Under the sea.

One of the days we were in Hawaii we drove to the town of Lahaina and took a submarine ride with Atlantis Adventures. What a great excursion! We saw many beautiful fish and learned a lot about the fascinating and fragile ecosystem of a coral reef. Our guide was very entertaining, keeping a nice balance between factual information and humor.


Riding a boat out to the submarine


Waiting for the sub to surface. Can you spot it under the water?


Here she comes!




There she is!


Preparing to go down the hatch




On board the Atlantis. Everyone has his own window for viewing


As we approached the ocean floor we saw many large and small fish


The colors were more vivid than my camera was able to capture


A shark! Notice that the little fish aren't afraid of him. But when another kind of fish approached, the school turned very quickly and swam the other way


We passed by this shipwreck. Our guide told us this was Atlantis I but that the company had made some design changes for the Atlantis sub we were on! In reality this was a very old ship whose hull had rusted through.


The ship now serves as a makeshift reef for many fish

After surfacing we boarded the boat again and headed for shore. We saw several signs of humpback whales: spray from blowholes and tails slapping the water, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of any of them.

Upon disembarking we walked around the historical town of Lahaina. We enjoyed a fun and delicious lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise and then stopped to admire the magnificent Banyan tree near the old courthouse.


The Pioneer Inn - hosted such famous guests as Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Frank Sinatra in its prime


Lahaina is a charming little oceanfront town


Enjoying lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. The open-air restaurant overlooks the ocean on Lahaina's Front Street


This beautiful Banyan tree was planted in 1873 by Christian missionaries. Standing more than 60 feet high, it stretches over a 200-foot area and shades two-thirds of an acre. The tree has twelve major trunks in addition to its huge core


Hockey Boy and Dots with the Banyan Tree