Reality Check

This morning we decided to head back to Ka’anapali since we had such easy snorkeling there the other day.  That 1.62-mile walk seems shorter each time we do it.  We arrived on the shore in the 7 o’clock hour and were quickly submerged in a clear reef full of brightly colored fish.  Many of the fish we see I learned about from my dad, who enjoyed snorkeling, scuba diving, and keeping an aquarium of tropical fish.  I remember the basics from his teachings (tangs, butterflies, wrasses, urchins, damsels, butterflies, angelfish, triggerfish, coris, boxfish, and more).  When it comes to specifics though, I have to look of up the exact types we saw.  Today their was a stocky hawkfish, several varieties of wrasse, a dark version of the trumpet fish, bright red pencil sea urchins along with the more common black ones we see everywhere.  I started to get more interested in the corals and researched some realizing we’ve seen blue rice coral, cauliflower and finger corals too. 

As we surfaced at one point Greg said that he was on the look out for eels. He had decided today was the day to see one.  Perhaps it was the unagi roll we ate last night, but this boy had eels on the mind.  We both found it very hysterical when we went face down and saw a very long dark trumpet fish, which at first glance looked like an eel.  We noticed the ocean tugging us this way and that, as we floated.  The current was intensifying, which is usually our signal that we’ve stayed long enough, time to get back to shore before the winds pick up.  On our way we spotted a honu wedged under a rock, having a comfortable rest on the seafloor.  Greg did get his eel by the way, as we were heading back to our entry point.  He eagerly pointed down and there it was, a good-sized white mouth moray, black and white body zigging and zagging out of a crack in the coral.  Perhaps feeling our presence peering at him, he retreated back into the crevice. 

Back on shore, we rinsed off at the beach park shower and packed up our gear to head back home. We had tossed a little cash into our beach bag this morning in case a hot breakfast appealed to us on the walk home and indeed it did.  We stopped off of Ono Kau Kau for some eggs and rice with a side of pancakes to take back to the condo.  It was a great way to cap off our morning.  A fairly regular day passed with visits to the pool, watching the honu, and visiting with new neighbors.  We met a couple this afternoon from Genoa, Italy!  It made us miss our European travels last summer.  For dinner we grilled some Opah with a lemon butter sauce and enjoyed roasted yams and Brussel sprouts with roasted garlic and sautéed mushrooms.

So here is the reality check.  We are half way through our trip.  Two weeks gone, two weeks remain.  I’ve been trying to pay attention to the day of the week to know when farmer’s market is and when there will be live music, but I’ve purposely tried to ignore the date.  One reason we know we are half way through our trip is that the condo manager scheduled our free mid-way cleaning with us.  We will evacuate the condo tomorrow at 8am while all of our linens are replaced (we washed them on our own last week) and the apartment receives a light cleaning.  So what do you think we did tonight after sunset?  What do you do the night before your house is professionally cleaned?  You tidy up, right?  We put on a Beck CD and rocked around the house reshuffling and organizing clutter, did the dishes, sorted the laundry.  Our little home away from home is looking pretty spiffy.  Can’t wait to come back to it tomorrow after farmer’s market and see it all nice and shiny! Here is a pool time selfie to sign off with tonight!