Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Over the past few days we've hung out with the humuhumu –Hawaii’s state fish– a number of times without even meaning to; although, I guess that would be more weird if we were in Vancouver. Anyway...

Humu Encounter 1
One highlight of our trip thus far was a little trek we took over lava fields to a snorkelling destination aptly named the ‘fish bowl.’ For those familiar with ahihi bay, we parked just past it and then walked along the narrow road until we reached ‘45 feet before telephone pole #18.’ There on the pavement was a faint "x" that someone had marked as the beginning of the one mile trail which would eventually take us to our exotic destination with an abundance of tropical fish.

Humu Encounter 2
As if we didn't see enough fish at the fish bowl, we snorkelled the next day at black rock in Ka'anapali. Since Kihei is pretty relaxed, we didn't realize it was American Spring Break, but we sure discovered this when we attempted to see the underwater sights of black rock. Other than seeing a few humuhumus, the scene was more like an underwater version of Disneyland on a national holiday. I think I saw more humans than fish.

Humu Encounter 3
Last night we dined at Humuhumunukunukuapua'a while enjoying the last bit of sunlight the day could offer. This lovely restaurant sits on stilts (I think) over a 40 000 gallon fish lagoon at the Grand Wailea. The setting alone is beautiful, not the mention the drinks and food.

Surfing
Surfing on actual waves is a lot different from the consistency of the man-made flowrider. I don't think that my highly limited and outdated flowriding skills helped me out much while taking my first surfing lesson in Lahaina. Honestly, the hardest part of surfing is paddling. The getting up part is much easier. Lucas our hilarious Brazilian surf instructor made the lesson –I will never forget the 5 steps to getting up on the board.

PS - today I had my first Jamba Juice of the trip --I wish we had these in Canada.

Cruisin' Maui in the Dodge Stratus

After the Thrifty's car rental agent beside us was freely offering PT Cruiser Convertibles to every person who checked in with her, our agent offered us either a Dodge Stratus or a Magnum. Even though our decision to forego the Magnum may seem odd to some people, our logic took over and we decided that the trusty stratus would be better on gas. Why oh why are we plagued with the logic gene?

We got into Kehei two nights ago and landed at the Maui Vista right across from Charley Young beach. Our 1980’s style 3rd-floor perch has a distant ocean view, simple Hawaiian-style decor and afternoon sun. Because we're facing the west we're lucky enough to see some sunsets.

Last night we missed the sunset at mama's fish house because it was a little to hazy, but we did have a great time celebrating Jeff's b-day in the tropics over mai tais and various fish and steak dishes. Apparently mama’s fish house guarantees that all the fish they serve is caught between 12-17 hours of it landing on your plate, but I can’t confirm this amazing claim. Either way, my Ono done with macadamia nuts, jasmine rice and ratatouille veg was really, really good. Mama's was so busy --even mid-week-- that when we tried to book a party of 6 for this week, the only times they had available were 4:30pm or 8:45pm. We chose 4:30pm.

Right now we're off to Ahihi bay to snorkle with the gang (jeff, karla and ben + nolan, dana and eli). I don't think the little ones will don masks (since they are 3 and 10 months) but I'm sure they'll like seeing their parents wearing silly masks --I know I will. Last time we were at Ahihi, Nathan was upset he didn't see a turtle, yet he did see a small octopus so I didn't feel so bad for him. Maybe he'll see a turtle today?