Hawaii: Day 4

Today was a day I have looked forward to for quite some time. Why, you may ask? Well, let me tell you! It was Molokini Crater snorkeling day with Trilogy Excursions! (Side note: We learned on the boat that it isn't actually a crater. It is a volcanic atoll. Huh!! Basically, it is a lava fin sticking out of the water.) People started calling it a crater at some point in history and the term stuck, even thought isn't accurate.

Because of the time zone change, having early morning events really didn't phase us, which is a good thing. We knew that we had to be at the marina at 7:45, so we were in the car a few minutes after 7 to ensure we had time to find parking and still had time to get to the boat on time. Driving to the marina was no problem (it was only 15-ish minutes from Kihei), and we were lucky enough to find a parking spot quite quickly. (The prep email said to allow for 15 minutes to find a parking spot, so we were a bit nervous. From the car to the boat proved to be our real navigation challenge. We took a bit of a circuitous route to the slip (aka went the complete wrong way not realizing that the odd slip numbers were on one side of the marina and the even slip numbers were on the other - oops!), but we eventually found exactly where we needed to be... and on time!

After checking in, we boarded the boat with the other passengers and were given our snorkel gear by the boat's crew. Before we departed, the crew went over safety information and provided a quick itinerary for the day. The long and the short of it was we'd go to two snorkel spots at the crater instead of snorkeling at the crater and then relocating to Turtle Town (which had 1 foot of visibility thanks to some recent storms that ran silt from the hills down into the water and completely clouded the water). The crew and captain were actually pretty excited about the change of venue because it is rare to be able to go to the 2nd spot due to weather/water conditions. Win for us! 

It took about 45 minutes to sail from the marina to the crater. The trip to the crater was very easy with smooth water and provided gorgeous views for as far as we could see. I was truly in Heaven - on the water with my family on a sunny day with snorkeling adventures just around the corner. Part of the excursion included a continental breakfast, which included fresh fruit and tasty cinnamon rolls that were apparently made using a 5th generation recipe. (Yes, my amazing family all told me that my cinnamon rolls were better!) 

It was highly recommended that people stow anything they didn't want to accidentally land in the water - including phones, hats, etc. - because the wind and waves could result in lost items. Fortunately, our phones being tucked away didn't leave us without photos for the day. Trilogy had a professional photographer onboard to take pictures of everyone throughout the trip. What really impressed us is how she remembered who went with who. At one point (while we were in the water and wearing our snorkel gear, which greatly obscures a person's appearance), she said "OK, I have photos of your husband and daughter, now let's get some of you and your son." Seriously impressive!! 

The Olsons Four

Greetings from Maui

Before long (ok, about 45 minutes), we found ourselves anchored at Molokini anxiously waiting for our turn to head down the stairs and get in the water. We donned our snorkel gear and hit the water with gusto. First of all, even there the water was pleasantly warm and talk about blue!! We had well over 100' of visibility, which was truly amazing!! Eric and Annika buddied up while Conor and I buddied up as snorkel partners. 

Our first snorkeling site is called Tako Flats and it was a perfect location, especially for the kids who didn't have any snorkeling experience. We spent a good amount of time just tootling around going this way and that to see what we could see.  It would have been incredibly easy to spend all day at the first snorkeling spot and still not see everything there. We saw all sorts of fish (note to self: find an online guide to fish at Molokini), countless sea urchin, coral galore, and an octopus that was tucked away trying to remain inconspicuous. Eric and Annika were very excited to see what they dubbed a rainbow fish while they were in the water. The really interesting part of snorkeling at Molokini was how shallow the water could get. It wasn't like a wall dive that had a sheer face to float along. The underwater terrain very gradually sloped toward deeper water. The slope was so gradual, in fact, that it was barely noticeable. 

The boat's photographer (Lauren with Island Dream Productions) even popped into the water to get photos of us! (This was a really good thing because our knock-off Go Pro died within 4 minutes of its first use - NOT impressed with that! But at least I got the three videos above.) And, let's face it, she could get mind-blowingly good shots with her setup... and did (see below), unlike what we could capture with our little underwater camera option. 

