osodecanela | Tourist season.......

After hitting Walmart for assorted sorteds on our first morning, we decided to do a little tourist exploring. I'm a major fan of the Aquarium in Monterey, and had heard good things about the smaller Aquarium in Maui. It was all of 15 minutes from Kihei on the south shore, headed westward towards Lahaina.

The entry price is a bit stiff, but was worth it. The very first exhibit is this pond of native local tropical fish, close enough it's almost a 'petting zoo'.

LJ in fact kept tapping one particular fish,

who in turn kept coming back for more; the fish would then would surface, his head out of the water and would then spit directly at LJ.

To be frank, I'm not sure which of them seemed to enjoy this game more. This one fish certainly seemed bent on coming back for more and more.

This Aquarium also boasts a glass tunnel through one of its major tanks. It was a delight for the eye to be in the tunnel watching sharks and rays swimming above, below and on either side of you.

This ray put on quite a graceful show. There were also a bevy of hammerheads, but none that were slow enough for my camera to do any justice. They are most curious beasts to see, particularly up close. Makes you wonder what in nature would select for this evolutionarily.

There's a restaurant at the aquarium, with decent food, and prices that while higher than I expected, turned out to be rather typical for the island. The view was stupendous though. And the fish was superb. And very, very fresh!