Ah, a return to heaven on earth. This trip (May 17-24, 2009) we again took advantage of a special where we don’t reserve a particular hale and we get automatically upgraded. Well, the first night we spent in one hale that was nice but while sitting on the deck I could hear the whine of an electrical transformer. I mentioned it to the main office staff and they moved us to another hale (a much nicer hale) but under the condition that we had to move to another hale on Thursday. Heck, three different hales in one visit, we like variety!
Of course, first thing we did was get sunburns, but they weren’t bad and we remained conservative. The wife, unluckily, is quite allergic to mosquito bites so she was not terribly happy getting bit, but I don’t seem to react much so I didn’t notice.
Food was amazing again, probably a notch better than last time. Butterfish over kalua pork and bean stew was probably the best, with lamb chops a close second. The Wednesday luau was a hoot and the food was amazing (I’ve never had better turkey in my life.)
Almost every morning I would snorkel from ~6am to ~8:30am. Saturday, I even tried it with my iPhone in a dive bag (a super-secure version of a ziplock bag.) Pics came out great!
Tangs, wrasses, cornet fish, trumpet fish, eels, needlefish, turtles, lots and lots of coral (amazing amounts of coral). Even a barracuda visiting a cleaner wrasse, plus a close-up visit with a flying/helmeted gurnard, apparently a rare fish in the reefs. I almost touched him, and he displayed his warning behavior, then returned to the bizarre scoot/brush/scoot feeding pattern. Paul was at the beach shack on Saturday (and was around but busy other days) and it was cool to chat about the invertebrates.
Really enjoyed seeing Rusty again. What better way to enjoy the afternoon breeze than at the shipwreck bar. Great drinks, great conversation.
Amazing feather sculptures. Prepare to be dazzled! Thanks to