Kapalua Beach, Molokai in background
Unfortunately good things must come to an end. Though we are looking forward to going home, we’ve had a beautiful stay in a very nice place, and tonight will be the last. We don’t leave Maui until late tomorrow, and fly overnight, so we will still have the better part of the day to enjoy tomorrow as well.
Crown of Thorns starfish
Today we once more snorkeled at Kapalua Bay. It was rather windy, even by the early time we got there (we were one of the first vehicles in the parking lot) and so the visibility wasn’t as good, especially close to shore. However, out towards the mouth of the bay, though the surf was rough, it was better visibility. We saw most of the same fish as usual, but did spot this Crown of Thorns starfish in about 5 metres of water. The Crown of Thorns has very toxic spines (didn’t know that before I read about it tonight on Wikipedia) and is a predator of hard coral. There is some concern that it’s population may be increasing, but this doesn’t appear to be certain.
We are mostly packed already, so tomorrow we will once more go to the beach and swim until at least noon. Then after that we will have to head back towards the airport.