Ka'anapali Dreamin' » sea turtles

Off to Explore

Kris — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:43:47 +0000

Trip Journal entry for Monday, September 14th, 2009

The first full day of our trip called for a little exploring and some familiar scenery.

One of the cool things about Maui is that even when you’re plans don’t work out, there are still some great memories to be made. Case in point for Monday was our drive north of Kapalua in search of the Nakalele Blowhole. Maybe a little bit of arrogance on my part, but we decided to just wing it drive up on our own without reading too much about where it was.

We never actually made it to the blowhole itself, although I could tell we were close. Instead, we did end up spending about 2.5 hours hiking, climbing, and taking photos of some breathtaking views from the sea cliffs in the area nearby.

Nice hair, eh?

It was a beautiful morning to be out there, and definitely something we’ll want to do again. With a little more preparation, that is.

Show Me The Turtles
Two weeks ago I shared an article about the new turtle hatchlings that arrived at the Maui Ocean Center courtesy of Sea Life Park on Oahu. Seeing that we love honu, we just had to check these guys out. They were too cute, for sure.

Well worth the stop. This little guy had his own tank, while the slightly old ones were taking over the Turtle Lagoon. Certainly much smaller than the ones we saw back in April of last year.

After that, we made our way into my favorite exhibit, the Open Ocean Exhibit. The timing couldn’t have been perfect because it was feeding time. We came in near the tail end, but there was a big group outside the shark tank and one of the naturalists holding a Q&A session with one of the divers in the tank. Very cool to see, if you get a chance.

Photos didn’t turn out that great (I didn’t bring my tripod in from the car), but I did shoot some video that I’ll hopefully get around to posting once we get back.

Before we left Ma’alaea, we took a quick stroll through the shops there and came across one of the 808 Clothing Company stores. We first found them last February during the Whale Day Festival and were going to try and find time for a trip down to their Kihei store, but this was much more convenient for us on our short trip. I really love the cool designs they have there, plus the fact that everything is made right there on Maui. You can’t get much better than that.

Going to Town
After the stop at the ocean center, it was time for our usual day one tradition. Yup, a stop at Cheeseburger in Paradise for a meal with a view.

Sure, it’s a tourist place right in the middle of Lahaina, but it’s been a regular stop of ours since we found them in Waikiki on our honeymoon quite a few years ago. We joke because we always have one of two waiters that we see there each time, and last night was no exception.

New Aloha Wear
While we couldn’t fit in a luau this trip, we were on the lookout for some new Aloha wear to bring home with us, another one of our traditions. Actually, this time it found us, as we spotted it in the window along one of the shops on Front Street. I’ll post a picture later in a week when we take our Aloha photo for this trip.

It was quite a busy first full day, with Tuesday shaping to be just as busy. And this is all before the 6am – 10pm activities begin on Thursday for the Maui Photo Festival. I’m going to be completely wiped out once this week is over.

Mahalo,
– Kris

Maui Ocean Center Welcomes New Turtles

Kris — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:30:09 +0000

I just received a note from subscribing to the Maui Ocean Center newsletter that they will be having a traditional Hawaiian blessing tomorrow, August 27th at 1pm to welcome a batch of 6 new hatchlings on loan from Sea Life Park on Oahu.

We’ve been huge fans of these guys since we first saw them popping up their heads from the water outside of our ocean front room at the Sheraton. And since we’re not avid snorkelers, we get our up-close turtle fix by visiting the Maui Ocean Center instead. Based on this update from the MOC, I think there’s a very good chance we’ll be paying them a visit next month as part of our mini Trip 5. They look too cute to pass up.

Sunday Photo: Swimming Honu

Kris — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:34:00 +0000

Swimming Honu
Taken by Kris Nelson on April 22, 2008
Location: Sheraton Maui Resort, Ka’anapali

As I mentioned yesterday, we’re headed back to the Sheraton for the fourth year in a row, come February. Although there was the thought of using my aunt’s timeshare or even looking for somewhere else to stay, we would have missed out on our almost daily greetings from the honu (sea turtles) near Black Rock.

