Maui, day eleven…

21 Sunday Apr 2019

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well, another moving day… we left the lovely garden of the Gingerbread Airbnb and went up the island to Lahaina…

we hadn’t been this way before so it was all new…

I cannot say enough about The Snorkel Store… besides providing our snorkel gear, chairs, umbrella and cooler, they have arranged tours and provided all kinds of answers to the many questions we have had… every single staff person has been personable and helpful… excellent customer service;-)…

they also provide a snorkelling report by email daily which really helps to decide which beach to go to…

I started following them on Instagram a few months ago… @thesnorkelstore

if you are going to visit Maui, you should check them out…

Maui, day nine…

19 Friday Apr 2019

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today is my birthday…

how amazing to be in such a beautiful place to celebrate…

we started out early this morning to get to the paddle board place by seven, as the water is calmer first thing… my daughter had a great time out on the water and I read and beach-combed… she saw many turtles and fish while she was out there…

we sat on the beach and relaxed for a while and then put on our new dresses (in the bathroom at the beach) and headed to The Mill House for lunch… I’ve been following them on Instagram for quite some time so was excited to get to eat there…

another visitor at The Mill House offered to take our picture and had us move here and there until she got just the shot she wanted, lol…

the food was very tasty and besides the restaurant there were gardens, ponds, zip lines, a farm tour and a few shops… we had a lovely wander around enjoying the beauty… especially enjoyed feeding the ducks, little turtles and fish in the ponds…

what a treat…

shortly after we arrived in Maui, I picked up this amethyst as my birthday present… it is gorgeous…

there were lots of birthday messages, some coming at four in the morning as friends weren’t aware of the time difference, lol…

it is lovely to be feted on your special day…

here is a picture that my daughter took of our AirBnB host Eve, who is also an April 18 birthday person… how cool is that;-)…

Maui, day eight…

18 Thursday Apr 2019

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today we swam with the turtles…

before that we watched surfers and paddle boarders as small and large groups went into the water to try their skills…

then we drove to another beach which had been recommended by a few different people who we had asked about snorkelling…

as we were getting into the water people were already pointing out a good sized turtle that was right there…

I tried using the flippers, but they didn’t help much so I ditched them… I was just happy to have another opportunity to snorkel…

and then the turtles started showing up as I was checking out the various fish swimming below me…

I swam along beside one for a few minutes before it headed off in a different direction… at one point I watched two of them swimming together… they are much more graceful in the water…

what a gift;-)…

of course there are no photos as we tend to leave everything in the car when we snorkel… I’ve been told my phone is waterproof but this doesn’t seem like the time to test it, lol…

here is a shot of the beach where this magic happened;-)…

what a wonderFULL time we are having…

Maui, day seven…

17 Wednesday Apr 2019

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do you like my new shirt and sunglasses…

picked up the shirt because we both got sunburned on Saturday, so we’ve been slathered in after-burn lotion since then…

the shirt has sun protection built right in…

we had sunscreen on, and were under an umbrella, but apparently, even then you can burn…

since then we’ve been wearing long sleeves, lol…

tomorrow I think I can wear something a bit more appropriate for the weather, but when we go swimming will wear the shirt…

we are hearing lots about the negative effects of sunscreen, so wearing the shirt in the water is good for the ocean, and us;-)…

Maui, day six…

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

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today was moving day…

we moved from the Maui Beach Hotel to the Gingerbread House Airbnb…

and we went to Ho’okipa Beach Park and saw green sea turtles… we were at this park a few days back but didn’t notice the turtles…

it is easy to think they are rocks on the beach, lol… they are protected and the area around them is blocked off so you can’t get too close, but I got a few good shots with my camera… they move very slowly but leave a serious trail in the sand… watching them move when they are on the beach is quite different from their arrival as they surf onto the sand…

Maui, day five…

15 Monday Apr 2019

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today we went to Ali’i Kula Lavender… we thought it was just a lavender field but it turned out to have a whole lot of flowering plants and trees as well…

had a lovely wander around and took a few photos, lol…

from there we headed over to Maui Chocolate and Coffee Tours at Kupa’a Farms where we had a wonderful visit with Ann and Janet and Gerry… we talked about jewellery and Instagram and then we got to see cacao trees… somebody was very happy…

we saw all kinds of other trees and learned how chocolate is made, followed by a great chocolate tasting…

what a glorious afternoon…

Maui, day four…

13 Saturday Apr 2019

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I went snorkelling today and it felt like the first time ever…

I’ve been in Mexico, but with terrible equipment, and in Alaska, where it was cold and we were dressed in wetsuits…

so today was amazing… and a bit scary at the beginning… I kept feeling as though I was going to stop breathing through my mouth and swallow the ocean…

there were lots of waves and I’d been hoping for calm… took a while, but eventually I got the hang of it…

my daughter hated the mouthpiece but stayed with me and showed me all kinds of fish, large and small; sea urchins; and coral… as always she spots things way before I do…

it was a bit like swimming in a fish tank…

when we came out of the water I could barely walk, lol… it is strenuous work;-)…

we left everything in the car except for our chairs and the snorkelling gear so there weren’t any pictures at the time…

afterwards, we brought the rest of our stuff down… had a picnic lunch and enjoyed people watching for a while under our umbrella… the wind came up and eventually we had to put the umbrella down, at which point we realized how hot it was and that it was time to leave… just before we left I took a few photos of the area…

the above photos are from the entire beach, clockwise from the left to the right…

this is the section where we snorkelled… the fish were all around the rocks…

here we are having some fun just before we left;-)…

what a glorious time…

Maui, day three…

13 Saturday Apr 2019

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we were up early to be ready for our tour bus which took us to Hana… here’s what the information said;

the road to Hana takes you on one of the most breathtaking drives on earth through Maui’s tropical rainforest. A 52 miles excursion with 617 hairpin curves and 56 narrow one-lane bridges.

and we were very happy to be passengers on the drive, lol… there were eight Americans and four Canadians, newlyweds, a couple celebrating their 25th anniversary, a pair of brothers and their wives, a couple from Calgary and us…

yesterday it was all about the rainbows… today it was all about the waterfalls… and there were many of them…

from trickles down the side of the hill to large roaring waterfalls, as well as a few lava tubes… we saw them all…

from lush vegetation, to dry and arid land, to lava fields… from rainstorms to hot sunshine… and ocean alongside much of it…

what a spectacular day…

Maui, day two…

12 Friday Apr 2019

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we went to bed early last night because we were exhausted…

this morning we woke up twenty minutes before the sunrise… so we dressed quickly, and headed out to an iron bench on the property…

it was cool and very windy but we had fun watching ships and outrigger canoes as well as the sun shining on the clouds, lol…

we came in just as it began to rain… and then we saw five rainbows, one after the other, moving across the sky…

we took it gently and went to Whole Foods for snacks and breakfast items over the next week… always fun to see what items are available at the store in different countries… fresh juice and the view…

lunch and off to Paia… we wandered the town, saw surfers and large waves, tried mahi-mahi and had a quiet drive back…

we stopped for some avocado toast and packaged up a bit of salt for the eggs we picked up earlier… reminded both of us of George’s mom always slipping any excess jam or ketchup or whatever into her bag when we took a trip to the east coast many years ago, lol…