Our first trip to the Maui Aquarium! We've been to Ma'alea Beach many times, but we never stopped at the Ocean Center. The center has free parking, $28 tickets, a courtyard with shopping and a few choices of restaurants with great views of Ma'alea Harbor, Mt. Haleakala, Kahoolawe island and Molokini island. Ma'alea is in the middle of the island, on the isthmus between West Maui and Mt Haleakala.
I'm a huge fan of octopuses since reading The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness, so I was hoping they would have an octopus. They have a stunningly beautiful, small octopus in a blue tank. She gracefully floated up from the sandy bottom. With the lighting she looked purple so I think of her as Ula Ula He'e (Purple Octopus).
The center is beautifully laid out with a natural, organic flow between the exhibits. An outdoor courtyard features a fishing shrine, koʻa iʻa carefully constructed in the traditional manner with a group of pohakus, or sacred stones, overlooking the shoreline. Next up was the jellyfish exhibit. These otherworldly creatures pulsate and shimmer and glide in the water. Watching them is a meditation of light, silence and awe.
