molokini

this morning, we (lynn and i) went to molokini. it was pretty exciting. i'd been to molokini once before (with my mom and my sister) about ten years ago (!). funny, when we went snorkeling this time, molokini seemed to have a lot less fish, and less variety of fish as well... but it was still neat. we got to see a lot of these black fish, not sure what they are called, but they were the ones that surrounded the boats (i remember another kind of black fish playing that role back when i came here ten years ago, a black fish with orange markings near the tail). the most interesting thing, i think, was a large school of (i think) squirrelfish or mempachi, hiding under a shelf of rock, kind of drifting (asleep?) with the current but staying in the shade; they're nocturnal creatures... but our stay at molokini was cut short. apparently, there was a call from the coast guard saying that all the boats at molokini had to move out. it was interesting, because just before the call came, we happened to look up, and noticed a large flock of frigate birds (iwa) hovering over the island. usually (i think), the iwa birds spend all day out feeding. maybe they came back to the island to roost because of some sudden storm or gust of wind... anyway, we had to get back to the boat (it started rocking a bit as we climbed the ladder).

our ship, the quicksilver, then headed out to a place called turtle town (because it was common to see green turtles there). the waters were too choppy at first, so we kind of wandered south. passed a couple of interesting places, like "little beach" (a nudist beach) and "big beach" (the adjacent large beach). at one point, the captain made a little one-liner: "so at 3:00 is molokini, and at 9:00 is 'no bikini' (with reference to little beach)." we also passed clint eastwood's, oprah winfrey's, jack nicholson's, and some other person (named paris's?) home. and i learned that maui will likely have an active volcano, producing more "real estate" on the southwest side of the island.

oh yeah, other trivia. kahoolawe (the forbidden isle) which lies southwest to maui is now home to some wild goats. it was once seriously considered as the possible haven for four bengal tigers- until someone recalled that bengal tigers CAN swim up to 30 miles (didn't know that!)... wouldn't be pretty if a bengal tiger starting feeding on maui hippies and nudists.

we encountered a couple of spinner dolphins! and, since lynn and i happened to sit on the front of the boat, we had the ideal seats to see them! they were just beneath us, two of them, and they seemed to want to play with us, because whether the boat stopped or moved, they would consistently appear. it was beautiful... i thought it was kinda annoying that, as soon as we spotted the dolphins, a few other ships came by, and basically scared them off (it almost looked like one of the other boats ran right over them!).

at turtle town, not much... it was much deeper than molokini. basically, it looked like we were positioned over a ridge of beautiful coral, and just a little to either side, the sea floor dropped off to walls. it was neat, not a little scary. to be honest, if it weren't for the fact that lynn was with me, and a whole bunch of other leg waving bait, i think i would've been too scared to swim out over the deep parts, near the sheer walls. but i was pretty calm, always surveying the deep waters, hoping to see some large circular shape (a turtle), half-dreading to see a shark or something...

actually, i kinda got disgusted with being a human being as we swam. we had no right to be there! and, jeez, if i were a turtle, why would i want to hang out around there, with all these clumsy, ogling creatures drifting about? a couple of times, i saw snorkelers breaking rules and desecrating the wildlife: one woman grabbed a pretty pinkish plume of coral, clearly with the intent to break it and carry it home; i also saw another guy holding a pencil sea urchin in his hands. gods, what retards! i am surprised that these sanctuaries still exist, when boneheaded tourists (one or two on at least one of the boats that go there EVERY DAY) do things like that.

the only special thing, or thing of note, we saw was a single moray eel, wriggling about when it seemed the coast was clear...

we returned to port at maalaelae (sp???) harbor, fighting a great deal of wind.

by the time we got back to the hotel, i was exhausted. i tried to take a nap, but willow kept crawling all over me...

eventually, i had to babysit willow, kathy and marcus. we went down to the beach, walked along the shoreline, gathering rocks and shells. had no idea what i was doing, just knew i needed to get the kids out and keep them preoccupied. when we returned, i ad lib came up with some sort of "art project" where we would make sculptures out of the stuff we'd picked up...

then, this evening, i took the three kids over to see "kung fu panda." it was a nice, simple outing.

meanwhile, lynn stayed home and watched aiden. his coughing is becoming more of a concern, because it hasn't gone away during this week. lynn was worrying that he was suffering from pneumonia or something... and we had a semi-argument about how to care for him. lynn has it in her head that we should treat aiden's headaches/fevers "preventatively," i.e. putting aiden on a scheduled regimen of tylenol and motrin. i don't believe in this at all. i think this sort of regimen is more for the benefit of the parents than the kid (i.e. keep the kid from complaining). i mean, i see the logic of it, and it maybe keeps the kid from "suffering." but... by medicating like this, how do you know if the kid even has a fever to treat? also, the side-effects of pharmaceuticals, for example, upset stomach (he has been vomiting every now and then... consequence of the over-medication? we'll never know). ANYWAY... i don't want to get too much into it. it's clear that it's not pneumonia anyway, as the coughing is neither constant nor productive...

... i really really really want to go home. i'm not designed to float like this, for extended periods of time. i enjoy life most when i have my feet on the ground, on the path, walking towards a destination... sure, vacations are good to "get bearings," "smell the roses," "appreciate things..." but i think i do a lot of that anyway. i've seen beautiful things here, maybe even come to some interesting conclusions, but enough's enough. tomorrow, i hope, blurs by, and then on sunday, we will be heading HOME.