Rested and ready for more adventure, we decided to head north and explore the area around the Nakalele Blowhole and the Ohai Trail. After a slow morning, we made our way out to the slow going winding road ready to stop and see whatever looked interesting. On the way out, we drove right past, then stopped at an overlook of Honolua Bay. The water looked so incredibly pristine; we knew we needed to visit on our way back and were happy we packed the snorkeling gear.
We finally made it to the Blowhole and started the hike down to the water. There were hand-painted signs all over the place reminding us how dangerous the Blowhole can be and how powerful the ocean was in that area. Being a bit more adventurous myself, I took the warnings with a grain of salt that I would momentarily regret later on. After exploring the Blowhole for a bit, I decided I wanted to get a closer look at the waves that were feeding it. I climbed up onto a rock ledge about 30 feet above the water and approximately 10-20 feet away from a no-return cliff from the sea.
As I was up there shooting the coastline and marveling at the massive power the ocean displayed, I heard a wave much louder than the rest and suddenly felt 60% wetter then I did a moment before. An absolute massive wave had just crashed and sprayed all over me. I wasn't fearful of falling in as I had planted myself reasonably well and being wet in that weather felt quite nice, but my camera didn't have it. It seems like massive amounts of salt water is no match for the weather sealed camera. Fortunately, it was just temporary, but my mode dial locked up comply giving me only the automatic mode. Before I was able to fix it by leaving the camera on the dash f the car to dry out, I felt like a total stooge.
After hiking the Ohai Trail and nearly having the area to ourselves, we decided to make our way back to Honolua Bay for a swim. One of the reasons we were drawn to the area was the thick jungle like section you had to hike through to get to the water. Unknown to us, re randomly stumbled across one of the best places to snorkel in Maui. After a bit of swimming, we were swimming amongst the coral and what felt like thousands of fish. The highlight of the swim was a massive sea turtle that showed up right before we came in. It felt magical; it was like being in a different world.
