Maui Kayaks, Snorkeling - Tom Barefoot's Tours
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Maui Kayaks, Snorkeling - Tom Barefoot's Tours
This morning was one of those classic Maui mornings, the sea was calm and glassy, the skies were lit up with the gentle sunrise light that was slowly making its way down the hillsides as the day matured. Our guide Kaleo took us for a paddle on the kayaks to one of his favorite snorkel spots. He told us stories about taking his son out to this very same place except for in the middle of the night to look for lobsters and sharks. He said that the reef sharks that inhabit this reef are nocturnal and generally stay under cover in ledges and holes during the day but he was confident that he could find some for us in some holes that he knew of in the reef. Right as we jumped off of our kayaks we were greeted by a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle that was cruising in the sand patch that we anchored our kayaks in. After we were done checking out the turtle we came across a giant school of Nenue, which is a variety of chub fish. This was a special school of them because there was a yellow Nenue inside the school of silver ones. This is a genetic mutation that is found in about one in every twenty five hundred Nenue so it was a special sight to see. This yellow fish is often times nicknamed the "Queen" of the school. After we saw the school of Nenue we moved along down the reef exploring the nooks and crannies and observing all the marine creatures we could find. Kaleo picked up some creature off the bottom to show some of the members of our group who were not able to dive down very deep. Then the excitement really began, Kaleo took us to one of the holes where he knew that a shark was most likely sleeping inside to check it out. Sure enough when we got there just as expected there was a white tip reef shark laying low inside of the hole just above the sand. I was able to get some close shots of the shark with my underwater camera. I actually startled the shark trying to get a close up of its tail and it darted to the other side of the cave, which was exciting (I don't know who was startled more, the shark or me!). The reef that Kaleo took us to is one that I have not snorkeled at many times before and I was impressed with the abundance of life on the reef as well as the structure of the reef itself. There were so many caves and trenches that I could swim inside of that were really fun to explore, I thoroughly enjoyed myself snorkeling with Kaleo on this beautiful Maui morning. . -Jake Barefoot
