Lanai snorkel and wild dolphin watch

We headed out to another Hawaiian island to snorkel and were told we would possibly see some dolphins along the way.  The island we headed to was Lanai, it used to be a huge pineapple plantation, the Pacific Whale Foundation was the company that hosted this adventure. It was a beautiful morning and we were all excited to go!

Here are Makenna, Emily and Lindsay right after we boarded the boat

And here's one of everyone - the sun was pretty bright, just ask Lindsay

As we headed out of Lahaina Harbor, we started almost immediately seeing whales.  Several times the captain had to power down the boat because it's a law that they can't be within 100 feet of them.  The whales can get as close as they want and this one was only about 50 feet away......

As we got closer to Lanai, Chris got some wet suits for himself, Ali and Kenna - they're ready to go!

They took us to a place where the wild dolphins were - I absolutely LOVE dolphins and think they are so amazing. It was fantastic to see them in the wild.....breaching, swimming, spinning.... it was awesome!

Me and Kenna as she was preparing to get into the water to snorkel

Chris decided he would go in by way of the slide....

Waving to let us know it was all good!

Chris is helping Ali get acclimated to the deep ocean while Baylie looks on

Ali opted to stay on a boogie board to snorkel so Chris pulled her along

Kenna, headed out to meet them

Chris and Kenna

Baylie got brave enough to go with Makenna but she also wanted to stay on a boogie board

Emily on board the boat

On the way back to Maui, we saw tons and tons of whales.  Chris was funny, walking around the boat trying to get the best pictures of them.  We came across a group of them vying for the female - the instructor on board said there were at least 4 males all trying to get the attention of the 1 female.  It was so amazing to see them in action - here are 2 that have surfaced

Here are about 3

Watching the whales was so fantastic, we were enamored by them and even though we had seen a lot, we all looked each time someone saw one as if seeing one for the first time!

My cute little man, Jace enjoying the boat ride!

This was such a fun excursion! The wind came in and the waves really picked up so we had to leave the snorkel spot a bit earlier than we were supposed to.  The boat was rocking and jumping waves like mad, it's a good thing none of us get sea sick, although we can't say the same for another passenger! We had a wonderful day snorkeling (some of us) and watching the wild dolphins and whales - so FUN!