You see, we save up and splurge on the ocean front rooms at the Sheraton Maui Resort, and not only do you get views like this one from your own private lanai, you get to see the sea turtles that swim near Black Rock in Ka’anapali. There will also be the occasional snorkeller swimming nearby as well (and the ones that decide to where their white T-shirt in the water, we call those albino sea turtles) since the area is often regarded as one of the better snorkeling areas in West Maui. And while we aren’t water sport people ourselves, we have the next best thing from the vantage point on our lanai.

Almost everytime we’re out on our balcony, whether it’s first thing in the morning, coming back from breakfast, or stopping back to our room after time at the pool, we’d take a moment to see one of these fun creatures poke his head out of the water. In some cases, we’ve seen two and even three turtles all nearby in the same place, and they’ll even stay near the surface for a good minute or two before diving down back out of sight.

Now, since we’re not sea people like I mentioned, I had to use my 300mm telephoto lens to get this close up. Even then, this photo is cropped to get a better view. The only time we’ve gotten super close is at the Maui Ocean Center and their Turtle Lagoon exhibit. As you can see, they look a little less friendly up close.

If you’d like to see more photos, you can check out our Sunday Photos category here at the blog, featuring a new photo every week. Our website also features daily photos on the Today’s Photos page, and if you’re Flickr fans like us, you can check out our Ka’anapali Dreamin’ collection.

What to own or use any of our photos? Check out our new photo store, Maui Wall Candy, for purchase info and ideas on what you can do with them. Both print and digital formats are available.

Also, subscribe to our blog to get the latest updates throughout the week.

Baby Turtles at the Maui Ocean Center

Kris — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 17:00:00 +0000

After reading the notice in the Maui Ocean Center newsletter, I found this article in Honolulu Advertiser that shows off the six baby honu (sea turtles) that have just arrived to the center this week.

We’ve been to the Maui Ocean Center in our past trips and Cindy’s favorite exhibit is the Turtle Lagoon where you can get up close and personal with the sea turtles (for those of us that don’t snorkel, anyway). According to the new article, these six little guys will have their own exhibit next to the Turtle Lagoon and will be cared for over the next 2-3 years before being released into the ocean waters. We’ll be certainly stopping by to check in on these guys in February.

If you happen to be there before us, stop in and let us know if they’re really as cute as they sound.

Mahalo.

Sunday Photo: Grumpy Honu

Kris — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:44:00 +0000

Grumpy Honu
Originally uploaded by webnelly

Honu, is the Hawaiian name for Sea Turtle. These are green sea turtles that are part of the Turtle Lagoon exhibit at the Maui Ocean Center. They always seem to be grumpy (hence the name of the photo) whenever we see them in photos or even near Black Rock when we see them poke their head above water for air. I think one of the reasons we get a kick out of these guys is because of the Comcast commercials they had here in Chicago a few years ago with The Slowskys.

Unfortunately, we don’t scuba dive and don’t get the opportunity to go down under the water and watch these guys swim close up. There are tons of photos on Flickr that people have taken doing just that. Here’s one of my favorites. Maybe someday we’ll break down, learn to snorkel first and then take the plunge.

Wednesday Night’s Luau

Kris — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:10:00 +0000

The luau last night here at the Sheraton was our last planned activity for this trip, and it was just as entertaining as it was last year. The MC was different this year, as was some of the dances, too. We were expecting to see Cindy’s favorite, the “mosquito” dance, but it wasn’t part of the show this time. The fire knife dancer had a different part, too, although it seemed a lot sorter of a performance this year.

Still, all told, it was a lovely evening. We had gotten down to check-in a little earlier this year and ended up with a much closer table. The sunset, as always, was absolutely stunning as you would expect, and I believe I got a few good shots that are post worthy (when I get to it). A good time was had by all.

