Good bye Hawaii!

 

We have a late flight (10:00pm), which means we had the whole day to enjoy this beautiful resort, and even part of the evening Luau at sunset.  I could stay here a few days more doing just that….  But then again, we are now eager to go home.

 I went for an early snorkel, because the waves are calmer in the morning.  Well, not that early….  9am-ish… we had to have a luxurious breakfast first….These common myna’s like breakfast too…. They stalk the tables and even though the waiters are very prompt at clearing them, if there is a 10 second delay, they descend on them!  

I love snorkeling almost as much as i love helicopter rides…… and it is a lot cheaper….There were not quite as many fish as last  time (there were plenty, see bottom of blog), but the corals were very beautiful!

 I was glad to get a better picture of the Hawaiian official fish - the HumuHumunukunukuapua’a (not making that up, it’s its actual name).  They are plentiful, but shy, so I’ve had a hard time getting a good picture.  Then I swam a bit in the clear and warm water, before sitting on the beach for a good long time, reading my book.  It was wonderful!

Joe met with another one of his grad school friends from Stanford (apparently, Hawaii is popular with those that got a PhD in Chemistry at Stanford in the 1980’s….)

In the afternoon, I walked along the Wailea Beach path, which follows the seashore for few miles.  

On the one side are many (MANY!) resorts and luxury condos.  But you don’t have to look at them.

 Instead, you can look at the ocean and the rocky coast, and sit for a long time watching the turtles swim around.  

There were 3 or  4 in this little cove, but they refused to stay still long enough for me to take a picture.  This is the best I could do.  

  

In spite of the many resorts, the beaches are not very crowded, and in fact, if you walk a little bit past the hotels, you get the beach all to yourself.   

Our guide told us that there are many homeless people in Hawaii (I have to admit…. Not a bad place to be homeless….), and indeed, along the farthest beach, there were homeless encampments.  They have a nice view. 

In the evening, we had time to join our group for a luau at sunset, before heading out to the airport.   That’s always bittersweet, and we hope to see some of them again (maybe in Perth, Australia??) or maybe in NYC.

Flowers and egrets from the walk:

This is a breadfruit, which is in fact a type of fig:  you can see this well from the shape of the leaf.

Fish and corals from snorkeling.  

Koh fish and heron from hotel pool: