A Wonderful Week on Maui (3)
Monday, October 11th-
Another sunrise on the lanai. Yawn!
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| Fish Pond |
Today we had to get up early because we were scheduled to go snorkeling with Ann Fielding, a marine biologist who leads expeditions all over the Pacific islands. We had told her that we were not averse to hiking, and that I wanted to see archaeological sites if possible, so she had the perfect place all picked out. We met her at 8am on the southwest end of the island near Wailea. From there we followed her van down ever narrowing roads until we passed a massive lava flow and parked next to the Ahihi preserve (both biological and geological) just north of La Perouse bay, the first landing site for the European explorers. From the road we started hiking out along the lava flow where it originally flowed into the sea. The lava was pretty spectacular, so dark in color it was hard to see, it just seemed to suck in all light. It was aa lava, jagged and sharper than anything short of obsidian (took some chunks out of my boots!). Ann told us about the lava flow (something like 200+ years old, no one is positive), and the ecosystem there. In a few spots in the lava field are large briny ponds that are filled from the sea via lava tubes. There are also tidal pools that native Hawaiian's would block off and use as fish ponds (we saw a couple of these low dams, as well as a number of low lava walls from shelters).
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| Yellow Trumpet fish |
After about a 40 minute hike we arrived at Ann's 'secret' bay, a lava cove that is filled with both shallow coral formations and much deeper pools. She ran us through her fish guide showing us what we might expect to see (and not see), then we climbed in. Getting in was a little tricky, as there was only one spot to stand that wasn't razor sharp, but we managed getting in without harm. Immediately we could tell that this was a much better snorkeling place than Kapalua. The water was clearer (no sand and silt), and there were many more varieties of fish immediately visible. We all paddled our way slowly around the cove, with Ann popping up constantly to point out certain types of fish and tell us about the coral. Not only did we see lots of beautiful butterfly fish and the like, but we also saw some things that Ann had said were very rare: A yellow trumpet fish (as well as a cornet fish), a jack swimming with an eel (rarely seen because the eels hide in the rocks when someone comes around), box fish and puffers, cleaner wrasses etc. Pretty much every type of fish we could see we saw.
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| Raccoon Butterfly fish |
Though the water was very calm, it was a bit windy, and we got a bit chilled after an hour or so of snorkeling. At least we had been smart enough to wear shirts in the water so we didn't get any more fried than we already were. Once we got out into the sun and changed into dry clothes though we were fine for the hike back. We took the long way so Ann could show us one of the lava ponds and the little red shrimp that live in them. She said sometimes the water is blood red with the little guys. The pond was pretty though, a brilliant green jewel set in the jagged black lava flow.
On the hike back I paid more attention to the lava and all the patterns of flow preserved in the stone, as well as bubbles, crystalline formation, and great plates of cracked lava that looked like a bad road. We drove a little further down the road to a beach where Ann provided us lunch and talked some more about island formation processes and the colonizing of the island by various plant and animal species. Ann then took us to an archaeological site a little ways back up the road where an entire settlement had been built right along side the lava flow, using lava rock to build walls. Floors were made of black pebbles collected from the beaches, allowing people to walk in the houses and courtyards without slicing up their feet. There was also a fishing shrine, with pieces of white coral piled on top of it. All pretty interesting. I'll have to do some more reading on pre-contact Hawaiians.
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| Lava Field |
In all, our morning with Ann Fielding was probably the best of our trip: good hike, good snorkeling, good company and a bit of education thrown in as well. If you go to Maui and like this sort of thing, give her a call*!
We drove back north through Wailea and Kihei. Wailea is a monstrosity of super exclusive resorts (though very pretty with all the landscaping), while Kihei is much more for the average tourist. We were dying of thirst so stopped at a 7 Eleven for a P.O.G. slurpee (Passion-Orange-Guava), which I won't be having again thank you! By the time we got back to our condo we were ready for dinner. We looked through all the guides and flyers etc. that we had, and it looked like we really had few options: Super expensive tourist food, Moderately expensive chain tourist food (e.g. Hard Rock Cafe), or fast food. None of these really appealed. We weren't up for a real 'night out' kind of dinner after hiking all day, and we generally hate the tourist chain restaurants (we were only tempted by the Planet Hollywood in Cape Town just after a terrorist bombing, because we were hoping for T-Shirts saying "I got bombed at Planet Hollywood"). We ended up going to 'Aloha Plate Lunch' in Lahaina which was said to have decent food at a reasonable price. It was actually quite a nice little place. It was outdoors, with a beautiful view of the ocean. Food was plain but filling (Alison had shoyu chicken, I had stir-fry vegetables), served in take out containers. It was just about what we needed. We stopped at Safeway for some snackies for dessert, and went back to the condo for our nightly sunset and early bedtime.
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Last Updated 28 October, 1999
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