Blog / Random thoughts and musings.

Hawai’i Trip, Part 3

Further adjusting to the time change, we were able to sleep until 4:30am on Sunday morning. We had a morning snorkel planned aboard the Fair Wind II, so we watched some TV, read our books, and relaxed until it was time to head to the boat at around 8:30am. The Fair Wind II is a large catamaran that usually holds 150 people. Only 50 people had signed up for that morning (due to slowing economy and off-season, they said) so we had plenty of space. We were able to secure two of the four chaise lounges on the top deck of the boat. The boat took us to Kealakekua Bay, an underwater state park, marine sanctuary, and site of the Captain Cook Monument, known as one of the better snorkeling sites in Hawaii.

Snorkeling near Captain Cook Monument

During the morning sail to the Bay, we were fed a light breakfast (tea, juice, muffins, danishes, and fruit) and watched the coast go by. This morning the ocean had some pretty heavy southern swells coming into the coast so there were some amazing views of the swells breaking against the coast into huge sprays. It looked almost like fireworks as the water exploded up and outwards.

Ocean swells breaking along the coast

Kealakekua Bay is surrounded by sheer cliffs and the water felt great. While the snorkeling was very good, we think Molokini crater near Maui was more beautiful with a greater variety of coral and fishes. At Kealakekua there were a lot of interesting sea urchins and various other sea creatures stuck to the coral, but you had to look pretty carefully or dive down to get a closer look.

After a BBQ lunch on the boat and a little more snorkeling, it was time to head back home. We headed back to the condo, showered, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. After all, this is vacation! We drove to Kailua-Kona for some dinner at The Fish Hopper and walked around the shopping area. The shops are surprisingly interesting and fun to browse, not as full of tourist trinkets as other islands we’ve been to.