The bay is a stunning turquoise which is offset by the black lava. A short hike along the beach trail brings you to a couple of pre-lava dwellings. The foundations of these houses are made from the same black lava and are almost indistinguishable from the surrounding lava flow. Farther down the trail is a cool little blow hole that erupts with each wave that rolls into shore.

After tromping around the lava for a bit, we headed back north and stopped by a roadside good stall for some fish tacos covered with a spicy mango sauce. Yummy.

That evening we met Kathy's friend, Teresa, for some sushi in downtown Lahania. The sushi bar was a pretty authentic Japanese and even had a karaoke bar.
And then it was 9 pm, Maui midnight, as Teresa call it, time for a little shut eye, but not before we had a nice view of the Southern Cross and Orion.

Okay, so only one turtle. I should probably re-title this to "Look, A Turtle," but what fun is that?

Andy