Molokai, day 5

Our final dives in Molokai today and, like the others here, easy and pleasant.  The same boat, crew and even a repeat of sites we’d visited earlier this week.  Small craft advisories and heavy winds had me a bit nervous about the boat ride to the dive site, but along the south shore things were quite calm.

Again, turtles galore around here, especially near their ‘cleaning station,’ but also a spotted ray, a little eel hiding in the coral, and a conch (not a conch, but a member of that family) shell re-inhabited by a sea slug.

The winning experience of the day, certainly the week, and perhaps the month, was our descent to the second dive.  A big turtle just came right over to hang out by me.  We’re always told to not touch any animals or coral so I resisted the temptation to reach out and pet him, but he was certainly within an arm’s length.

The dives here are like diving with family. Always the same crew, small groups–today just 3 divers and 4 snorkelers–and very low key. It’s possible these folks, the only dive-show on the island, are getting a little lazy about certain things that other dive tours are more strict about…but we found it all comfortable and nice.

Got a snack at the bread shop, returned home to rinse and lay out our gear to dry.  By 1pm back to getting a little work done, taking care of some Surf City-related business—trying to assure we’ll have a place to stay when we return to NC in 4 weeks (for 3 weeks).

Tomorrow, off to Kalaupapa Peninsula for a tour of the area that has served as a leper colony…