Aloha - Day 3

Since we woke up so early yesterday due to the time change we decided this would be a good morning to get up and head to the crater to watch the sun set.  I have heard a lot about this and heard how beautiful it is.  I even packed appropriately for this activity as it's 40 degrees out on top of the crater.  I was excited to see the breathtaking views until the alarm went off at 2:30am.  Yup, that is how early we had to get up to get there in time for the sun to rise as it is apparently a two hour drive to get there.  That alarm went off and we just turned it off and went back to bed for a few minutes, but the next thing we knew it was 5am...way too late to head to the crater.  That was the last time we attempted the sunrise at the crater since we knew we would not get up at 2:30am to see the sunset.  Maybe on our next trip we will give it another try.

We decided to start our day snorkeling at Honolua Bay as we past it the day prior on our way to see the blowhole and thought it looked interesting.  We also read in the book that this could be a great snorkeling site.  We did pack our snorkeling gear that we received as a wedding gift from Ryan and it was great to be able to have our own quality gear with us.  I didn't bring my camera for this journey as I didn't want to leave it in the car or on the beach alone for someone to steal...I guess I am paranoid, but I did hear about being cautious of your belongings in Hawaii due to thieves.  I did bring our underwater camera...you know, the $22 underwater cameras you can buy in gift shops where the photos turn out crappy?  Anyway, we traveled down this path covered with trees and greenery that had a lot of rooster's along the route.  It was very interesting to see the rooster's as they were squawking.  Anyway, we reached the "beach" with no sand and only rocks and it was another pretty site.  We snorkeled for about an hour as the water wasn't as clear as it could be.  According to what we read if the water isn't super calm the snorkeling in this area can be a bit cloudy.  It was still pretty to see the coral and the multi colored fish below.

Honolua Bay

Andy snorkeling

After snorkeling we headed back to the resort for lounging on the beach and more snorkeling in front of our resort. It was absolutely clear and we saw some very colorful fish in front of the resort.

Loved this view!

Loving the beach!

Following the day out in the sun and water we headed to Lahaina Front Street for dinner.  We initially went there for a small pizza place that we read about in the book, but once we got there the pizza place was not there anymore.  The Maui Revealed book is the second edition out of five and restaurants go out of business all the time, so we headed to Bubba Gump Shrimp.  I know this is a chain, but we have never been there and there is not one in Phoenix, so we decided to eat there.  Again, my Mahi Mahi was awesome and the shrimp that came with it was fabulous too.  We had great seats overlooking the ocean.

Our view from dinner.

Ok, I know the pic did not turn out well, but I still wanted to post it.

I had to be a tourist and take a picture on Forest Gump's bench.

 After this we went back to the resort and had drinks out on our patio together.

Our patio view.

Sharing drinks together.

From all the fresh air and snorkeling we called it an early night and went to bed.