Eventually, Captain Dani sent out the call for everyone to return to the boat so we could move to the second location (Reef's End). She sailed us completely around Molokini so we could see the back side of it. While she did that, one of the crew members taught us more about Molokini, including how the flight pattern of some of the birds (which can have 6-7' wing spans!!!) can signal the upcoming weather (if they're lazily circling in the sky good weather conditions are in store; if they are all hunkered down on the top of Molokini, storms are coming). We also learned how the government used Molokini as target practice during WWII. There are a lot of divots on the back side of Molokini that were caused by mortar hits. 

After our 360 tour of Molokini, we approached our second anchor spot. The crew had to be a little extra careful throwing the anchor rope into the water because there was a group of scuba divers around the anchor. When it was deemed safe, one of the crew members threw the rope to another crew member (already in the water wearing snorkel gear) who tied the boat to the anchor. From what we were told, the conditions to snorkel at Reef's End have to be just right for people to snorkel there and today, they were. We basically drifted along a reef that is the line of delineation between the interior of the crater and the deep blue. (Captain Dani made sure we knew not to go past a specific point because the name of that current is called something akin to "road or current to Tahiti".) The coral and fish were truly gorgeous. We saw a type of coral (cauliflower coral) that was stunningly pink and had beautiful ridges all over. The current was quite a bit stronger on the outer side of the reef; once I realized that, I kept Conor close by and we stuck more to the top ridge of the reef instead of heading too far out in the deep blue. Like at Tako Flats, we saw brilliantly colored fish (some solo and others in schools) and a wide variety of colorful coral. 

We knew it was going to be a shorter snorkel time at Reef's End site than we had at Tako Flats, so after floating along on the reef, Conor and I started to head back to the boat. The current was no joke and seemed to pick up as time passed. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to make it back without any issue. Soon after making that decision, I happened to look back and noticed everyone else seemed to have the same idea and opted to head back, as well. The group of snuba explorers associated with our boat were very slow to return to the boat due to the current; they struggled with it but the crew member with them helped along and they eventually made it back safe and sound.

The crew served us a very good lunch (teriyaki chicken, salad, roll, and rice). Our stay at Molokini wound up being a bit longer than expected because one of the passengers accidentally dropped her iPhone into the water (WHOOPS). One of the crew members attempted to get it (45' feet down) but wasn't able to free dive that far. So, Captain Dani pulled off her outer clothes (she had a swim suit under them) and swam out to retrieve the phone. I made a comment about grabbing a tank, but she said "for 45' down? Nah!" Mightly impressive!! She was greeted with a boisterous round of applause when she climbed back onboard with the phone in hand. (Luckily, the phone was one of the new waterproof iPhones. Talk about lucky!)

Bye, Molokini

Once the phone was back with its owner and Captain Dani dried off a bit, we sailed back to the marina. The wind picked up considerably as we sailed (as it tends to do as the days progress), which allowed the crew to put up the sails. It was rather exciting to be almost directly under the sails as they went up, I have to say. 

When the day began, Captain Dani made a comment about letting people try steering the boat at any time during the day, so Annika asked if she could on our return trip... Captain Annika at your service. She took the helm and even helped with one of the ropes as the crew brought the sails down as we neared the marina. She did a great job! Captain Dani taught her some basics about captaining a boat and Annika was a very willing student. She soaked up everything Dani told her with gusto!

Captain Dani teaching Annika how to captain the boat

Captain Annika at the helm

Working on her rope-pulling skills

We think we found a summer job for her - crewmate on a boat!

To say we were wiped out after our day on the water would be an understatement. We were pinker than we'd hoped (guessing the zinc oxide sunscreen was a bit less effective than we had hoped, but was required to protect the reef). We've been slathering ourselves with aloe ever since returning to the condo and enjoying the cool air provided by the AC!

We picked up dinner from one of the food trucks outside the condo parking lot. Having two food trucks so close is really quite convenient!! We hunkered down in the living room around the coffee table, ate dinner, and watched the movie Shazam on TV. Nice and low key after a fun-filled, tiring day.