Kealakekua Bay

  Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Sunday, March 22, 2009

Today, we wanted to go to Kealakekua Bay, which is supposedly the best snorkeling on the island. However, to get there, you have to hike down a very steep cliff, swim one mile across the bay, or kayak one mile across the bay. We chose to take a catamaran, the Fair Winds.
 
We picked up the Fair Winds at the Keauhou Pier and began the hour long cruise to get there. There were about 100 people on the catamaran with us. They served breakfast (fruit, muffins and bagels) on the way there. On the cruise, we encountered a whale, who sounded right in front of us. Sounding is when they dive and slap their tail on the water. Needless to say it was quite a sight. I wasn't fast enough with the camera though so I didn't get a good pic.
 
Closer to the bay, we had spinner dolphins in our wake. They like to jump through the waves. I was hoping they'd follow us all the way. The Kealakekua Bay is known to have  dolphins swimming along with the snorkelers. Unfortunately, they didn't. Again, the shutter on the camera was too slow and I didn't get a good pic of them jumping entirely out of the water, spinning and nose-diving back into the water.
 
Once we got to Kealakekua Bay the crew briefed us. We were quite disappointed to learn that we had only a small area to snorkel, even though the bay is huge. I understand why they did it; they don't want people going too far from the boat and not hearing the horn sound when it's time to go. But they could expand it another 100 or so feed in either direction so you could see a little more. 
 
Once in the water, we saw a ton of gorgeous coral and loads of colorful fish. We got an underwater camera so we got some good pix (hopefully) of some of the fish. However, the camera is old school; we have to get the film developed.
 
After an hour, they sounded the horn for lunch. They grilled burgers and hot dogs on the boat. They had a bean salad and all the necessary condiments. The burgers were quite good as was the bean salad. 
 
After lunch it was back in the water for another 45 minutes before we had to go back to the pier. There were only a few of us that went back in. I guess everyone else might be worried about swimming within the two hours after eating. I've never been afflicted by the horrible cramps, so I was back in within 5 minutes of eating. Not long after I was in the water, I heard one of the others near me say there was a sea turtle. I swam over and the two of us followed the turtle for about 100 feet. They are so graceful swimming under water. Unfortunately the turtle didn't know the Fair Winds boundary (or maybe he did) and swam beyond where we could go. 
 
That 45 minutes went fast and before I knew it, they were giving everyone the 5-minute warning. The ride back to the pier was uneventful. But there was so much gorgeous scenery to take in and we were so tired it was relaxing.
 
Back at the condo, we relaxed for a couple hours and ventured back out to Kona. Jeff wanted to fish off of the pier and I had some more shops to explore. (I hadn't even gotten myself a t-shirt yet.) We spent a few hours in Kona and came back to the condo to crash. Jeff didn't get a fish, but I did get a tank top, so it was half a success.