Hawaii 2010 - "Turtles and sharks and whales - oh, my!"

Our second full day in Maui was packed! I'd made reservations for us all to go on a humpback whale watch tour that afternoon. The harbor was very close to the Maui Ocean Center, so we started our day with a visit to the aquarium. It was small but very nice. A marine naturalist was standing near one of the main aquariums to answer question and talk about the different fish, particularly the ones that are native to Hawaii. Claire really enjoyed watching everything swim around and seemed to wish she could get in the tank herself.

All of us also really enjoyed watching the turtles and the hammerhead shark (in separate outdoor tanks!). I think my favorite part was watching the large stingrays swim over us in the acrylic tunnel.

Claire was not interested in taking a family photo that day - oh well!

We grabbed a quick lunch before heading over to the harbor to meet our boat with Trilogy. The person who was supposed to meet us was running late, but we were able to figure out where to go after a call to the company. I was a little stressed about the mix-up, but all was forgiven once we got on the water and saw our first whale flume off in the distance.

This tour was one of the activities I was most excited about, and it did not disappoint! The whales come to Hawaii from Alaska from about December - March to mate and give birth. After our last trip to Hawaii, Robert and I both decided that we wanted to come during the whale season. You can see the whales off the coast (and saw them frequently during the remainder of our trip), but your best chance to get up close and personal is through a tour.

Federal law prohibits boats from approaching whales within 100 yards, but the whales are so massive that you still get a look from that distance (the females average 45 feet in length and weigh 80,000 pounds, and a newborn calf weights 1.5 tons - crazy!). However, if a whale approaches a boat, the captain has to cut the engines until the whale is further away than 100 yards again...

...we totally lucked out! I was excited enough about the whales we were seeing from a distance:

But then a mama and baby started approaching our boat, and we were treated to a rare show as they, and then later the escort male, came close enough to almost touch. At the beginning of the "show," the captain told us that he usually only saw something like this once a season, but they ended up hanging out close by for such a long period of time that he later said it was the best sighting he'd had in his almost 30 years of doing tour. We were thrilled! We have tons of photos, and these were my favorites:

They played for a long while before saying their goodbyes.

I was really happy I'd worn my Keens (which have excellent grip) as I scurried all over that boat with my camera. It was so amazing to see them so closely. We're basically ruined for any future whale tour - I can't imagine being that fortunate again. Claire slept through most of it - she just had to look at the photos afterwards.

After our exciting tour, it was shave ice time (of course!). We found a place in Wailuku recommended by some of the locals - Tom's Mini Mart. It was worth the search. Claire was a big fan and kept showing us where to put it (in her mouth).

That night Robert and I planned to go to dinner at Roy's and were disappointed to learn that it had recently closed. We'd gotten several recommendations for a sushi restaurant nearby, Sansei. I'd eaten at another location on a previous trip to Maui and enjoyed it, so we gave it a shot and were very pleased. We ordered a couple of rolls, including their signature panko crusted ahi roll, and enjoyed it so much that we ordered another. Even though we didn't get our first choice of restaurants, it was still nice to end the day with a quiet dinner together.