Living in Maui

We were not planning on posting anything during our stay here on Maui, but several friends have asked us to, so here it is. Our plan is to post interesting photos, stories, and just keep everyone informed on how life is over here.

Update 7 - 5/20/2008
Well, I am sitting here at the Honolulu airport and thought I would give one final update to our Maui page. These last few months have been wonderful. Since the last update we have also had visitors. Erin, Jessie, Joe, Mel, and Shawna came to visit us first and then shortly after Spencer came to visit us. Here are a few photos from the last few weeks.

Shark & Turtle near the exit of the cave we were diving in.


Master of camoflauge, this frogfish waits for his next meal to swim close enough to his mouth.


Squid photo from a night dive.


Shelley


Shelley


Shelley & Spencer


Mel learning to dive


Our new and old boat in a rare photo together (the new one is on the left).


My boss let Spencer go out on the old boat with us for a quick spin.


Everyone before the Warren & Annabell magic show, highly recommended.


Shelley & Mel Taking our Kayak out for a spin at Makena Landing.


Everyone at Dragons Teeth in Kahana.


When I wash my scuba gear, the neighbor's chickens always run over to drink the water.

Are little friend helping clean up after dinner (we caught him and released him in the sugar cane fields).


This customer on our dive boat happened to have the same shorts as me.

Update 6 - 4/12/2008
Here are a few new photos of what we have been up to in the past few weeks. Again, I apologize if most these photos are from the ocean, but we spend a lot of our time out there. We were lucky enough to be on the boat when the conditions were just right to dive South Maui. This only happens a few times a year. We went down to Golden Arches Dragon Reef and Split Reef Pinnacle. We were the only boat for miles and had unbelievable dives. On our dive we swam through an underwater double arches so large you could drive a bus through it. The coral looked so healthy and we saw many rare fish. On the way back we saw this pod of Spinner Dolphins. The captain let me jump off the boat with my camera and photograph them. It was an incredible day.

Scuba Shack's Boat


Kendall at Work


South Maui Coast - Only Divable 3 or 4 Times a Year






I had two dreams about finding a Blue Stripe Pipefish and after weeks of looking, I finally found one.


Red Stripe Pipefish


This is Shelley's favorite eel - Hawaiian Dragon Eel - Very Rare (my boss who has been diving here for 30 years has never seen one)


Titan Stonefish


Rrrrr


Viper Moray Eel - Known as one of the more aggressive eels. .


Here is a piece of foam at the surface.


The affects of pressure on the same piece of foam at 130 below the surface.


Dolphin photo taken in South Maui.


Dolphin photo from our boat.


We went star watching. This photo was a 90 second exposure.


Shelley saw this centipede run into our house. I had to relocate him.


Shelley found this snail and several of his friends in the trash can after it rained a lot. We think our landlady relocated him.

Update 5 - 3/30/2008
Sorry for such a delay in updating, we have been so busy. I have been working up to 5 or 6 days a week on the dive boat and Shelley had a couple busy weeks at Coldstones due to Spring Break. Sometimes if the dive boat is not full, my boss will let Shelley come out and dive with us, which has been very fun. We have been meeting people from all over the world and are just having a great time here. I have been diving a lot, so I apologize in advance if most of these photos are underwater.

Here is a beach chair Shelley and I found about 50 feet underwater in an area nobody dives. The chair must have been there for a few years as there are already small corals growing on it. A large eel lives there as well as probably 20 to 30 fish. In another decade or so it will probably be covered with coral and be a full fledge small reef.


Here is Shelley diving in a cave.










The most rare fish I have found so far a Big Longnose Butterflyfish Black Morph. I found him down at 105 feet at Molokini in this photo he is next to a regular Longnose Butterflyfish.


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Devil Scorpionfish the size of shoe Shelley found yesterday.


This little fish is only 2 cm long.


Baby Spotted Eagle Ray we say yesterday while diving.


Shelley's beach creation.


