Maui Wildlife

On our final day in Maui, it was overcast and cooler.  How is this possible?  You really do get spoiled in the land of Eden.

So, desperate to get off the hotel property and see something new, Laurie and I drove south to Makena Bay Landing.  We found a nice pullout next to the ocean and immediately saw some interesting things.

Here is a red-crested cardinal!  What a beauty.  I don't remember seeing this bird before but I may have on a previous trip here.  It seems that this bird was introduced to Hawaii in the early part of the 20th century from South America.  I'm not sure if it is unwanted on the islands but it sure is perty.

Red-Crested Cardinal

Along the shore, we watched a snorkeler following a green turtle in the bay and I was suddenly wishing that we had brought our snorkel gear!  Makena Bay is supposed to have some good snorkeling.

Then, after snapping some photos of the cardinal, I just happened to turn around to look behind me.  And what to my wondering eyes should appear...but a napping turtle on a tiny secluded rocky beach!  Wow.  I may not have had snorkel gear but at least I had my trusty 300mm zoom lens in hand!

Here's the initial view we had between some downed trees on the shore:

We watched for a while and finally the turtle decided that nap time was over and it was time to get back to the sea.  Like a tractor trailer making a U-Turn on a narrow city street, it took this turtle a long, long time to get turned around and make it back into the water.  So clumsy on land, so incredibly agile and graceful in the water...

I snapped a bunch of shots before he disappeared into the bay but I kind of liked this one with his eye just above the waterline.

So that was one of the highlights of the day for me.  

After this we headed to the shops of Wailea.  Of course shopping is not one of my favorite things to do but I must admit that this was a nice shopping area with a good variety of shops. There were some nice art galleries mixed in with the typical but nice touristy places.  Then, we had a very nice and surprisingly delicious lunch at Tommy Bahama's Cafe overlooking the ocean.

For a final few hours on the island we headed back to the hotel, got changed and jumped in the ocean one last time.  Since there was no sun and there was a breeze, it was a cool dunk. Thankfully, the water was relatively warm so we did manage to stay in for a while.

Then, we visited the hot tub, got a quick workout in at the outdoor cardio area (very nice!), showered, packed, grabbed a bite and then drove to Kahalui for our 10:20pm red-eye flight.

Before boarding the plane, I was already thinking about returning to this magical place.  Hawaii will do that to you...