Unless you live in the tropics, snorkeling along a coral reef is like being in a life-sized tropical fish tank. Everything you’ve ever seen in an aquarium is IN THE OCEAN with you. I have already forgotten more of the fish species we saw than I remember, and it’s only been a few hours.
Due to some high winds resulting in the cancellation of yesterday afternoon’s tour, our boat was extra-full today with people who were able to rebook, and the first snorkeling stop by Captain Cook’s monument was likewise extra-full. But except for the occasional flipper to the face, it’s easy to feel like you are all alone in the ocean when all you are doing is looking straight down.
It’s busy at the Captain Cook monument
We snorkeled for about 30 minutes, which is actually loads of time if you aren’t wearing a wet suit. The ocean is warm, but it’s cooler than body temperature which means you slowly get colder and colder – kind of like the boiled frog in reverse. After a quick lunch and a warm-up, we relocated to a “secret” location further up the coast which miraculously had no other boats anchored. (By “anchored”, I mean tied up to an underwater moor that was installed by none other than Jerry Garcia who loved to snorkel this area and was apparently horrified by the way boats would anchor willy-nilly to the coral, so he ended up donating money to have a bunch of moors built.)
While having mai-tais at a beach-side bar later in the afternoon, we enjoyed the exploits of a pod of dolphins who spent about an hour drifting down the coast while flinging themselves out of the water and generally playing around. Watching dolphins play is something that just doesn’t get old.
Dolphins are playing out past these two dudes.
For dinner, we are fancying it up at the Kona Inn and then packing up for our flight home tomorrow afternoon.
A summarized version of our (confirmed) species checklist for today:
- Frolicking dolphins!
- Reef Triggerfish, aka Humuhumunukunukuapua’a. Funny story – we found a Hawaiian Reef Fish version of the game Go Fish in which this was one of the cards (“Do you have any Humuhumunukunukuapua’a?” hahaha!!)
- Butterfly Fish (Raccoon, Forceps, Ornate, Threadfin, 4-Spot, Bluestripe)
- Durgon (Pinktail, Black)
- Tang (a MILLION Yellow and Achilles)
- Hawaiian Spotted Pufferfish
- Redlip Parrotfish
- Trumpetfish
- Trevally
- Goldsaddle Goatfish
We also saw some little pink guys and a school of silvery grey fish, plus one beautiful variety that I am obsessing over identifying – kind of a dark blue, maybe, covered in neon or fluorescent lighter blue spots. I’ve been googling like mad but I can’t find this one anywhere.
Probably no post tomorrow, unless something magnificent happens on our way home. Thanks for reading! 🙂
Loved following you on your holiday! Thanks for posting about your trip!
Yes, this was a great read Risa! And I finished it today while working with my scarf on because it’s so chilly in the house. I should be a turtle, basking in the sunshine. Love the turtle photo!