Feeding Birdies and Watching Dolphins. Oh, and a Flying Fish.

In between family stuff (like, you know, my cousin's wedding) and just generally relaxing, we've been of course exploring the island. On the second or third day, whatever day it was, I hopped on a boat with Eddie and my mom, and along with 30-some-odd strangers, we embarked on a voyage of whale-watching and general awesomeness.

Now, the humpback migration through this area winds down around early/mid May. And as you've probably gathered, it's...May.  So instead of being knee-deep in whales, the area between Lanai, Maui, and Molokai has about 12 whales left. (The naturalist made sure to rub it in by saying that in February/March-ish, the harbor is often referred to as "whale soup". Bitch.)  Surprise surprise...we didn't see any whales.

But you know, it's kind of hard to be bummed out about anything when your boat encounters a pod of about 80 spinner dolphins.


Especially when those dolphins are cruising along with your boat and playing in the waves right off the bow (which of course we were leaning over).

 We even heard one squeak, and the cuteness overload from that single sound nearly caused me to combust right there on the deck.

And holy hell, look at the size of the remora attached to this guy:

 

 He was, shall we say, a little eager to shake that sucker off:

And as a bonus, we didn't just see dolphins, we saw flying fish. I'd never seen one before, and OMG, these guys could get some distance. Managed to snap one:

 I swear he must have gone like 100 feet. They really do fly.

After our 2-hour voyage, we returned to Lahaina and drove up north to do some snorkeling. As luck would have it, I wasn't feeling all that well by then, and much to my curse-laden frustration, had to bow out of snorkeling. (WTF. Seriously, WTF? Growl.)  While my parents and husband floated facedown in the crystal clear waters (and that jerk I'm married to actually saw a sea turtle *grumbles*), I sat in the shade of a palm tree and kept an eye on our stuff.

Circumstances are what they are, though, and while I would have loved to snorkel, I wasn't about to just sit there feeling sorry for myself.

There were some cute little birds wandering around. I had crackers.

So, I made some friends.

A bunch of friends:

There really are worse ways to spend an afternoon, you know?

Seriously.

 

 And I think this may be one of the coolest pics I've ever taken:

So that's how we spent yet another day in paradise. Coming up, depending on how cooperative my interwebs are:

• In which we hunt the elusive Lava Bunny in its natural habitat.
• Wandering aimlessly around Lahaina and Kihei
• Pics from the awesomest lagoon ever

We're still here for a few more days, and naturally, we've planned those days to the gills. Tomorrow, we're going up in a helicopter to check out the Haleakala Crater. Then we've got a kayak trip out to...um...some bay or another where we will snorkel amongst sea turtles and other sea creatures.  And, one of the things I've been DYING to do since I researched Maui while writing Infinity Pools: snorkeling Molokini. Hellz yeah. Pics to come, of course!

And as I sign off, I leave you with a little nugget of knowledge I picked up this morning:

It is incredibly awesome the first time you see a shark while snorkeling.
It is mildly unnerving the first time you don't see that same shark.

That is all.