Whitecheek Tang
We got up early this morning, and left for the south end of Maui at just about 7 am. First though we used the hose to wash some of the dirt off our car. It is still pretty dirty, and we’ll need to wash it before we return it.
The Ahihi-Kina’u Natural Area Reserve is the most recent lava flow on Maui (sometime in the 15- or 1600’s) and almost all of the area is closed to use. Only a small portion at the north end of the reserve is open for snorkeling. It is about a 400 m walk over rough lava to the water, but the entry to snorkel is very good, a gently sloping black sand and gravel beach.
There were a few, though not a large number, of other snorkelers there this morning. It was a very nice day to snorkel, not too windy, and the bay was quite calm. It was also clear, and there were many, many fish. Most of them were not new to us, but they are large and in a good abundance.
We did see some very large black fish. We were not sure what they were, and we tried to describe them to the park volunteer (who was picking up garbage, and visiting with people on the beach and giving them advice — like where not to get out of the water!) . He didn’t know for sure what they were. I think that we have since identified them as Highfin Chub.
White mouth moray eel
We snorkeled twice before lunch, and once after. It is definitely the best snorkeling we’ve had here on Maui. This afternoon we saw a large Whitemouth Moray Eel. It was lodged in the coral, but didn’t move so I was able to film and photograph it. Later on we saw it swimming, and I followed it for quite a long way.