Maui

I traveled to Maui with my good friend Steve. He was headed over there to visit his uncle & asked if I would like to go. I didn't hesitate & told him hell yes. Some of his other friends made the trip as well. One of his good friends Joanne who was celebrating her 70th birthday was also there with all of her children & grandchildren. This was an unbelievable trip. I did so many things while there & hope you enjoy this latest entry to my blog. One other thing. My buddy Steve does not like to be photographed so that is why you will notice no pictures with him in it. ALOHA!!!!! Great shot of Maui as I'm headed back in after a whale watching excursion.
I took a helicopter ride around Maui & over to Molokai. Molokai is where they filmed a lot of the movie Jurassic Park. It is a beautiful island and does not have much development.
Here is a shot of Molokai's coastline. Absolutely beautiful.
Nervous self portrait I took of myself in the helicopter. I had never ridden in a helicopter and was surprised at how rough it was. I thought it would be really smooth & you would feel like you were floating. That was not the case. Very rough, but a fun experience.
Great shot looking back towards Maui.



Here is a short video of the helicopter ride around the coastline of Molokai.
On the dock after the whale watching tour.Robert and I catching some rays by the pool. The weather was perfect. About 82 degrees every day. Sweet!!!!One of the many beautiful sunsets on Maui.Joanne's birthday dinner with all of her family & friends. What a great family Joanne has and I felt priviledged to be a part of such a wonderful celebration. Happy 70th Joanne.
Myself, Joanne, Robert & Luis over at the Four Seasons having brunch. This resort is awesome.View of the beach over at Wailea.I went snorkeling one day off the coast of Lanai & the tour guide brought up this pencil urchin. This was the neatest thing. You could feel him moving slowly across the palm of your hand.Up close shot of the pencil urchin.Some of the many fish that I took pictures of. The marine life was beautiful.Thanks to one of the nice people I was snorkeling with that took this picture of me underwater.



Here is a cool video of the spinner dolphins. The guide told us that they spin like this to get the sucker fish off of them that are swimming with them. It was pretty cool to see since there would be these huge pods of dolphins jumping out of the water and spinning.The highlight of my trip. You have no idea how incredible seeing these huge humpback whales was for me. I felt like a kid in the candy store I was so giddy. After we finished with the snorkeling tour we came upon these 4 whales. A mother & her calve, plus 2 huge males.I swear these pictures weren't taken in some aquarium :) So we saw the whales off in the distance & I noticed that they were heading our way. We kept waiting for them to surface. I was talking to one of the people on the boat when we looked straight down & saw the mother and calf directly under the boat about 10 feet. I couldn't believe it. I immediately grabbed my underwater disposable camera that I bought that day to snorkel with & luckily had a few shots left. I put it in the water & started snapping pictures and this is what I got. You should have seen the look on my face yesterday as I got these pictures back from the drugstore. Awesome!!!!!!!These are the 2 males and were within 10 feet of the boat. Breathtaking.
My favorite shot as you can see these 2 huge males close up. Incredible wouldn't you say??? :O) I was one happy guy this day. Unbelievable experience. I was telling Joanne about it that evening & she asked if I was scared that they might tip the boat over. That thought never crossed my mind. haha


Great video of the whales coming up from air. Geez, I hate the sound of my voice.
Haleakala Crater. I did a horseback ride down into the crater & it was so cool. This was formed 40,000 years ago they said.Good shot of us as we embark into the crater.Back in the saddle again :). It felt great to be riding again. I was hoping for a horseback ride when I went on this trip so I took my riding boots just in case. This was a 4 hour round trip ride into the crater. At the base we had a picnic lunch & were amazed at the vast expanse of this whole crater.
Great shot that shows all of the colors.


Video as we are coming out of the crater.So this is my last picture of Maui & I thought I would end it with a sunset that was taken on my last day. Thanks to my buddy Steve for asking me to go with him. It was an incredible trip and one that I will remember for a lifetime.
Mahalo- which means "may you be in Divine breath".