Day 1 - Maui Raft & Snorkel

Here is the boat we went on today (not us in the first pic). You literally sit on the edge - and hold on for dear life. We took this boat on the ocean - going probably 40 mph - no life vests (they were in hte top of the boat in case of emergency. There were a few seats in the middle - that is where Kiana sat. First the captain went kind of slow - level one. It was still bumpy. There were rough waters out on the ocean. Then he stepped it up to level 2. After a little while of that I asked to stop so I could move to the middle - I felt like I was going to fall of the boat at any moment!! Once I moved to the middle - it was much better - you didn't have to hold on as much there.

Today - every muscle in my body is sore from holding on. Especially my butt!!!

When this think hit a wave - we would literally get some air - and then crash down into the water!!! Don't get me wrong - it was fun - definitely an adventure!!




We stopped at three different spots to snorkel - but Kiana and I stayed in the boat. In this picture you can't even see how awesome this water is. This water the deepest, darkest blue water I have ever seen - it was beautiful and clear. We were able to look over the edge of the boat and see the huge salt water fish.

Here is Cameron in one of the snorkeling spots. We bought an Olympus underwater camera at Sam's for $158 before we left (we have 3 cameras and one video camera with us - LOL). It was a great investment. We love the pictures we are getting. It also has video - but the video Eric took is so large - and I don't know how to reduce the resolution so it doesn't take up all of the space on my blog!!!

Here is a shot Eric took of some of the fish he saw underwater. We also stopped at a spot with sea turtles - but the water was darker and they are too hard to see.

And here is a pretty shot of an anenome. So bright red!!

This last picture is from where we went way north of the island to where lava flowed and formed these black formations of lava rock more than 600 years ago. These huge waves (which our boat was riding) would crash into the rock and sometimes splash up higher than the rocks. There was this little cave than the waves would crash into - so much that water would hit the ceiling. Our captain backed us in there when the water calmed down for a second - we stopped in there for a split second and then got out - so our we didn't crash to our deaths into the ceiling.

Hope you enjoy our first day adventure story as much as we did!!