The Grumpy Monkey

Other Fun on Maui

Yes these cute fish are attemping to jump from their beautiful tank at the Maui Aquarium into my arms and give me a hug. They are nice friendly fish but I shunned their advances due to the slime factor involved. The aquarium had everything, including hammerhead sharks and a great walk through tunnel. The Wife and I spent some time sitting in the tunnel watching the sharks and rays. It is a massive tank and it is nice and cool in the tunnel. Two men came in the tunnel and sat down on the other end of the bench. People in Hawaii are friendly, not the tourists vacationing there but the people who actually live there have a very different attitude. It is a nice lovely attitude that is often unbeliveable to a hardened city dweller like myself.

So we start talking to these two middle-aged, sun bronzed, big Hawaiian men. Turns out they are the fisherman for the aquarium! This means they catch the fish and sharks and rays and everything else that you see on display. I would love to work at an aquarium, and this is the job that I want. They told us the story of the giant puffer fish pictured here, she is a girl, by the way, and how she is 7 years old. They were so interesting and friendly it was hard to leave.

Yes, it is true, Monkey's are afraid of sharks-

Make sure to also stop by Dan's Greenhouse in Lahina. They have exotic birds and even better, baby mini pigs! Oh my god they are cute. You can touch them if you ask and wash your hands. It is the best when they get to squeling and running around.

My inlaws took us up to the northren part of Maui to look for donkeys. There is ranching on Maui and way out in the county there is a corral by the side of the road that is full of donkeys. They are friendly, especially if you bring carrots. It is also a great place to get free manure for plants. So we had a dual purpose in visiting the donkeys. On the way out there we saw what looked like a grey cat in the middle of the road. We drove around it carefully only to see that it was a mongoose eating road kill! And wow was it aggressive, it really liked eating whatever it was eating an did not stop. It was so unusual looking and great to get an up close look at something I never have thought I would see.

I am ready to go back!

Whales, Dolphins and a Mongoose

Where can you see all of these creatures in a day? That would be Maui. It is my favorite place in the world. If you have not been there go, if you have been there why did you come back? I always wonder why I come back and then remember about work, my pets, friends and family. It is the only place other than the Bay Area I would ever want to live.

That is my favorite beach, Airport Beach. Coming north out of Lahina(there is only road) turn left at the Sugar Train and go down to the beach. If you are lucky you will meet my friends, the turtles. This is a picture I took of the Mama-San turtle as she glided by me in the water. I did not swim up to her or bother her in any way, she just wanted to say hello I guess.

The island in the background is Lani'i and is a fun place to spend the day. I have gone there twice, the only problem is you have to go on a boat. Have you ever seen a monkey on a boat? Well its not so pretty. We go out through a company called Trilogy.

The people who run this company really have the right idea. They are kind, knowledgeable and professional. They do all kinds of trips but both times we have choosen to go to Lani'i beacause of the fantastic beach they bring you too. This time there was a pod of 100 spinner dolphins. They came into the bay and played about 200 feet out. Sadly a bunch of people on our trip swam out to them. The dolphins come into the bay to rest, so when people bother them and swim up to them they leave. The fines are big and the gamewardens really strict but a lot of people vacationing there have ungodly ammounts of money and see the fine as more of a price of admission.

This is the bay where we snorkled and saw lots of amazing fish. That resort in the back ground is amazing and tremendously expensive!-

After snokeling the crew cooks a big BBQ(veggies too) and then you sail back to Maui during the sunset. This year we saw lots of whales. They were around us all the way out and back. Even while driving from Lahina to Kihei you could look out to the ocean and see them! It was great!

Here are a couple views of the sail back to Maui-

Such a perfect day was made even better by going back to my inlaws condo in Hono Kawai. My mother in law made us fantastic Koren food(she is from Korea) for dinner while we watched the birds in the back yard.

We did a lot of other things, including seeing a Mongoose up close when really we were out looking for donkeys. I will save those strories for another time.

Because I Rate...That's Why!

Look at the beautiful cross stiches my Mom made me! She has been working on them for almost 2 years and wow are they amazing! She said when she started working on the first one she thought she would go crazy from all the different colors. You can see every color is represented(well mostly) in every design.

Have you heard the expression "I rate" before? It is something my Grandma has always said and is used on an occasion when someone gives you something or does something for you that is way beyond anything you could have hoped for, like these 4 cross stiches.

I hung them in my window so I could see the light come through behind them all day. I am so spoiled right now!