Molokini Snorkeling Trip - Maui Hawaii

 Molokini is a partially sunken volcanic crater just 2.5 miles off the coast of Maui, Hawaii. Located between the islands of Maui and Kahoolawe, Molokini is now a beautiful underwater sanctuary for marine life.

Brian and I got up super early in the morning of our first day in Maui (6am) to drive 45 minutes to the marina.  The boat was awesome and I can not say enough good things about the crew.  So nice and friendly!  We had a 1 hour long boat ride from Makena Maui to Molokini.  One thing we noticed right away about Maui.....the wind is always blowing.....seriously blowing....not like oh there is a nice breeze...but more like crap I am being blown away.  This made me extremely nervous because strong wind causes rough sea's and rough sea's makes for sea-sickness.  I wasn't too concerned because Brian & I have been snorkeling in both Jamaica and the Bahamas with no trouble so off we went!

While we were sailing the were offering SNUBA lessons....if you have never heard of it you should google it!  Pretty cool.  Brian said I should do it...which I was so excited about!  So I went down to the lower deck and for the next 45 minutes got my lesson.  Basically imagine scuba diving except you airtank stays on a little inflatable raft on the surfance of the water and there is an airhose that connects to your re-breather and you drag the raft along with you.  I struggled a little bit with this....I never thought I would panic...but there is definitely something clausterphobic about scuba (or SNUBA) diving.  It is also exhausting!  The following pictures are from my hour long adventure under the sea.  I did not get that many good pictures because I was too busy trying to keep water out of my mask and keeping myself calm so I didn't drown myself!

This was the SNUBA instructor....he was super nice!

This is Brian free diving....he said that he was following me while I was snuba-ing but I never saw him....to focused on staying calm!

Brian

Ash.....okay....so after the snuba.....I get back on the boat to take off all my gear.  As soon as I took a step on the boat I started to feel sick.....it is one of the worst feelings ever to know you are sea-sick and there is nothing you can do about it.....it was too late!  At this point I had two choices 1) stay on the boat  2) grab a snorkel/flippers and hope that if I get back in the water that I will feel better.   So I took option 2!

Note to self....when you are so far gone...nothing helps!  I got into the water and tried to focus on having fun and watching fish.  I found Brian and told him I wasn't feeling well (understatement).  Then....you know that feeling when you know you are going to throw-up.......I did everything that I could to stop it from happening...but there was nothing I could do.....as soon as I barfed the fish swarmed me.....it went from bad to worse for me!  I wasn't in any danger but I was totally freaked out by all the fish around me (yuck)!  One of the crew from the boat asked if I was okay....I still felt sick but again nothing I could do about it!  I kept asking Brian how much time (usually it is because you don't want stuff to end)  but it seemed like the trip would never be over.

Finally....I had to get back on the boat while we prepared to leave....as soon as I hit the deck....I threw up over the side of the boat (seriously at this point people...including Brian) started avoiding me like I had the plague.  I was so embarrased that I started to cry.  Brian kept bringing me Maui's own version of Gingerale...it is basically fresh ginger grated into a cup with sprite.  It did help a little. 

To add insult to injury....the cap't of the boat was mr. funny guy and he had made a joke about my tag sticking out of my bathing suit while I was hurling over the side of the boat!

As excited as I was to go on this excursion....I was more excited to leave it.  I wanted to go home!  Then Brian lets me know...we still have another stop to go at turtle town....ugh.!  To be honest as soon as the boat was moving and I hurled one last time...I started to feel better!

Aloha Molokini!

Brian enjoying the upper deck!

self-portrait post yacking!

Most of the snorkeling tours that we looked at in Maui offer to take you "turtle town" which the tour book that we read before going said was kind of a crock so that was not high on our priority list.  However our boat took us to "turtle universe".....this is open ocean where sea turtles hang out...I wasn't expecting much because these are wild turtles but all of a sudden there they were.  We got the opportunity to see a bunch of turtles sunning themselves at the surface.  They were much faster then I thought.  Really cool to see them in the wild so up close!