Shelley & I Surfaced at the end of an underwater cave.

Update 4 - 3/10/2008
Wow we almost made it a month without updating this page! We have been keeping very busy. Shelley got a job working at Cold Stones and has been having fun. I got a job working as a Divemaster on a scuba boat and have also been having fun. My cousin Susan and her friend Jake came to visit too! We had a lot of fun with them and explored the island a little more with them. Here are some photos we have snapped in the last 3 weeks.

Shelley & Susan


The Blowhole


The waters near the Blowhole. I really want to dive here, but the entry is very tricky. See the turtle?


Dragons Teeth


Here is a photo I snapped down 53 feet of a Bicolor Anthias and a Green Lionfish


Hawaiian Swimming Crab - Awesome Eyes


Harlequin Shrimp


Yellow Tang


Here is a baby Frogfish Shelley found. Look how tiny this little guy was. After I snapped this photo he climbed up on my pinky finger.


This is a photo of an adult Frogfish. Incredible camouflage. Photo by Jerry of Go Dive Maui


Here is a photo of a Green Sea Turtle next to Shelley and I. This is a very common sight on our dives. This is another great photo taken by Jerry of Go Dive Maui. Jerry was my instructor for my PADI Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, and Divemaster certifications. He was kind enough to let Shelley come out on a few of the training dives. If you are coming to Maui and interested in diving, please contact Jerry he does a great job and even conducts a Discover Scuba diving program for non-certified divers.


'Iao Needle a neat sight about 15 minutes from our place.


Taking advantage of a free car wash


This last photo is a stock photo of the Kayak Shelley and I bought. The box says it is not for ocean use, but we have taken it miles off shore for whale watching and even took all 120 pounds of our scuba gear out the other day and dove off it (we took it to a shipwreck 3/4 miles off shore).


Finally, here is a photo I took of several Humpback Whales swimming off shore the other day.

Update 3 - 2/15/2008
Yesterday we hiked 2 miles to a cliff that overlooks Jaws, a certain wave break that produces some of the largest waves in the world when conditions are right. Yesterday the conditions were right. The waves travel at up to 30 MPH and the surfers have to be towed in by Jet Ski to surf the waves. Here are a couple photos I took. The second photo has my estimation for the wave height with the surfer being 5.5 feet crouched down.

Update 2 - 2/12/2008
Here is my new license.

Update 1 - 2/7/2008
Well Shelley and I have settled in. It took us two days to find a reasonable and clean place to live. We have a small studio, which is actually an upgrade from our place in San Luis Obispo. We are several blocks from the beach in North Kihei. Our landlord is a total hippy and does tie-dye for a living at craft fairs. She is so nice and has been very accommodating to our short rent period. Here are a few photos of our place.

But our story on Maui starts a few days before we moved into our studio. We arrived on Maui January 29th to a snow capped Haleakala. For the first two nights we stayed with Joe whom we meet on couchsurfing.com. It's a free network for traveling people who offer couches for overnight guests. Joe has been amazing! He helped show us around and give us hints on how to find a place to rent. He was even kind enough to take us whale watching. Even after leaving Joe's place we have hung out several times and become good friends.

Snow Capped Haleakala


Photo of a Humpback Whale I took during our Whale Watching Trip

Shelley and I have both been diving several times since our arrival here. It is whale season right now and it is difficult to not spot a whale within 3 minutes of standing on shore. Unfortunately, we have not yet seen one underwater, but we have heard them singing on nearly every dive. I have been furthering my SCUBA diving certifications and completed my Advanced Open Water training on Tuesday. I have two more certifications to reach my goal of Dive Master. Shelley is working on finding a job but is in no hurry. Today she helped out with my certification by planning the panicked diver and unconscious diver for me to practice my rescue skills on. Here are some photos I snapped while diving.

We miss everyone, but we are certainly having a wonderful time so far.

Here is a photo of the one package we mailed to ourselves. It made it.