Stacy, my former legal assistant, has come to visit, but only for five days. So we are packing a lot in. The theme for the visit is whales, which we can see breaching and splashing from our lanai. but we have to fit in a few other vistas, so on Day One we went first to Haleakala crater, then stopped for a terrific lunch at Haliimaile General Store.
The tiny video here is unsteady with a weird sound-track, both due to the wind.
The theme for the visit is whales, so we left just enough time after to get to Ma'alaea for a whale watching cruise. At the end of the two hour cruise we were delayed about a half hour. A group of male whales was fighting over a female, and they kept approaching the boat. Since they were too close for the captain to start the engines, we were kept captive while they fought. It turns out that while this behavior is not unusual, catching them at it so close to a boat is, so we are lucky to have experienced it.
On Day Two Stacy started with a trip with the Kihei Canoe Club, which I declined since my arm is still bothering me from the Italy episode entitled "Wrestling with Luggage." No whales were spotted up close, but there was a turtle-spotting.
The main activity of the day was we took a ride around west Maui, stopping first in Lahaina for lunch at waterfront Kimo's, then near Honolua Bay where we stopped to check out the surfing.
Day Three we started with snorkeling at Ulua beach just down the street, which was an almost-first for Stacy, and the first time in well over three years for us, since the distractions of home ownership/improvement have kept us from the water. We had a pretty good day fish-wise, and spotted three excellent turtles. It was an excellent snorkel whale-wise -- we could hear the whales singing under the water, a first for all of us.
Snorkeling was followed by lunch and another whale tour -- not nearly as interesting, in part because the wild winds kept the boat from going along the Kihei coast where the whales seemed to be quite active, and instead out of the wind toward Olowalu, where the whales were not so numerous or active. One behavior we saw was "sailing", where the female lefts her tail above the water for an extended period, thought to enable her to nurse her calf.
Day Four -- more snorkeling, this time at the Ahihi preserve. Then Stacy headed back for yet more whale watching, while Tom and I sit listening to the winds whipping through the trees, suspecting that the whale watching will not be the best out on the white-capped water.
Tomorrow -- perhaps more snorkeling, a spate of shopping, packing, and then off to the airport to deliver Stacy to her red-eye home.... And we will be red-eyed, too.
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