"Epic"

Monday we went on the 'Blue Water Rafting' trip as part of the company outing. John and I had done this the last time we were in Maui and loved it so much and talked it up enough that it was the 'company activity' this year. We were split in two groups and luckily John, Tyla and I were all able to go Monday - which according to the Captain and 1st Mate - was truly "Epic".

This trip is a 6 hour experience where you go on a 24 man pontoon and go out around the South end of the island and explore some of the lava caves, go to a few snorkel spots have a general look around the ocean for fun sightings and then head out to the island crater - Molokini that has close to 100 feet of visibility.

On this trip, due to weather there were at least 10 foot swells as we went against them and against 30 mile/hr winds. At times we literally felt like we were going to fall off the edge of the waves and keep falling. It was the best ride - far better than any amusement park ride! We were constantly getting sea spray in our faces, to where we many times couldn't open our eyes because the salt water was stinging them and just as it would go away we would get sprayed again. It was incredible!!!!!! We were all dripping with water - well before we ever even got into the ocean.

We ended up not hitting all the snorkel spots because we found whales... Honestly.. we found a mom and calf Humpback whales. They were probably about 100 yards from our boat - but we saw them surface and then were close enough to see the tail make it's show as they went down and that was incredible. Because that was rare for that time of the year we hung around and spent a good portion of the trip looking for the blow spouts and chased the whales some more. We saw them a few more times which was a lot of fun!

If you look through the mist (the blow spouts) you can see the top of the whales as they are skimming the surface.

We did make it over to what we thought was going to be a snorkel spot but when we got close we ended up seeing a pod of spinner dolphins - on the surface we saw 20-30 and they were amazing. The captain knew how to get the dolphins to play so we spent a good portion of time just playing with the dolphins. Some times they were close enough that if we weren't afraid we might fall in while driving so fast - that would could have touched them. They jumped and spun, and just played with us and the other boat.... We didn't have our camera with us - but I'm so glad others did. These clips show small shots of the dolphins - sadly it wasn't enough to capture how amazing it really was - and how many dolphins were really there.






After the dolphins we went to turtle town and swam with the turtles - litterally. I got so close at one point that I had to swim backwards in order to not run into a turtle. It is illegal to touch the turtles - but they don't know that!!!



We made it to molokini which wasn't as great as last time - probably due to the other boats that hadn't left yet. We figure they scared the fish away. So after a while up close to the crater wall, we went over to end of the crater to see the coral there and John and I went out over the drop off. One minute you see coral and fish beneath you and then next you feel like you are floating in space... the light filtering through the water was stunning and if it weren't for my irrational fear of being eaten by something in the water I would have spent more time there. It is also a little disconcerting to just 'float' in the water.... it was a little weird.

After that we went looking for whales again and though we didn't see an actual whale we saw a few more blow spouts - but in the midst of looking for whales the other boat called us over to see the 'whale shark' they had found. A Whale Shark is the largest fish in the ocean and in Maui is extremely rare to find - kind of like finding a unicorn! They are about 40 feet long - and kind of ugly if you ask me... they look like cat fish with shark fins. Anyway - it was there and real - and according to Monte (1st mate) epic and a once in a life time opportunity. So despite my fear of being edible I jumped into the ocean - in the middle of the ocean with nothing else around for miles and swam with the whale shark! Tyla was able to swim down and hold on to the fin, John tried but missed. I knew I wouldn't make it so I just stayed back at marveled at the opportunity I was having! I did have to ask before I jumped in - if the shark ate human, but finding that it is 'vegitarian' I was able to just enjoy watching everyone try and catch this massively huge animal - that seemed to be enjoying the game - and the fact that he was unattainable.

Here is a link to the video that we got from our trip that was uploaded to you tube.. The file was way to big to load the video myself.. So take a look - it's really cool, and you can see all of our friends swiming with the whale shark. You can see John with a near miss, Tyla grabbing the back fin and my shorts in there towards the end!

Okay, John read my post and apparently I am very confused... the correct order for our day was this: Whale & baby (big sighting), Spinner dolphins, lava tubes/caves, Whales (not as close and not as much visible) with bottle nose dolphins, Molokini, the Whale Shark, then the turtles!

Regardless... that day was Epic, and will rate as one of my top days ever! We found out later that some people pay thousands of dollars to go looking for Whale Sharks.. and we swam with one by shear luck! If we ever make it back to Maui - Blue Water Rafting will always be a must do - they are the best outfit and we always have the most incredible experiences!