The First Day in Maui 2014

*Warning* The vacation blogging will not be in order.  It also may not all be posted within the week depending on if Tyler can go through all the pictures on his camera, edit, then send them to me in a reasonable amount of time.  Oh and then there are underwater pictures from Richard I need to get too...So it may not be terribly organized.  I will try to keep the double, triple, etc shots to a minimum but sometimes it is hard to choose favorites.  Also, you may get very jealous.

We (Tyler and I) flew/were in airports all day long (9am Utah time to 2:30am Utah time/10:30 pm Maui time) so it was a small miracle that we still got up early the next day (By the way, I don't recommend doing it that way).  We crossed the street and took a little beach walk with Mom.  Mom was so wonderful to talk to, she is such an upbeat, excited person.  Not that there is much to complain about in Hawaii when you live across the street from the beach but it is more than that.  Every new thing that we saw was exciting-a new discovery that needed to be shared and cherished, not even being knocked down by the waves could dampen her spirit; her laughter filled the beach.  We walked along picking up coral and shells.  I tried to pick up a shell on a rock but it spit on me!  Abby told me that the creature in the shell is called an "opihi" and it clings to the rocks which is why Hawaiians call children who cling to their mothers ophihis.

The big event for this day was snorkeling off of a large catamaran, the Alii Nui.  We tried to take as many pictures of the beginning of the trip as possible because Mom and I know we tend to get motion sick and didn't know how the ride would end up.

This is our view in the harbor

Isn't my dad super handsome?  He looks right at home on a boat.  My husband looks right at home as well, too bad they married us motion sick pansies eh?  Actually, everyone was happy and feeling well as we drove down to the snorkeling spot.  Because ginger is supposed to calm a motion sick tummy I asked the bar if they had ginger ale.  They made the yummiest ginger ale with real crushed ginger.  So yummy.  So I was sucking them down with gusto hoping that they worked their magic.  

;

My parents are so darn cute.  Don'cha just love 'em?

Abby and Richard, like always, are so cute I could die.  

When we dropped anchor things began to get a little yucky.  We all had to listen to the rules and instructions and then most of us had to stay because it was our first time/long time since last time snorkeling.  The whole time I was holding back vomit and desperate to get off the ship.  Once in the water, the cold water brought me back for a bit.  The water was deep.  I am terrible with guessing measurements but I would say at least 30 feet deep, which means unless you can dive down, you can't see much up close.  The reef was beautiful and clean, the water was amazingly clear, and there were schools of fish swimming.  The crew saw that Richard was a good swimmer so when he had to go back to switch snorkel gear they asked if he wanted to take the short cut and let him dive off the boat which was pretty cool.  Richard and Tyler were diving down and really getting a good look at the sea life.  However, mom and I were sick again from the waves.  Really sick.  We both went back on the boat and sat in the back puking our guts out.  Here we are nauseous and repeatedly projectile vomiting, but as we chummed the water with ginger ale goodness, we created a feeding frenzy.  We probably got the best view of the fish out of every one there.  It was an odd sensation to feel so sick and see such an amazing sight simultaneously.  On our way back, Abby got to drive the boat which was pretty cool.  And Mom and I began to feel better with the boat moving and empty tummies.   It was a good experience but now that I have had many snorkeling adventures I think I maybe wouldn't do this one again only because of how sick I got.  If you have a stronger stomach, there is free food and drinks and it is a good time.  The crew was amazing and fun and they really do try to give you the best experience.