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7. Full Moon over Lanai Island

Hawaii 2021

Day 7 

A super moon total lunar eclipse was going to take place this morning at 1:11 Hawaii Standard Time. Initially I thought I was going to take a picture of it, but then decided not to: first of all, it was going to be straight above me. Now, if it would be just above the horizon, or at least close enough to it, that would make a much better photograph. Just the moon, red, eeh, not so much. And I’ve seen lunar eclipses before. Oh, and did I mention it was going to be at 1:11am…?

Okay, now that I laid down my case for not photographing it, I got up at around 5:30am, I looked out the window... and behold! A full moon, right above the island of Lanai, looking as if it’s rolling off the island, with a beautiful blue-purple ocean in front of it, and a subtle pink sky above. Now, THAT is something I needed to photograph: I took a few photos horizontally and vertically with varying focal distances (I had put my Sigma 100-400mm on my camera). Plus, several vertical shots at a long focal distance, while moving the camera from left to right, keeping some overlap between the photos. In this way you can create wide high resolution panoramas.

We had to get up early anyway, because today was our snorkeling trip to Molokini Crater. We got in our car and drove to the Maalaea Harbor. The trip was organized by the Pacific Whale Foundation. After checking in, all 74 of us walked to the large catamaran and hopped aboard. Today the Hawaii governor announced that wearing masks outside (i.e. on top of the boat deck) was not necessary anymore. Seats were assigned and breakfast and lunch were brought to us. Not bad. Just the three of us were placed on the top deck in front of the helm. Also excellent. In the distance the little island could already be seen.

While we were sailing the first mate told us a bit about Hawaii tectonics and that Molokini is not a crater but an old vent of Haleakalā volcano, which is the east Maui volcano that is dormant (it erupted last time between 1480 and 1600). Molokini is both a marine and sea bird protected sanctuary. 

It perhaps took about 45 minutes to get there. There were already LOTS of other people in the water from other tours. We were asked if we wanted a wet suit and many people on our boat wanted one. Marie asked if the water is particularly cold in this area. The boat lady said that the water is about 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Marie looked at me, laughed, and said that we would be thrilled in San Diego to have 74 degree ocean water, so we declined the wet suits. We took the slide with our snorkel gear on to get in the water. Other options were ladders on the back of the boat. However, following my strategy of just running into the water without caring (from day 4), we thought taking the slide forces you without hesitation, cold or not. It worked. In fact, we didn’t think the water was cold. Visibility was indeed more than 100 feet, as advertised. 

The newest fish we spotted was a female moa spotted boxfish (I think). I also tried to get a good look of the Bulwer’s petrel birds that nest on the little island. Earlier the boat lady had said that those are the birds flying around here that look like pterodactyls. They indeed do. After swimming around a bit I headed back a littler earlier than most people so I could try to get some photos of those birds with my Nikon and 100-400mm lens. Unfortunately, they were still too far to get some good photographs of them.

Overall, we were a little bit disappointed (hey, no whale sharks I told my daughter about on day 2), but our snorkel tour from 2017 at the Big Island may have spoiled us as that trip hasn’t beaten anything yet after that. Tomorrow we were going on another snorkel trip with Telanani 5 and Kate asked why we were going again. The nice thing is that we didn’t have to drive anywhere as boarding was right at the beach in front of our hotel. And I’m glad we went! It was going to be one of the best!

Read about the day before here

Read about the next day here