Old Lahaina Luau

All of us at the Luau

The leader and drummer

Dancers

More dancers

Tiki Torches at Sunset

Another beautiful sunset

Tiffany and I

Uncovering the pig

Mom

A traditional instrument

Susan & Tiffany Swim with the Dolphins, YES!

The video has finally been posted. See the link on the right hand side of this blog. Tiffany and I are actually in this video swimming along with the dolphins, although this is just a short video we were with them for at least 30 minutes. Awesome experience.

Goat & Lavender Farm plus Winery

Today we had to change condos. We had first reserved one week and then added the second week, but they couldn't work out us staying in the same condo. We are now on the South Villas vs. the North Villas. They are about the same, a bit different view from our Lanai and a different pool and pool bar.

Mom, Tiffany and I went upcountry Maui to check out a Goat and Lavendar Farm, the botanical gardens and the winery. It was beautiful up in the mountains. The Larson's went up North and then to the beach, the kids seem to be having a blast. We ended the day with a dip in the hot tub and then down to the beach to watch an amazing thunderstorm out at sea. A little nightcap at the pool bar finished off the night.

View from the Botanical Gardens

Lovely Lavender farm and gardens

Tedeschi Vineyards tour, they make 2/3 of their wine from pineapple and 1/3 from grapes

Surfing Goat Dairy farm had some yummy and intersting goat cheese run by a couple from Scotland

Golf at Ellair in Kihei

This is a little out of order, but Mom, Tiffany and I went to Kihei to Ellair Golf Club to play a little golf. It was a beautiful course with the ocean on one side and the volcano on the other. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Tiff hadn't played in two years but it was still apparent how she was the LAHS Varsity Women's Golf Team Captain. My game was average as usual, and Mom did really well. Living in Green Valley has paid off.

Another Green Sea Turtle
Tiffany and I on the Four Winds boat

Molokini straight ahead

Today is Friday and we got up early to catch our Four Winds snorkeling boat which went to Molikini Island. Molikini is a small caldera crater. The trip over was super smooth compared to Tuesday's adventure. It was a big boat. Below are some photographs from what we saw. I will admit I did not take these pictures, they were purchased by the ships photographer, but awesome so I couldn't pass it up. Somehow Tiffany and I never got our pictures taken, we sort of took off into the coral as soon as we hit the water in search of eel. Oops.

Pictures from 6/1 and 6/2

Stil no video of our dolphin encounter up, but I did find this link (see side links) that shows a little of what our day was like, minus the whales as they aren't in season right now.

Sea Turtle sighting (this is just so you can see how big it is)



And here is the turtle

A trip up by Iao Valley

Tiff snorkeling, last pic before the camera died.

Shipwreck off the coast of Lanai

Our boat for the day of 6/1/11, a bit of a ride, but super fun.

The good and bad of the day

Ok, the good news is that today was AWESOME!! The bad news is that after our first snorkel my supposed underwater camera quit working so I have no pictures to share my awesome day with you. However, one guy caught it all on video and will hopefully post to YouTube soon.

Met up with our boat at 6:30am this morning and headed out to a very stormy sea. Our boat is an inflatable raft with a metal hull, think Search and Rescue style. The open water channel between Maui and Lanai was rough to say the least. About 12 foot swells and white caps. An exciting ride.

We finally stopped in a bay and got out to snorkel, the water was cool and the fish were beautiful but sparse. Still a fun little swim. We had 18 passengers in our boat and once back on board we took another 30 minute ride along the shore to see big cliffs, interesting caves, saw a few flying fish and a few dolphins.

We stopped in another small bay as there were about 20 or so dolphins swimming along our boat. We stopped for a few minutes to watch and they seemed to be keeping to the cove so we got out and started to swim. For the next 30 minutes we swam side by side, on top of, and surrounded by this small pod of dolphins. The water was about 50 ft deep with a sandy bottom, and the water could not have been more crystal clear. These spinner dolphins just hung out with us, twirled around, jumped and spun out of the water and just played with us. It was AMAZING!!! Once back in the boat we had lunch and watched them some more. We then headed to our third and last snorkel stop to see more fishies, but no more dolphins. I can't wait to see the footage and share it with you all.

Tuesday 5/31/01

It's Tuesday morning. I finally got a good night sleep, the surfing seemed to make us super tired yesterday. Woke up and took another nice jog back up to the golf course and then met up with Mom, Tiff, and Lori for some White Tiger Yoga and Tai Chi out on the grass above the beach. What a super great way to start off the morning. The kids did a hula hoop and balloon toss contest over at the Kids Club and then Mom is taking them to make flower Lei's. After that we are going to go spend the afternoon in Lahaina. Tomorrow is the all day "Extreme Raft Dolphin Adventure" that Tiffany and I are going on so i'll report back then, hopefully with some awesome pics of dolphins, sea turtles and fish. It will be a good test for the waterproof camera. I hope you all are well.

Tiff brining her best form

Last ride of the day into the beach (yes that is me)

Sunset beach
A very cool bird down in the garden (about 16 inches tall)

Tiff wearing some beach wear

The first day took an interesting turn as we split up after shopping, the Larsons (sister and fam) went to look at some land on a coffee plantation and Mom, Tiff and I took off on a walk around the area. In both instances we heard that there was a private party going on over at the golf course and the word was that the band Santana was playing. We were told we could go over and sit down at the beach and hear them play. So we grilled some yellow tail tuna and some butter fish with a marinade that John (brother-in-law) bought at the fish market. It was awesome. After dinner we took off to the golf course and were able to sit right behind the stage and there was a screen that showed us the front. It was an excellent FREE Santana concert!!

Today is Monday, I got up and had a nice jog out to the golf course and then came back to get ready for surf lessons. Tiffany, John and I took a 2 hour lesson and for the most part it went pretty well. We certainly got our workout paddling back out to surf, all of us made it up (at least for a little while). Very fun stuff.

I think the rest of the days plans are to lay around the pool, have fish tacos (leftover fish) for dinner and hit a polynesian dance later tonight.

Well after 15 hours, and a roller coaster landing we made it to Maui. We arrived at dinner time (although it was 10pm New Mexico time) and so after checking into the resort we walked around and had dinner and then were off to bed. Today is Sunday, Tiff and I got up and went for a leisurely jog, met up with everyone for breakfast by the pool, played at the beach and then spent two awesome hours at the spa in the sauna, having a pedicure and laying about in the luxurious lanai.

Today is about getting acquainted and so we are headed to Lahaina to look about and get some groceries. It's sooo nice to just relax a bit. Tomorrow we have surfing lessons, which should be interesting to say the least. I hope everyone is enjoying their memorial day weekend.

Aloha!!

My family and I will be spending two weeks on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii. We have some planned fun, as well as time to relax and enjoy. We all hope to come home refreshed and rejuvenated from this well earned vacation.