Celebrating in Hawaii

The end of January seemed like a good time to head for warmer climate. We had the excuse of celebrating our 40th Anniversary as well as Grace's birthday. It is convenient that there are direct flights from Portland to Maui, our favorite island in Hawaii. This time we stayed right on Napili Bay with the beach right off the deck. (The roaring surf is really loud at night but beautiful during the day.)

Melanie, my longtime friend and former teaching partner went with us. She helped us get motivated and organized to do things as she isn't used to just sitting around. This was great. We were in the water every day. Both Napili Bay and the next one north, Kapalua, have good snorkeling off the beach.

One day Melanie and I used the Boogie Boards provided by our condos to "play" in the waves. The surf was pretty challenging both that day and another when we were just going to bob around and ended up involuntarily body surfing, or really being rolled in the surf. It was all fun, however.

One evening we were able to visit with Flip Nicklin and his wife Linda. He is a National Geographic photographer, specializing in whales for many years. We have traveled with him to Antarctica and Baja. It was great to get an early peak at his latest book. It will be our pleasure to have him aboard the NG Sea Lion when we are on a photo expedition in Alaska in the fall.

One morning we got up early and went out on a Zodia to whale watch. The humpback whales are now in Hawaiian waters to give birth and breed before heading back to Alaska about April. We were able get close enough to enjoy a number of whales breech and do other visible whale activities. It was great fun.

The Maui Ocean Center was interesting and they had some very nice displays and large tanks of fish and coral. While down at Ma'alaea Harbor we booked a snorkel trip on the Quicksilver catamaran out to the small island of Molokini and to "Turtle Town." Sunday was a good day to go and we had smooth sailing and good snorkeling. We had to leave Napili at 6:00 am to get there for the 7:15 check-in time. They served a continental breakfast on the way out to Molokini and after the second snorkel, with the turtles, they served a nice lunch. We went all the way around to the south end of Maui before returning the harbor at 1:30 pm.

The reason for the week in Maui was our 40th Anniversary and we indulged ourselves with dinner out at some nice restaurants every night. Two nights the three of us shared a Hula Pie made of macadamia nut ice cream and lots of chocolate.

Alas, the week ended and we came home where is is colder.


That's it for now. Grace and Paul