The Last Glorious Day in Maui

Our last full day in Maui...looking back is a nice break from my studies right now (I'm stuck in the middle of finals, blehhhh). We started out the morning with a whale watching trip out on the ocean. We saw North Atlatic Humpback whales. They come down from Alaska to the warmer waters of Hawaii to mate and give birth. We saw several mother-baby pairs. It was one of the coolest experiences on the trip. Here's one of a mom and her kid about to take a dive:

And their tails:

We also got to see some nice scenic views of the island from the boat:

Toward the end of the trip we came across a very playful little baby. He stuck his head out to say Hi:
Then the Mom got very close to the boat and just floated for a while (you can see the baby on the left):

The pictures don't do these guys justice. They were HUGE! The most amazing moment occurred when we were in about 40-50 feet of water (you could see the bottom) and one of the adult whales decided to swim under our boat. It was astonishing to see something that large right below me in the water.

Unfortunately Jill is really sensitive to motion sickness and she spent all her time on our various boat trips over the week in this position:

We docked in a town called Lahaina (MTV did a surfer show there a fews years back, you may remember). We spent some time there walking around a shopping (it's very touristy but charming). They have a park-like area known as the Banyan Tree because of an enormous banyan tree that grows in the center. It was an amazing tree:

All the off-shoots you see in the background are part of the main tree. It was a fun place to play.

After we got back to our condo we had to go for one last snorkel. Below is Black Rock, the beach we spent most of our time on. You can see the lava formation on the right (hence the name). Under the water there was lots of coral and therefore lots of cool fish to see. People even jumped off the lava. Hawaiian culture believes that this is the point on the island were people's souls leave once they die.

Our Aunt and Uncle planned a big dinner celebration for the last night, so of course I had to get an official Hawaiian dress to wear to the party:

The flowers on our walk to the restaurant were beautiful (as they were everywhere). Here's a well-known hibiscus and my favorite, plumeria:

I'll leave you with a few sunsets. It was a fantastic trip and I hope to be able to go back someday. If you ever have the oppurtunity to visit Maui don't pass it up. I highly recommend it.