Still in Paradise

At 2:00 am Delta finally announced that our flight from Maui was canceled. Maybe today...

Big Blue & Yellow Grandad

We had to rehydrate Lynne this morning, who had dried up while on the mainland the past couple of weeks.

And what perfect conditions for a return to the deep.

We were followed for a while by a troupe of Omilu, including this big grandad who was keeping a very close eye on us.

Special Effects

 Just a couple of snapshots from my walk through the neighborhood this morning. Above is the reflection of palm trees in a lily pond (flipped upside down, of course).

And below is another view of one of my favorite tree-lined streets with the camera set to take paintings instead of photographs. I'm hoping to do a series of these special effects photos next week in Paris.

Mother Lode

 This morning we swam and we swam and we swam, but we did not see any Green Sea Turtles.

Not until, all of a sudden, we hit the mother lode - Turtle Town.

I'm glad that nature saved us the best for the last.

Less Than Ideal

Conditions were less than ideal for an ocean swim this morning, but the Maui Pink Cap swimmers prevailed - sort of.

Click HERE for a few more photos from today's gathering.

Completely Ignored

This helicopter has been buzzing the south shore the past couple of days. It actually was flying a little bit higher as it circled this snorkel boat, then it dropped back down and hugged the shore.

Grey Francolins have been producing lots and lots of babies the last two weeks. Not only that, but they've been getting much bolder too. Normally they would hurry away from any people, but these guys (photo below) completely ignored me even though I was less than a foot away from the chicks.

Summertime

Hooray!

My wetsuit has finally been retired until next winter. Mmmmmm. Warm ocean water.

Thorny Issue

What is this weed? It has completely overrun an ancient Hawaiian heiau near my house. It is a vining plant and when I bashed one fruit open, it smelled a bit like cucumber. The vine is thorny, but the spines on the fruit are softer.

There Will Be Blood

 Today was Patti's birthday swim, which meant that Patti got to select the adventure.

So that meant scraping over shallow, shallow coral reefs and squeezing through tiny spaces - which equated to scratches, abrasions and cuts - and blood. Fortunately, today it wasn't enough blood to start a feeding frenzy with the local sharks [whew].

Click HERE for a few more photos from today's ocean adventure.

Triple Slam

 The Maui Pink Cap swimmers managed a triple-slam birthday this morning with a fun ocean swim, a delicious brunch, and an interesting take on the game "Go Fish."

Happy Birthday Steve, Patti & George!

Click HERE for more photos from today's adventures.

Four to Eight

These are the kinds of fish I see on the road. They're a little different in the ocean.

Today's surf forecast was for four to eight foot waves. I think they got it just about right.

Gold Doubloons

Way cool. We found a sunken treasure chest while out swimming this morning.

In addition to the usual gold doubloons and silver ingots, there was a note in a bottle. We rehid the entire cache so that someone else could find it (perhaps some lucky Sunday Pink Cap swimmer).

Earlier in the swim we watched as a snorkeler zoomed by us propelled by an underwater scooter. Maybe we should get a couple for some of our disabled swimmers...

Maybe Tomorrow

Sorry, just a boring flower photo from my walk this morning.Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting.

Escapees

 Patti & Janet managed to escape the constant downpours in Haiku this morning with a trip around the mountain to my home base. But their decision to submerge themselves in yet more water left me a little confused. If you're coming this far to get away from the rain, wouldn't it make more sense to sit on a dry beach enjoying the warm spring sunshine? Swimmers!

One of My Favorites

This is one of my favorite buildings on Maui. It is the clubhouse for the Wailea Blue golf course. I once mentioned how much I loved the design to an architect friend of mine and he only laughed at me, telling me how horrible he thought the design was. What I like is the way the curtain walls are suspended from an exterior trellis structure; giving a light, insubstantial feeling to the walls.

Plant Day

Today seems to be black & white plant day. On the top is an orchid flower and below is one of my favorite subjects, an agave plant.

Happy Mothers Day

The fast swimmers left us eating their bubbles this morning. Those few, those happy few who remained had lots of fun playing with George's birthday Toypedo. Now all we need is a thumbtack...

Click HERE for a couple more photos from today's ocean swim.

Cool Misty Air

 My hiking group tackled the Waihe'e Ridge trail this morning.

I delighted in the cool misty air and rumble of distant waterfalls.

Fun, fun, fun.

Nooks & Crannies

 We explored Caves & Nooks & Crannies along the cliffs this morning. What fun.

Our tour guide, Lynne, is now off to the mainland for a few weeks, so I guess we'll have to find our way on our own for a while.

Click HERE for more photos from today's ocean swim.

Pineapple Flowers

I've never seen this variety of pineapple before. I love the way each segment produces a flower.

Turtle & Snuba

Just a couple of quick snapshots from this morning's ocean swim.

Big Billows

We don't often get big billowing clouds, so I am always impressed when we do. Here are a couple of snapshots from my walk this morning.

Sea Stars & Canadians

In addition to meeting a lot of wonderful swimmers from Calgary, we had a most interesting ocean swim this morning.

We found two species of Sea Star that we've never encountered prior to last week and this week. What brings them here?

George also found a pile of trash on the ocean floor (crutch, fishing spear, and metal rod) which were valiantly carried the long, long way back to shore by Patti, George and Pedro. We thank you and the planet thanks you.

Click HERE for lots more photos from today's swim.

Bold Gecko

A very bold gecko was keeping a close eye on me this afternoon from the excellent vantage point of my lanai. So I decided to look back - and share that view with you.