January 21, 2001 – A Snorkel and Kayak Trip to Kealakekua Bay, The Big Island of Hawai’i
I am staying at A Place of Refuge B&B (no longer in business) when our host Roger volunteers to take his guests on a kayak and snorkel trip to Kealakekua Bay and the Captain Cook Monument. This is my first time in a kayak. I find them to be very stable and easy to paddle (in calm waters, anyway). I use my Minolta underwater APS film camera for the first time while snorkelling the reef in front of the Captain Cook monument. This location is on the inaccessible side of Kealakekua Bay, so if you wish to explore this bay, you will need to either sign up for a snorkel cruise leaving from Kailua-Kona, or rent a kayak locally and launch it from Napo’opo’o. On our way across the bay, we see a Humpback whale, and we have a school of Spinner dolphins swim alongside us on the way back – both very special treats!
Roger is an experienced diver who visits this area regularly, so he goes exploring some underwater caves outside the reef. He reports that one cave has two sharks staying in it.