Happy Birthday Dad From Maui

It's been, this is somewhat shocking to me, 30 years since my Dad died.  But today is his birthday and I celebrated by going for a swim this morning before it got too hot.  What would we talk about if he were here?   Definitely the Kavanaugh hearings.  Our kids were teenagers when he died, but he spent much of his last month with us in Anchorage.  He loved being a grandfather too.  So we would talk about them and their children.

We'd talk about how long it's been since we've been to Hawaii, how much it's been built up since the last time we were here.  But also how wonderful the water is, and the local fresh food.

Yesterday, Dad, we went beach scouting.  We decided that Kamaole I would be a good place to try out the snorkeling.  It was hot and windy when we parked ourselves on the sand.

There were two sets of fins and two facemarks and snorkels in the condo we're staying at.  I fiddled with the straps so it would be tight on my face and went into the warm (but a little cooler than the air) water.  I don't remember, Dad, Hawaiian water being so warm, but I've always ever been here between December and March.  The water was very clear and I swam around looking for something other than just a smooth sandy bottom.  A small school of small but colorful fish swam nearby.  The water felt great, floating there felt great.  After a while I decided to head back to J on the beach.  But I'd drifted a ways and decided to swim back rather than walk on the beach.  

That's when I saw the sea turtle up ahead of me.  The water wasn't deep.  I could have stood up.  It was coming straight toward me.  Maybe three or four feet long.  It kept coming my way.  I've snorkeled where there were sea turtles before, but only in places further out from the shore and where I'd been told they were likely to be.  But here it was, still swimming straight at me, a foot or so below me.  I tried to move to the side and it went right by.  

Wow!  I wish I could show you a picture I took, but I don't have an underwater camera.  And without the camera I was totally there with the turtle, not worrying about getting a good picture.  Same kind of thrill as a close encounter with a moose like I had last week.  

Later an old friend of J's - who lives on Maui -  came by.  We snacked on two kinds of poke (in the bowl lower left) we'd just bought as well as star fruit.   And the star fruit was, I realize now, a prelude for what were going to see.*  

.  

As the sun set we shifted to the lanai to catch up on all that's happening in each others' lives.

If you look closely, you can see the windmills on the hill on the right.  

And then the stars came out.  Well, I'm pretty sure they're the planets.  

Time and Date lists the planets we can see tonight  in Maui (and I'm assuming last night wasn't too different) but I'm not sure which planet is which in the picture below.

The camera picked up three.  Venus is supposed to be "Fairly good visibility" and sets at 7:40 (tonight).  This picture was taken last night at at about 7:55pm (last night.) (My camera seems to be on PST and about 20 minutes fast.)  So maybe Venus is the one on the horizon.  Mars is supposed to be "Perfect visibility" and set (tomorrow) at 1:51am, so it could be the one on top.  And I'm guessing the middle one is Jupiter which is "Fairly good visibility" and is supposed to set (tonight) at 8:47pm.  If it's clear enough tonight, I'll track them more carefully.  There is sun but also a lot of clouds now.  

[UPDATE 7:49 pm:  The light on the horizon is probably a boat based on what I see tonight.]

Then we went for a good Thai dinner and lots of conversation.

Dad, you didn't follow the stars that closely, but your grandson does and maybe he'll see this and let us know.  And as long as I'm talking to my Dad here, I can also fantasize that he might be up there with the planets and the stars.  

*Ok, planets aren't stars.  But then stars don't look like slices of star fruit either.