Canoe Ride and Snorkel

On Tuesdays and Thursdays the Kihei Canoe Club offers rides to visitors for a donation.
I went this morning, had to be there by 7 to sign up,ugh.
They only have a limited number of seats so I didn't want be late.
They put 2 or 3 experienced paddlers with 3 or 4 newbies, six people in a boat.
You then have to drag your boat down the beach and launch it into the surf.
These are big heavy outriggers so it isn't easy. As the boat enters the water you have to get in quickly as it is still moving forward to get out of the shore break.
I had the bad luck to be sitting in seat 3 and was informed by our leader that I had to do the count, which I had no idea about. It was explained that I had to count the strokes in my head until 13 then yell "HUP" which is the signal to switch your paddling to the other side.
At the same time we all had to match the front paddler's stroke to remain in unison .
Watching her and trying to keep count in my head was pushing my brain to it's limit!
We had only paddled for about 15 minutes when we came upon a mother Humpback whale and it's baby. Thankfully we had to stop paddling as you are not supposed to approach too closely or disturb them.
We floated for about a 1/2 hour watching them which was very special. They came within about 30 ft., just rolling and diving. One of those moments to remember!
We then returned to the beach , my stressful counting job was over.

I came back to the condo then after breakfast we drove up to Olowalu or 14 mile marker Beach to snorkel.
The beach is 20 ft from the road , you park on the shoulder then you just wade in and start swimming.
Lots of colorful coral and some nice fish though not as many as we have seen in the past.
We had made sandwiches so we had our lunch on the beach.
Came back home and started the laundry, looking out to our beach we saw everyone was watching a group of about 7 whales out in front fairly close to shore. Fun to watch.
Tony Roma's ribs from Costco for dinner tonight. Our first week behind us.