Maui Day 1

Will, Grandpa and I headed to the Expedia center to pick up our tickets and make some plans.  The kids stayed behind and William took Kevan and Ben swimming for awhile.

We made our plans for the week in Maui, purchased tickets for things (not telling what til it happens), and were on our way.  We watched the kids swim for awhile, and then got everybody dressed and ready to go.

We headed off to the Maui Ocean Center, an aquarium that goes through each level of the coral reef showing all of the creatures that can be found. 

After the coral reef section there are seaturtle tanks and shark tanks and a tide pool with critters to touch.  We had audio devices that described things along the way.

From there we headed to Snorkel Bob's to rent some snorkeling equipment and boogie boards for the week.  Then we went to Ulua beach.  The water felt like a mildly heated pool, not the kind that actually feel warm when you get in, but the kind that don't feel cold at all.

William, Kevan and I went out snorkeling a little while Will and Ben boogie boarded.  William and I saw a seahorse, but nothing else so we put our stuff on the shore and just swam a little. 

Then Will wanted to snorkel so I went out with him to the rocky area that looked like it would have more critters. 

William and Ben were boogie boarding, and Kevan was just swimming around.

There were tons of beautiful fish around the coral, and sea urchins, etc.  Then I saw it!  A giant sea turtle!  I literally shouted into the water when I saw it, and then grabbed Will to show him.  I couldn't have grabbed both ends of his shell with each hand, he was so big, and only a few feet away!  We showed him to some snorkelers near us and Will and one of the other snorkelers chased after the turtle and touched him (you're not supposed to do that, but he didn't know that.)  So we decided we should get the kids. 

William came over but didn't want to use his snorkel anymore.  Kevan and Ben came out then, and Kevan got to see a few different turtles.  Ben was having a hard time with the snorkel and staying afloat so Will and I were dragging him around trying to get him to look.  Finally, he saw one!  In the meantime, while trying to hold him up and swim I scraped my knee up on the coral (you're not supposed to do that either; you're not supposed to touch it at all).  Oops! 

We headed back to the hotel, and then to dinner where Ben crashed out instead of eating.  On the way home Kevan was laughing hysterically about this stupid reggae song that came on (Will is listening to "island music" all the time in the car), and when we got back to the room him and Will were quite delirious.

Oh yeah, on the way to dinner we stopped to enjoy the sunset.

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