Getting ready for a new adventure . . .

The promised whale photos

Humpback surfacing just off our starboard side.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?"

"Okay!"

"Bye now."

A Whales Tail

Pacific Ocean Mysteries

Look closely toward the bottom left of the photo to see the Spotted Hawaiian Puffer.

Gail holding a sea treasure (please note that this guy handed it to her--we NEVER disturb the flora or fauna).

Yellow Tang

Another great day on the water. We set sail around 12:30 for the reefs near Coral Gardens and finally got our first taste of snorkeling this trip. Weather hasn't been in our favor, but we got a brief reprieve. Although the clarity of the water wasn't the best, we were still IN THE WATER. Not only that, everywhere we looked we could see whales spouting. It looked like a sea of geysers blowing close up and off in the distance. And then there's the whalesong . . .

Anyway, here are a few sub-par photos of just a few of the fish we saw. I'm getting accustomed to a new camera, so I had some technical difficulties, but in all, there's not much you can do about water quality for picture taking.

I'll post more photos of whales as soon as I can get a stable internet connection!

Whales Everywhere Photos

Thanks to my friend, KO, we have some decent photos of the whales today. Turns out I needed to re-read my camera manual as my photos turned out kinda yucky. Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the males fighting over the female. Apparently it is exceedingly rare for whales to fight over a female. The posture and position and all that, but rarely do battle. But then suddenly, they did. Here are a couple of pics.

Off to bed soon for me. We are snorkeling tomorrow (finally). I haven't yet been in the actual ocean since we've had not-so-great weather (okay, it's been super, but not for snorkeling).

Whales Everywhere

We took the Ultimate Whalewatching raft, which holds 18 people, miles out into the Pacific today. The water was somewhere between turquoise, aqua and heaven. We saw many whales, some of which were only 100 feet from our pontoons. One whale breached. We witnessed a rare sight - two males in competition for a female. One male jumped on the back of another male. Our tour guide said it was rare indeed to witness this. A guide in another boat radioed us with "Holy Cow! Did you see that?" They swam in front of us and behind us, under us, and alongside, raising their heads and raising their tails. It was a blast to watch. It is something that I believe my brother Ken would love to see. Kathy will post pictures.

Then we went to Aloha Mixed Plate for lunch, eating good food outside. I couldn't take my eyes from the ocean in front of us. Once you have seen a whale in the water, you can't stop watching the water for the next one.

Tomorrow is a snorkeling day, although I am staying home and swimming and resting. There is big excitement about snorkeling.

Whales!

OMG! I have never seen so many whales! We're hoping to blog in more
depth tonight plus post pictures. Right now the Internet service for
the entire island is out so we will have to wait for later. We shoulda
planned on 2 weeks. Our vacation is ending too soon!

-------------------------------
Kathy Ringwood
206.953.4608

Sent from my iPhone

Maui Now

We are resting up tonight because tomorrow is our whale watching day. We'll go out on The Ultimate Whale Watch on a Zodiac Raft. I had imagined a large boat myself, nothing from the raft department but everyone assures me that we'll be safe out there in the Pacific Ocean. We all want to see whales breech, just like on the commercial.

I have thoroughly enjoyed our vacation here; it's been cooler than what we had last June. Others prefer coming in June because the snorkeling is better. Everybody will snorkel on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I wish them well. I will be on the shore reading.

We miss our little dog and the kitties and all of our friends. We wish everyone was here. We'd like to get Jay certified as a service dog although I am not sure what service he would provide. If he is a service dog, he can fly with us and he has expressed a desire to take a vacation after his busy year of being an iggy ambassador.

We watched President Obama's address to the nation tonight. He is an elegant man who is hopeful and funny.

We drove around a large part of the island yesterday and caught sight of real estate that we cannot afford and no one else can either. There is the lone home on the hill here and there, then miles in between. The sea was beautiful every inch of the way.

That's it from here. Aloha!