I was fortunate to have a week of travel time in Maui, with a Sunday with no commitments. As fate would have it, the local masters swimmers have a regularly scheduled group ocean swim that departs from the beach next to the resort where we were staying. What a blast! If you can imagine, I'm going from Minnesota in January to the open water of Hawai'i, and it was a beautiful sight.
Several interesting observations: the locals wearing wetsuits (I thought the water was nice), many sea turtles, manta rays, gorgeous coral including arch formations, etc. We did about 3 miles altogether, passing by a clothing-optional beach.
Alas, the locals were disappointed. While we heard many whales, we didn't see any. There are some fantastic photos on a blog from Don, aka dolphin dude. I've highlighted his entry from the day I swam with the group, which includes photos of humans on land and in water, as well as the ray:
www.dolphindude.com/.../disappointment.html
He's got some amazing photos and videos on this site. It would have been great to swim with the whales, but I had a daily commitment that kept me from the beach.
