Maui Aquarium

 Though I had been before years ago, we went again today as one or more of us hasn't snorkeled before so I could better introduce them to the fish they would see. First of all, the reef fish aren't that much of a problem but you don't want to piss off parrotfish (of various species) because they literally eat coral and if they can take bites out of coral they could also easily take off one or more of your fingers.

In the past, stupid people would try to feed frozen peas to the fish. However, that is a way to lose potentially fingers, toes and have fish pull out all the hairs on your legs or head in addition to your nose simply because they don't know which is the peas and which is you and they might not care what they eat. So, like sharks in some ways fish can go into feeding frenzies pretty easily because they seem to be about as smart usually as chickens and roosters so not very smart.

For example, today my wife and friends wanted to get burgers from near the aquarium. I said maybe we should eat in the car because I saw wild chickens (that you often see all sorts of places on the islands running free that wanted some of whatever we bought. there were three young male Roosters that were still black primarily and didn't yet have the red neck or other colorful things on them. But, they had attitude sort of like: "I'm desperate please feed me or I'm going to die and I will do anything to get your food!"

The others (with the exception of my wife) hadn't experienced yet just how desperate and intense the roosters can be (of any age). So, at a certain point the roosters got on top of a picnic table nearby and I said:"Get Ready! They're Coming!"

At that exact moment the three roosters jumped for my wife's food. I made sure they didn't make it there but my wife screamed loud because they came at her from behind over her shoulder to get her food. My wife Scared the other couple sitting with us at the picnic table more than she scared me because I'm more used to her startle reflex. Then I realized the best way was to make the three teenage roosters fight over our food. So, I broke off a piece of my grilled cheese sandwich and threw it on the ground. So, they started attacking each other and chasing each other around underneath the table. 

By periodically giving one of them a little piece of something like a french fry or piece of bread or something we were relatively able to eat in peace at the picnic table. But, only by pitting the roosters against each other could we even begin to eat in peace because they were so desperate and aggressive because they were teenage roosters and male.

The point here is there are fish that are sort of like these roosters in some ways. The ones that make me nervous a little are the different breeds of parrotfish that have the beak that eats coral and barracuda also make me nervous and tiger sharks of any size make me nervous when I'm snorkeling too. I usually make it a point not to go far enough out into deeper water so bigger sharks are a problem. one way to avoid this problem with sharks is to go where the reefs are close to the surface of the water so you can this way keep the sharks away from you this way. As long as the reefs are between you and deeper water and as long as you aren't getting scratched by the coral in any way you usually are okay.

However, watch for the tides and what the waves are like so you don't get thrown into Coral by the waves or currents that change as the waves hit. But, if you get cut by coral  you need neosporin or polysporin so your cuts or bruises will heal and you don't get staff from the coral cuts. This is important.

Snorkeling can be a whole lot of fun if you are aware enough of what is happening around you to survive doing what you are doing. It's probably my favorite thing to do in Hawaii to see all the tropical fish underwater.

So, as long as you are safe from some fish and sharks and barrracuda then you likely are going to be okay snorkeling (if you understand currents and wave patterns and when the tide is high and when it isn't.