Makena Madness

Today the surf finally got back down to manageable levels.  We were preparing to head south for some more beach time but we saw that the water just outside of our place was as smooth as a swimming pool, so we tried some snorkeling around there.  Unfortunately, while the water was smooth, it was still pretty cloudy underwater.

We continued on our original plan and went to Big Beach, also sometimes known as Makena Beach.  The beach was nice and wide and very long (hence the name).  However, the surf was kicking up a bit so we stuck to swimming and the beach.

As yesterday's snorkel trip to Molokini set the bar pretty high for snorkeling, we weren't expecting much but still went to our next stop, Ahini Cove, which was recommended by the manager at our condo complex.  In fact, D didn't even gear up to snorkel.  However, once I stepped into the cove and first got my mask underwater, the place was filled with fish, just inches from where I was floating.  The water wasn't very deep, which made it difficult to move around, but it was great because the fish were all within arm's reach.  Fortunately, we took the camera and were able to get some pretty good pictures:

After that, we continued south until we couldn't go any further, and came out on a gravel road that dead-ended into a parking lot at La Perouse Bay.  Here, the ground is covered with a three-mile-wide lava flow from the last volcanic eruption on Maui, which was thought to have occurred in 1790.  We hiked around for a while to see the land, which was much drier and more arid than anywhere else we've seen.



After our hike, we came back and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon, but were able to catch a(nother) great sunset...