Happy Valentines Day! We sailed from Molokai to Maui, 26 miles leaving early since we heard there would be heavy winds. We got some but most of the trip was pretty calm. Our goal was to check out some mooring buoys to go snorkeling from but even though I got current information off Maui Dive website we couldn't find the two listed as the Marriott buoys.

We went on to Mala Wharf and Lahaina experiencing the rolly conditions Maui is famous for. It was Monday, Presidents Day so lots of great art displays under the huge Banyan tree in downtown Lahaina.
East Lahaina or Waianukole anchorage was new to us but less rolly since we were further away from the North Winds. The next anchorage down was Awalua Beach and we noticed all the tourist boats that would normally go to the north beaches were coming here.
Friday the 19th we planned to take two couples from Seattle out whale watching and we oohed and aahed all day long. We now know about lob tailing, flippering, fluke up and round out. The next day the weather was still calm enough for snorkeling at Honolua Bay but we couldn't help slowing down the boat while a mom and baby whale stayed on the surface for a good ten minutes. Honolua had a fair amount of tourists and boats but we sat secure and went snorkeling 2x seeing ten turtles during our 2nd snorkel on the north side.

The winds came up during the night so we quickly decided not to sail into them going to Lanai but instead we went down wind to Kahului. We were flying with just the jib out then the winds died so we motored knowing we had a short period before the predicted high swells would hit.

The winds came back fierce on the nose and we maintained 8 knots as it gusted to 25 knots. We opted to run down wind to roll up the jib and even that was difficult. The last 4 miles we motored to get into the Harbor but it was slow going. We anchored in a West anchorage knowing this was the best protection but the Harbor master asked us to leave. When he agreed there wasn't another option, he had us more to the regular center anchorage and it was better once the high swells began. It was fun watching all the surfers taking advantage of waves INSIDE the breakwater. It is now Wednesday, we have just 12 hours before the next high swells begin so we are hurrying back to protection on Molokai, 33 miles away . We will have sailed over 200 miles since leaving Honolulu on the 8th.