whale spotting and night dive with manta rays

Time change has an affect for sure on me, I am awake around 5:30 which really is my usual 8:30. But I can manage to toss and turn till 8 am local time. Today I got up made coffee and served the prince his in bed then did household chores like empty the diswasher and sweep the floor. Our usual fresh pineapple breakfast was enjoyed when he awoke. Another great looking weather day we ventured to check out the pool.

ginger (left) and hibiscus (right) line the walk to our condo

this house to the south is so lovely and was always quiet

There were allot of boats anchored in front of us but we could not see what the attraction was. Long after all left and we were relaxing on our lanai I spotted a whale fluke. It was not long before a boat spotted it too and scared it off ;(

 Salad and barbecue steak for lunch, yes please. Nap time for S.

We loaded up and headed out for our evening excursion around 2:30 wanting to hit a garage for some air as the Jeep had an alert. Sure enough one tire was only at 14 pounds. The kind garage guy filled them all and we were on our way. Of course we were early to the marina but checked in at 3 and wandered around looking at boats and such prior to loading on our boat. We even got some inside info from the crew while we waited. Eventually all 28 arrived and we were loaded up. (One family had 10 kids, some married so was a big group) They take you out and then you wait for sunset. The sunset on the water was fabulous.  I waited in the boat while Sheldon jumped in early to snorkel the area. As he was doing so Wyanoma (not positive on her name) a 650 pound monk seal arrived and was gnawing on a nearby boats lines. They say there are only 16 left on the island. Eventually they shooed her on and the sunset and we all jumped in. The next 45 minutes were spent hanging onto a modified surfboard with lights that  draw the plankton to them and hopefully the manta rays.

We saw a few farther down but never saw any close ;( The boat tour next door had barrel rolls and such but our group seemed to be flailing too much which keeps them away. Near the end of our search we did go over the "campfire” an area where the divers were on the bottom and we could see Koi (Co-ee) a 14 ft span manta ray swirling around. It was an ok trip but we both agree that being on the bottom around the campfire in scuba gear would be a WAY better choice for the $$ spent.

Brrrr it was true you cool down in about that time so back to the boat, put on a warm coat, grab a hot chocolate and back to the marina we went. We were back by 730 and to the condo by 8. Hot showers were welcome. I was not the slightest bit tired now so watched a few Netflix episodes while S snoozed.