I received a very nice email from a fellow snorkeler, Amalia and she told me about how you (we) can go diving with the sharks in Maui, at the Maui Ocean Center.

Years ago, I have had the pleasure to visit the beautiful islands of Hawaii many times and I was totally unaware of this wonderful experience. (though this program might have just started in the last few years).

If you know scuba diving, you will know that the diving in Maui is not inexpensive. You will pay an average of $125.00 for 2 tanks and there is no guarantee what you will see. Here at the Maui Ocean Center, you will be in the water up to 2.5 hours for $199.00. You will experience in the 750,000 gallon tank, sharks stingrays and thousands of tropical reef fish.

Though the Maui Ocean Center only offers the experience of scuba diving, we hope that one day they will realize that us snorkelers would love to experience this adventure also.

Thank you Amalia for the information!

He’s given two speeches to the media. After the first, he went to play tennis with his wife. After the second, he joined his family on the beach where they were snorkeling, states the Los Angeles Times.

The Obama family spent their holidays in Hawaii as they have in the past. There favorite snorkeling spot is Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve where the Obamas was to have a picnic and enjoy the beautiful waters of Hawaii. “The first family has the place all to themselves because it is closed on Tuesdays to commercial and private users so the park can recuperate after busy weekends, states Politico 44, A Living Diary of the Obama Presidency.

GOOD JOB HAWAII! Over 2 years ago, Hawaii started fining those individuals and companies that are damaging the reefs. The New York Times states that Hawaii is the home to 84% of all coral under American jurisdiction.

You wonder how much money are we talking? There is one scuba diving store that was fined for $396,000.00 because when one of their boats sank, it damaged more than 1200 coral colonies in the Molokini area.

The US Navy was just recently fined for $7 million dollars while they had to restore over 5000 broken coral colonies because the USS Port Royal ran aground.

If the companies do not be more careful, in a few years there will be no more corals and it is no secret that the states number 1 industry is tourism. So folks, puleeze be careful when you are snorkeling, lets set examples… Do not touch or stand on our beautiful corals. As the New York Times states “Careless ocean users, can kill 500 year old coral in 5 minutes.” Watch for updated video in our Snorkeling Guides category for more information on how you can be for careful.