Mike in the Wild

As if I needed another Siren's call to lure me back to Maui, I discovered a spotted eagle ray off of Maluaka Beach.  I had never seen one on any of my frequent trips to the island where, until my late morning stop at Maluaka the day before flying home to Phoenix, I always considered turtles, moray eels, and the occasional barracuda as my most thrilling finds.  My brother-in-law was visiting Maui at the same time and had just told me about the time he and my sister-in-law had swam with several a few hundred feet off of their time-share's beach in Kaanapali.  It had been a one-time encounter in the more than twenty years that the couple have been regular visitors to the island. Just before my own encounter, I had snorkeled for the second time in two days at Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve in South Maui.   The 807 acres of protected ocean off shore from a stark volcanic landscape is closed to motorized boating and to fishing because, as the signs say, "Wildlife Co...

You're not on the Big Island of Hawaii long before you hear about the reef manta rays.  In fact based on all the promotions you might think these gigantic fish are a bigger tourism draw than the hot lava a couple hours drive away in Volcanoes National Park.  When night falls shortly after your late afternoon arrival in Kailua, you can don a thermal wetsuit, board a charter boat, and dive or snorkel in floodlit water to see the rays feeding.  Afterwards hot soup is available to take the non-tropical chill off.   Hot soup to warm up in Hawaii?  That doesn't sound like my dream trip to the Aloha State. Fortunately there's another option for seeing rays of a different sort and during the hotter, sunnier daytime.  Simply keep your eyes peeled for spotted eagle rays whenever you're near or in the ocean.  In fact on the first morning of my visit last week I saw one passing from a small bay into the manmade lagoon at my resort in Waikoloa.  With the ...