Snorkeling, Take Two (and Three)

There was still plenty of day ahead of us after our morning whale watching tour, and plenty to see. It started right there in the park near the Lahaina harbor, where the Lahaina Banyan Tree grows. And grows. And grows.

Planted in 1873, the banyan has become the largest in Hawaii (and one of the largest in the U.S.). It was decorated in Christmas lights, and beneath its canopy, a local art show was underway. We scouted for a painting for our walls back home, but didn't find the perfect thing.

On the whale watching return trip, the boat captain had pointed out a spot "near mile marker 14" that he said had great snorkeling. We decided to check that out next. Our first timid snorkeling excursion on the Big Island had left us confident that this time we could swim out farther and see more, and that's what we tried to do.

I'm not the best at judging distances, and probably worse still in the water. I'm going to guess we were pushing a half a mile out. (Maybe just a third?) We were far enough from shore that a few gathered fishing boats were near enough to be worth keeping half an eye on. We'd seen a few interesting fish, but generally had seen little more than the ocean floor.

...and that alone had become less compelling than it had been at the start. We decided to give it a few more minutes, and then turn back. No sooner had we made that declaration than the good stuff started to happen.

First, we spotted an eel slithering into a small cave below.

Soon after, we found of pair of turtles, trying their best to be inconspicuous -- one so successfully that this was the only one I actually spotted myself:

When we did decide to start back for the shore, we continued to see more interesting sights we'd missed on the way out, like this huge, swirling school of black and silver fish:

This snorkeling excursion had been as exciting as the last one was underwhelming. The only bad moment was when I stepped on fallen thorny branch on the walk back to the car. (Score one for "dive boots and strap-on fins" over "closed heel fins.") We drank to our success by heading up to the Maui Brewing Company for an hour or two. Their brews weren't nearly as good as those we'd enjoyed in Kona, but a handful of tasty guest taps allowed us to try other new things we can't get easily back home.

In fact, we'd enjoyed the snorkeling so much that we decided to try it again when we returned to our hotel. The water behind our hotel wasn't as clear, but the results were almost as good. We went over to a rocky area nearby and quickly found another turtle, larger than the morning pair. Less skittish, too. He came out of his alcove to surface for air, almost chasing us back by swimming toward us. (Sadly, no picture of this guy. The GoPro was out of juice.)

We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, getting a few tips from our server about things to add to our plan for the next day -- the road to Hana.