another day in paradise

Friday, after our long day driving around Maui, we stayed at the resort all day. One of the things on the grandgirls list was snorkeling but the beach I first thought we would go to on Maui, after reading about it again, they would have to swim a ways to the reef and the water was 9' – 12' deep. Um, no. Especially since they had never snorkeled before, not even trying one out in a swimming pool and aren't real strong swimmers. So I researched snorkeling on the Big Island and there was a very pretty and shallow cove and all you had to do was wade out and see all kinds of fish and some coral and sea turtles were supposed to hang out there as well, perfect for beginners the description said and it was close to where we would be staying.

After breakfast I rented paddle boards for an hour, snorkel gear for the two of them to practice with, and an umbrella and we settled in on the beach for the day. The young man threw in three chairs and set them up for us.

The girls tried out the paddle boards first. 

After they got their sea legs they paddled to the left towards where the land curved around fairly close

and then returned, paddling to the right 'til they passed me 

and kept going...and kept going...and kept going until Marc finally asked if I could see them.

“I think I can see them,” I said as I was peering into the far distance looking at large and small specs in the water. “I think that's them. I think they're coming back” still peering in the far distance. “Um, maybe not.” I finally got up and started walking down the beach not seeing them, walked further still not seeing them and further still and seeing what looked like skegs sticking up out of the water in the distance and now imagining flipped boards and drowned girls and how do I call out for a search party and their mother is going to kill me! They're grown capable women, they'll be fine. The skegs turned out to be snorkelers and walking a little further they finally came into view heading back my way. We were a loooong way down the beach from our red umbrella.

“You girls about gave me a heart attack!” I hollered while they waved and smiled at me, “Hi Granny!”.

So they continued on back while I stopped and chatted with a woman who lives on Maui from Oregon originally, been there 7 years, retired 4 years ago. So how does a woman get from Oregon to Maui I asked her. There was a man she met on-line, visited. He turned out not the be the man but Maui turned out to be the place so she sold out and moved. Eventually I made it back down the beach not long after the girls got back to the red umbrella. Their one hour paddle boarding had turned into two but the young man at the rental shack was unconcerned.

They practiced with the snorkels 

and sunned and swam while I hung out in the shade of the red umbrella until we got hot and hungry and headed into Lahaina for another late lunch/early dinner 

and the girls finally got their shaved ice 

and we returned to the resort and lounged around the pool for our last sunset on Maui 

and watched the evening entertainment for the diners 

and took a last stroll on the beach 

and the girls and I hung out longer after Marc went up to the room just talking about life and stuff and then at 9 PM an unexpected fireworks display started up just on the other side of the gear rental shack in front of the bungalows, a celebration of a wedding perhaps. This was no cheesy at home display but went on sustained for about 15 minutes, a nice professional display.

When it ended, we turned in for the night as we had another day of travel the next day heading to the Big Island.

next: the island Hawai'i

links to previous posts in this series:

1. it took all day but we got there

2. our first full day

3. the drive to Hana