When you think of Maui in Hawaii, what comes to mind are beaches, luaus, surfboards, Mai Tai's and all the many tourists enjoying them. But there is a world of native wildlife teaming just past the shore line in the surf, the reefs and deeper. It only takes a snorkel and a pair of fins to explore the exotic animals that thrive there, and an inexpensive underwater camera to preserve their images for future posts on "Mike in the Wild." Here are a few snapshots as an introduction to what lies ahead!
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| Green sea turtle. |
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| Green sea turtle, close-up. |
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| Reef triggerfish or humuhumunukunukuapua'a, Hawaii's state fish. |
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| Star-eye parrotfish with Christmas wrasse who seems to follow, eating scraped debris that the bigger fish trails. |
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| Black triggerfish. |
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| Bluespine unicornfish. It was unusual to see a specimen like this one with his 'horn' extending beyond his mouth. |
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| Whitemouth moray eel in coral. |
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| Endangered Hawaiian monk seal on the beach in Kaanapali. |
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| Mike snorkeling in Kapalua Bay on Maui with Molokai in the background. |
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| I'iwi or scarlet honeycreeper, an endemic bird to Hawaii, photographed in Hosmer Grove. It takes a trip to higher elevations like Haleakala National Park to see native birds like this one. |
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