Maui Waui! pt 2

Day 3
We woke up early and decided to try to see some sea turtles at a local beach.























































































We brought the snorkel gear and saw lots of cool fish, but no turtles. As much as a nice time we had, Sophie was having a tough time. The water DID NOT agree with her. In fact, she pretty much cried and whined the whole time. To make matters worse, a wave hit her and she ate sand. Literally. :[ I thought we would never get it all off of her. She had it in her ears for Pete's sake! POOR BABY! We high-tailed it home, took a bath, gave her some teething tablets and put her down for a nap.

When she woke up, we put a flower in her hair and went out to Lulu's for lunch. Of course, we snapped a few pictures since she was looking so beautiful. I can't believe she kept that flower in her hair as long as she did!






















































Afterward, we went to downtown Lahaina and did the touristy thing. We walked around, took pictures, and sampled the local ice cream at Hula Cookies. Jim had an ice cream sandwich and Sophie and I shared a pineapple upside down cake with vanilla ice cream. It was superb! We were on vacation, so we had dessert first, haha! We went home, grabbed some picnic stuff for dinner and watched the sunset and turtles. The day ended significantly better than it began!















Day 4
Today, our last full day on the island, we decided to drive the coast on the lookout for dolphins. We researched as well as we could and decided to go south first to windy La Perouse Bay, a known resting place. We didn't see anything, but we took some great pictures.





























We went to lunch and stopped at a small beach that looked inviting. This was the highlight of the trip. Sophie was a little leery about getting in the water (justifiably so, after yesterday!) but there was another baby in the water that calmed her down. We played in the warm water, not really paying attention around us. We looked up and there was a beautiful sea turtle literally 10 feet from us! He popped his little head out and looked right at us! Sophie pointed and said "Tutuh" and waved at him. Jim ran in to get the camera while Sophie and I stared in amazement. Wow.
I can't believe that happened! An hour before, we thought that beach looked cute and shady and that we should stop. It was just so random!

After the sun got to us, we decided to go home for a quick shower/rinse and head back up the coast to the other dolphin spots. This pic was taken at Slaughterhouse Bay, a gorgeous out-of-the-way beach in which you had to go down these treacherous stairs to get to. That's why Sophie is with Daddy!



















We saw a net set up in the bay, and got out at a pull-off. A man pulled in behind us and said it was his net. Fishing has been in his family for many generations and he talked to Jim a lot about it. He said the dolphins haven't been around much, but that they help get fish into the nets. They're too smart to get caught themselves, he said. I was reassured. It was a nice revelation about the local people. They are friendly and are always willing to help you out. Next time we go to Hawaii, I hope it will be during whale season, so we can see whales and dolphins. And there WILL be a next time.

Day 5
The next day, before our flight, we went to the same turtle/sunset/picnic park to take some last minute pictures. We saw a few turtles and reveled in the beauty and peacefulness of the island and its wildlife.















We made our way to the airport, dropped off the rental car, and had no problem going through security and to the gate. The one cool thing about the airport was that a lot of it was outside, so we could still breathe in the fresh air and feel the warmth. Sophie was an angel on the flight (the little man next to us, notsomuch) and was making friends around us. We helped the parents of the little boy, and we talked to a couple that went to Maui to get away from a personal tragedy. It really opened my eyes to how lucky we are, and it made us hug Sophie even tighter than we already do. We are so very, very lucky to have each other to love and to be able to take family trips like this. Our next trip is to Michigan to see the Grandmas and Grandpas at the end of July. We are very excited to be able to see family again!