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Kealakekua Bay

Started: 2025-01-25 17:14:47

Submitted: 2025-01-25 22:00:48

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Riding a zodiac down the Kona coast to snorkel in Kealakekua Bay

On Thursday, the second of January, we had two separate excursions scheduled in the afternoon: I joined Tristan, Jessica, and Caleb on a snorkel excursion in Kealakekua Bay, operated by Captain Zodiac; while the rest of my family went on a somewhat-more-leisurely submersible cruise leaving from central Kona.

The timing of our excursions meant that we spent the morning at our condo in Waikola Village. Kiesa and I walked across the highway to get coffee (I got cold-brew; she got iced chai) and look around the very-new, not-yet-fully-open strip mall on the south side of the highway, followed by a visit to the established commercial center on the north side of the highway with a grocery store and some restaurants and professional offices and more trees (but no coffee shop).

Our snorkel excursion left from the small craft harbor between Kona and the airport, the same place we departed for the manta ray night snorkel two days earlier. We arrived just in time to meet our fellow passengers (three young adults of uncertain relation) and our zodiac crew (captain and snorkel operator), then we boarded the zodiac and cast off.

Along the Kona coast
Along the Kona coast

We left the small craft harbor and headed out into the open water off the Kona coast. Once we'd passed the navigation buoys at the harbor's mouth, our captain opened the throttle and the zodiac sped ahead, bouncing on the water. The optimal seating position was sitting side-saddle on the inflated side of the zodiac, grabbing the rope on the outside of the zodiac with one hand and the handle around the structure on the middle of the boat with the other hand. I ended up on the front of the boat, which was supposed to be bumpier than the back of the boat.

Cruising along the Kona coast
Cruising along the Kona coast

We slowed down to observe a buoy in the middle of the ocean surrounded by fishing boats making slow lazy circles around the buoy. This was a fishing zone established by the State of Hawaii simply by dropping a chain from the buoy to the bottom of the ocean. This attracted algae to grow on the chain, which attracted smaller fish, which attracted larger fish, which attracted fishing boats, in a food chain ending inevitably with the planet's apex predators.

Presently we pulled into Kealakekua Bay, protected from the open ocean by a low peninsula below a high cliff. On our approach we saw a lighthouse facing the ocean; once we pulled into the bay we could see a white obelisk erected as a monument to Captain James Cook, the first European to visit Hawaii, who was killed on this spot in a skirmish with the Hawaiians.

Snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay
Snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay

The crew gave us snorkel gear and gave us some guidelines for snorkeling in the bay. I pulled my GoPro out from my backpack, put on my mask and flippers, and jumped into the water. I had a much easier time adapting to snorkeling in daylight than two nights earlier, when I could see the water and it wasn't the first time in six years that I'd worn a snorkel mask and I wasn't trying to swim into position at the end of the manta ray light rafts (and with better anti-fogging solution sprayed into each mask before the crew issued each mask).

I swam around the bay, seeing an endless variety of fish and coral in the warm tropical water. The snorkel mask gave the impression that everything in the water was closer than it really was; I had to wave my arms around in my field of view to see that they looked like they were about half as long as I knew them to be on dry land. My GoPro refused to turn on no matter how many times I pressed the power button so after a loop around the bay I headed back to see if I could get it working on the boat.

Boats and snorkelers in Kealakekua Bay
Boats and snorkelers in Kealakekua Bay

I returned to the zodiac in time to see Caleb about to race two young women in a double kayak — him swimming versus the kayak. ("Oh wow, he's raw-dogging it!" one of the women exclaimed. "I don't know that we should be teaching him that word," the other cautioned. "I don't think he knows what it means," the first responded.) Our captain moved the boat to serve as a finish line, gave the starting signal, and both competitors started moving. Caleb had an early edge, since the kayak had more inertia, and he kept his advantage by swimming close enough to the kayak that they couldn't paddle efficiently without hitting him. By the end of the race it looked like the kayak might have been pulling their strokes to let Caleb win. (Caleb's on a swim team and can swim circles around me.)

I boarded the zodiac to check whether I could rescue my GoPro by power-cycling the battery. This proved ineffective, so I left it on board and returned to the water without it. (I confirmed later that all it needed was a charge. It seems to drain its battery even when suspended, and I'm not sure if I'm not putting it into a sufficiently-low-power state, or it just does that regardless of power state.)

Unencumbered by the GoPro around my wrist I swam around the bay, looking at the fish and coral. There were fish that glinted with an iridescent sheen as they swam in large schools, and other fish in a variety of bright colors. I couldn't name any of the fish, because I didn't have a spotter card (or a camera to photograph them for later identification) but I did enjoy seeing all of the fish under the water. I found it amazing how the snorkel mask let me look under the water and see the variety of marine life hidden just below the surface, which I normally can't see because my eyes are adapted for vision in air, and the surface of the water normally reflects light rather than letting me see underneath.

When we arrived in the bay there were a handful of other small boats (including a similar-looking zodiac that our crew chatted with) and a few open-top kayaks that had paddled across the bay. Towards the end of our time in the bay a huge multi-deck catamaran pulled into the bay packed with people. (It looked like it was about the same size as the boat I rode to snorkel from Maui in 2018.) Some of our group were envious of the slide and high-dive on the newly-arrived boat.

Our crew served light refreshments (including a pineapple, served on its own skin as a sort of plate), then packed up our gear to head back up the coast. We took a leisurely pace up the coast, stopping in a small cove surrounded by volcanic rock with small lava tubes exposed by the erosion of the rock by the ceaseless action of the waves. Our captain waited for a wave to break over a rock just above the water line then joked that the water streaming down it was "the only waterfall on the west side of the island".

Zodiac cruises along the Kona coast
Zodiac cruises along the Kona coast

We resumed cruising north along the Kona coast until our captain spotted multiple humpback whales in the water. He zipped the boat around so we could see them with the sun to our backs (which happened to put the coast in the background). Soon the whales surfaced again, with multiple spouts when they reached the surface, then we saw their distinctive humped back just above the water, and finally their fluke as they dove. I finally pulled out my phone and started taking pictures (while maintaining a tight grip because I was afraid of losing it in the ocean).

Multiple whales surface along the Kona coast
Multiple whales surface along the Kona coast

It was hard to count the number of whales in the group but it it seemed like it could easily be six to eight whales, judging from the number of spouts that appeared when the whales surfaced. Our captain said it was probably a group of male whales pursuing a single female whale, with all of the male whales jostling for position and trying to cut off the other guys and maybe scratching them with the barnacles growing on their skin. (This is apparently what whale bros do to try to impress lady whales.)

While we were watching the whales our captain pulled out a DSLR with a large zoom lens and started taking pictures of the whales so he could send the pictures to an organization that tracks whales to try to identify individual whales by the distinctive identifying features on their tails.

Jaeger off the Kona coast
Jaeger off the Kona coast

We followed the group of whales for half an hour as they meandered down the Kona coast. Our captain was visibly excited to see the whales; he had spent an entire whale-watching cruise that morning and not seen a single thing. After following the whales for a while he started saying "One more surface and then we'll go" but we kept watching the whales. They were making shallow dives, rising to the surface every couple of minutes before diving and surfacing again. Finally he called another whale-watching boat out on the water to let them know of the sighting and turned us back to the north to return to harbor.

Whales dive along the Kona coast
Whales dive along the Kona coast

We returned to harbor later than we had expected, but we didn't have anything else we were planning on doing so it didn't matter that we were late. We returned to the condo, arriving just after the rest of my family returned from their submarine cruise, and compared notes on our respective adventures at supper.