Aloha

Life since my last post has been crazy busy: harvesting and squirreling away produce from my very productive garden; re-roofing; running a regatta; swimming with the dogs in our record setting, thirty-six, 90 degree + days; just keeping everything well watered...
With the dogs at home joined by Tule Loowit and her family, we then went on a well deserved business vacation to Maui.

Our hotel after the storm clouds had finished dumping their tropical load.

The view from our room deck the evening we arrived.

 Sunset while we enjoyed dinner.

Life-Is-Really-Good view while I enjoyed my room deck breakfast of Kona coffee and cookies (poor Dave was in a meeting). I spent the rest of the morning snorkeling along this reef right outside the door (while poor Dave was still in a meeting).

 Lunch in paradise.

Trees in the resort open-air lobby on my way to go shopping (while poor Dave is still in meetings).

What is a trip to Hawaii without a Lu'au...

 and a beautiful sunset?

The next day we went for a all day boat ride with stops for snorkeling along the way.

Dave so wanting to be a the helm.

 

 The seas were amazingly calm. A large pod of spotted porpoises escorted us to Molokini, the first island...

and another pod of spinner porpoises took us to the Lanai cliffs.

The water was incredible. After a private underwater tour by a naturalist, this vibrant aquarium became even more awe-inspiring (and I was thoroughly bummed I had not brought my waterproof camera).

Sunday was free time. Except for the rain storm at our arrival, the temperatures had been record setting high throughout our stay. Like the rain shower, the humidity was close to 100%. The trade winds had all but disappeared making the water exceptionally calm. Wanting to cool off and put my new aquatic-life knowledge to use, I grabbed by snorkel gear and headed for the water. I had heard there were a lot of large turtles in front of the resort, but the last thing I ever expected was one to blindside me with a flipper touch on the shoulder. My sinuses are still full of saltwater for my surprised scream. I followed it to it's cave on the bottom and got a good visualization of what to look for. Dave watching from shore said he could tell I was doing a grid search of the reef as I searched for more resting turtles. Then a paddle-boarder yelled "turtle!".  I swam over and watched the turtle descend to the sandy bottom. Soon a huge male turtle with at least a 4' diameter shell, joined her. I hovered above throughout the entire, 1/2 hour long, courtship, foreplay and mating (and again was kicking myself for not having my camera). When it was over, she swam away and he surfaced right in front of me. I quickly backed away. His head, with it's sharp beak, looked as big as mine. He had claws at the elbows of his long fins. And, he was looking right at me. I could have touched him had I reached out. I then followed him for another hour, as he lazily fed along the reef. He actually meandered all the way into the beach (to the amazement of the sunbathers) providing me with a rational excuse to get my chilled body and sunburnt back out of the water.
That evening was the farewell party...

 and another amazing sunset.