drowning always stayed with me. It made me stay away from deep waters. Hence, I never had once stepped into the deep side of the pool without lingering along the walls (in the literal sense). Summer had ended too quickly and I hadn't really gotten a chance to be completely comfortable in water. After asking a bunch of friends who had snorkeled and after coaxing and all, I finally agreed to try snorkeling. We booked a snorkeling package one week before we headed to Maui. Chandan and Payal dropped out of it as Payal was extremely hydrophobic. The day finally arrived. We woke up early morning to drive to Maalea Harbor to embark on the cruise boat. We got our admission (also raffle) tickets and boarded. We were welcomed by an enthusiastic crew on board and were served bagel - crème cheese and freshly brewed Kona coffee for breakfast. With sprinting motor speed, in no time we arrived at the fascinating Molikini crater. All the participants were given snorkeling gears and the newbie's (us) were instructed on how to put them on. We had it all, snorkel, flippers, boogie board an extra floatation belt for non-swimmers. Shashi got a warm suit to keep him from freezing (even though the water was tepid and the day was perfect sunshiny). The boat also had a glass bottom cubicle for non-snorkelers for viewing the sea life. Sunil decided to stay put on board to watch Esha and perhaps use the boat's glass bottom feature to witness the marine life. In our group, I volunteered to venture into the water first. I just wanted to get on with it, as waiting would be just painful. As an amateur may do, I went to the Life guard and made sure that he would come to rescue me if I were in peril. Of course he nodded yes. Well with this assurance I had nothing more to do but to take the plunge. I got into the water, with arms stretched forward holding the boogie board. I paddled with both feet and whoosh with the ease of flippers and the choppy water I had gone far. I stopped and turned to see the boat away at a distance. I pulled the board close and it made me stand in the water. The floater kept me up but the bouncy choppy water made me panic. I was no longer comfortable and I thought I was about to die. With one arm clinging to the board for dear life I waved back with the other signaling out to the life guard. It took a minute for Sneha to sense my discomfort and conveyed it to the life guard. Off he came to my rescue (even though it was impossible for me to drown). He dragged me with my arm I hung on to the board and paddled to assist in getting back to the boat as quickly as possible. Once I got on board it all felt safe again.Watching all the skilled swimmers enjoying themselves in the sea, it dawned on me, how petty I had been. I stood there grunting at my insipid behavior and even worse on my act of in-achievement. Right there in front of me was the enormous sea to drown myself in shame. Next to go was Sneha. Bold and daring she got in and flapped around for a while and then returned to the boat. Her snorkel had lost the air seal and she had swallowed some water. She fixed her snorkel and then got back in again. Effortlessly with every stroke she progressed so amazingly and seemed to be so comfortable. She also invited the official cruise photographer to take her under water snaps.
I felt so jealous at the same time humiliated. Building up some courage I decided to give it another try. It was assured that the life guard will come to my rescue no matter what and I would not drown anyways. So I geared up again and with some words of advice from the life guard to relax and stretch my arms forward, I took courage to put myself back into the amazing aqua marine. This time I let my face dip into the water and was awestruck by the view of striking marine life and the ocean bed. It was all so clear and breathtaking. All my fears suddenly vanished and with every tiny stroke I took it felt more relaxing. I steered with the feet to turn when I wanted and with ease I was able to gain control. It all seemed so easy now. Sneha soon invited me for an underwater snapshot with her and Shashi took courage and followed. It was so much fun now that going back on board didn't seem to be a requirement. I swam till my calves felt sore and returned safely back to the boat.
Now it was a different kind of struggle, to pull myself up on board. Wow! The effort it took me. I realized how out
of space I had gotten. The body gained weight with every inch rising above water, so I dipped back and forth and finally got myself up. It was exhausting, but the snorkeling experience had been awesome.Yummy Taro burgers were cooking and not so guilty to eat now. We all stood with a great sense of accomplishment. As an icing on the cake, Sneha was the raffle draw winner of a lovely t-shirt. The cruise ended half past noon when we docked at Maalea.
Sunset at Kaanapali Beach
From there we headed to Kaanapali's Whalers Village shopping complex. Chandan Payal joined us after a while. They had adventured to the south west shores of Ki hei earlier that day, while we had been snorkeling. They expressed their enthusiasm of having enjoyed the KiHei beaches.
In the shopping complex, we window shopped mostly, and occasionally bought a thing or two. Just before dusk we took a walk by the beach shore. Many big hotels stood by the shore, like Marriot, and Hilton. Kaanapali is one of the commercial beach spots in Maui. Many people who like crowd and frolic come here. We settled at a spot in the beach sand to witness the sunset. It was beautiful. We posed for pictures and Esha was all so thrilled to recite A-Z as she wrote on sand with me. Past Sunset it was dinner time.
We headed to south of Lahaina as our GPS directed us to an Italian Restaurant. We wanted a combination of good food and a bar. After parking our cars we realized that we were just blocks away from the Banyan Tree. We knew that many stores, restaurants and bars lined the shore. We located a grill cum bar and headed in. The menu wasn't appealing neither for the carnivore palette nor for the herbivores (Payal & Me). We decided to have some drinks and starters. After drinks, we headed back to the Penne Pasta restaurant the GPS had pointed earlier and ordered dinner. After a long tiring yet amazing day we headed back to our Hale Hiluhilu home.
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