As for today, Thursday, it is our last full day here on Maui. We started out with lunch by going to the Aloha Mixed Plate beachside grill just behind the cannery. They were a little shorthanded staff-wise, but the food was excellent and it was a nice atmosphere. That was, of course, on our way back towards Lahaina and Front Street. We were going to play a little shopping game, but that didn’t pan out. The cruise ship was in the harbor so things were a little more crowded than usual. I’m not sure where, but I thought I read somewhere that whenever the cruise ship is in port, some merchants tend to raise their prices a little bit (or a lot), so we didn’t stay too long.

Also, the thought of leaving these islands yet again started to hit Cindy a little bit, but a stop at Ha’agan Dazs did the trick.

Right now, we’re just sitting out on the lanai, watching the sea turtles avoid the snorkelers and watching the sun come out behind the clouds for really the first time today. We’re just taking it easy and thinking about what to do for dinner, either something familiar or brand new. Then we get to do our dry run on packing everything and trying to fit in everything we bought this trip. Always the saddest part of our trips here.

Mahalo for now.

Maui Ocean Center Visit

Kris — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:42:00 +0000

Today was our return to the Maui Ocean Center, which we first visited last year. Cindy and I each have our favorites at the MOC, hers being the green sea turtles at the Turtle Lagoon and mine being the sharks in the Open Ocean exhibit. We actually got a pretty good discount on admission because of our family membership with the Pacific Whale Foundation, so if you’re planning a trip out here or come back every year like we do, it’s not a bad thing to have. You actually get 20% tours with the PWF, too, so the $55 membership fee pretty much pays for itself.

Last year, the Turtle Lagoon was closed for maintenance and we only saw Ku’uipo the sea turtle swimming alone in a little tank. This year, she was back with her friends in the Turtle Lagoon exhibit, swimming happily and entertaining all the little keiki that stopped by to say hello. In total, there were 5 sea turtles swimming in the lagoon habitat that the MOC created for them. The turtles are actually lent to the ocean center by Sea Life Park on the island of Oahu. The exhibit featured a few from above where the turtles would swim up to the surface for air and a window on the side where you could seem them dive and swim with their fins. There was also a small patch of sand where they could come out and soak up the sun, but they chose not to while we were there.

Onto the “shark tank” for me. After trying hard last year but coming up empty, I finally got to take some photos of the more active tiger shark. He and all the other sharks seemed to be more energetic this time, and it was probably because it was a little later in the afternoon and they were getting ready for their second feeding. I’ll be looking through the photos later this week and hopefully posting a few here as my proud moment.

As for the rest of the evening, we’ll be getting ready to head back to Whalers Village for my belated birthday dinner over as Leilani’s. Afterwards, I’ll probably make my first trip down to the beach after sunset to do some stargazing. I did a little stargazing earlier in the week from our lanai, but it’s been a busy last couple of days and I haven’t been staying up late enough.

Tomorrow, of course, is Aloha Friday and we have nothing planned, and that’s a great feeling. We’ll probably just hang out by the beach or the pool and just relax a little bit. Cindy wants to book her massage and facial at the Westin for next week, so we’ll probably walk out that way tomorrow, too.

That’s all for now. Aloha and Malaho for reading.

Sea Turtle Videos Uploaded

Kris — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:53:00 +0000

Aloha,

Finally getting back to some of the goodies from our September trip, I processed and uploaded a few clips of the Sea Turtles outside of our hotel room balcony to the Videos page.

We had a lot of fun watching the sea turtles from our hotel room. We would walk up, pull the curtains and slide open the door, wait a few minutes, and you’d see one or two. We’d come back from a walk to Whalers Village or sitting down by the pool, and they’d be out there. Even when getting ready for dinner, we’d still catch one of those little guys hanging out there by Black Rock.

When we visit Maui, we stay at the Sheraton in Ka’anapali, and absolutely love it. We reserve a deluxe ocean front room in the Hale O Ka Moana building, which is right behind Black Rock and has beautiful views of Molokai and even Lanai. We also get to see some of the sailboats and snorkelers that like to pass on by Black Rock, and even just sitting out on the balcony is good for at least a half an hour.

Anyway, seeing that we’re not underwater people (yet), we’re pretty happy with these views of the honu, short of visits to the Maui Ocean Center. We hope you like the clips.