Muse by David Teitsma

Everyday so far has been busy with tours, trips, and hikes. So much so, that I have only swim a couple of times.

Today, I took it easy and relaxed around the hotel. First off I read my book, The Appeal, by the pool. After it was a little warmer and sunny out, I tried to find some beautiful fish and coral by snorkeling. I started off in front of our hotel, however I saw some fish, but nothing to remarkable. Actually there was lots of trash in the water in front of our hotel, I threw out what I could find. I could tell that the waves were breaking on a reef further out, however when I attempted to go out there the reef almost reached the top of the water, so I could swim past.

So, I got out of the water and made my way down to the Sheraton with my mom. Every once in a while I went in the water and tried to find an awesome reef to no avail.

Down by the Sheraton and the Whaler the water was really deep, but very clear. The salt water easily kept me afloat, and warm enough to stay in for a while. I saw some beautiful fish here some with dozens of bright colors swimming around the occasional speck of coral.

Down by "Black Rock" in front of the Sheraton I joined many other snorkelers (I was along up to this point) swimming around the lava rock protruding from the beach. Many people were jumping from high off the rocks. There were more stunningly beautiful fish around this area. After an hour of snorkeling I had my fill, so I read for a while on the beach.

Sadly many people stood on or touched the coral. Although it was already dead, I'm sure that this carelessness is what caused it to die. Touching some coral causes the 'film' on the outside of it to break apart leaving it vulnerable, possibly killing the decades worth of growth.

This is our hotel lobby, which included penguins, parrots, tons of flowers and beautiful decorations.

What a huge chandelier and there are two of them!

In the afternoon, the three of us drove South to a beach along. Right where we parked there was a sign warning about possible shark attacks. Yikes!

There was a lot of coral here. I had a great time snorkeling with my dad while looking at the beautiful fish and colorful coral. However the coral came right up to the waterline so you had to snake your way in the ‘valleys’ where it was deep enough to swim. After we swam around for a bit it started to seem like a maze to get back to shore.

Lulu’s was our destination for dinner. Even though it is located in the mall it was a very elegant, tasty and inexpensive restaurant. We went for happy hour where the whole menu was half off! My Maui Maui had an incredible sauce and was presented beautifully.

I took some long exposures around the hotel. This was really fun and I also got to use my Gorillapod that I received for Christmas.

I love how the colors turned out.