Big Island Day 2

Great 2-hour drive back to Kona.  Both kids have on headphones – Trevor is playing his DS and Drew is listening to music on her I-Touch.  We are getting a concert from Drew singing along – it is pretty entertaining.  We made it to Aloha Kayak right on time at 8:00.  Checked in and got fitted for gear.  It was our family and then a very unusual family – a Japanese woman who probably weighed 95 pounds and had a shockingly dark thatch of hair under each armpit.  The husband was originally from Canada but now they live in Palo Alto.  He was the total package – a dead tooth in front, a lisp, had a nasty rash on his legs, weighed about 105 lbs and was wearing a Speedo!  They had two very cute girls.  When they came to the kayaks they didn’t have swimming suits on and had all kinds of unnecessary stuff like towels and stuff.  I think they were sent back to their car 2-3 times before we took off.  It was Trevor and Mommy in one kayak and Ryan and Drew in the other.  There were two guides taking us – Kian and Boo.

Just about ready to take off

Drew looking pretty in her kayak

Trevor and Mom in our camo kayak

Kealakekua Bay

Ryan dipped his hand in the water from his kayak and got this shot

 We paddled for about 45 minutes through Kealakekua Bay to the Captain Cook Monument.  Along the way we stopped and watched several groups of sleeping spinner dolphins cruise through the water right by us.  Spinner dolphins are cool and when they are in coves like this they are sleeping.  They tend to travel in pairs and they turn one half of their brain off (the inside portion when they are swimming next to another dolphin).  After a while they will switch sides and let the other side of their brain sleep.

Once we got to the monument we got our kayaks up and went snorkeling.  The fish were awesome and the coral was beautiful.  The kids got cold pretty quickly and spent some time out in the sun.  Then we got to paddle back 45 minutes.  I was shocked that Trevor did as well as he did – he paddled almost the whole time.  Drew spent most of the time holding her paddle and Ryan had a much harder time.





 

This is the Captain Cook monument.  It is technically British soil.  It commemorates the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands by the British in 1778.  According to our guides, the Spanish had been using the Hawaiian Islands for some time before the Brits discovered them.  He was also killed very close to here on February 14, 1779 when the Hawaiians figured out that he was trying to exploit them (big shocker).

Here is Kian and the other family.  That dad is money, I tell you.

Taking a break from snorkeling

We had a great lunch at a Japanese place – Drew and Trevor both enjoyed their chicken teriyaki.  After that adventure we went to check in to our hotel - the Courtyard King Kamehameha.  The hotel is pretty nice – very nice room with 2 queen beds, pretty beach area and a nice pool at the end of the strip in Kona.  The kids and Ryan enjoyed a little bit of time in the pool while I tried to find a place that we could rent wetsuits for our night snorkel with the manta rays.  We then picked up our wetsuits and ate sushi for dinner.  Very proud of Trevor for trying things he hasn’t tried before.

At 700 we checked in for our night kayak and snorkel.  It was raining but when we got down to our put-in spot it was not, thankfully.  It was just our family and a guide named Spencer who was from Kirkwood of all places!  Drew wanted to go with Mommy so we did that since it was only a 5-minute paddle.  It was really dark which was kind of creepy.  We paddled out to an area near the Sheraton hotel (which shines a big light that attracts the plankton that attracts the manta rays.  Paddling with the wetsuits on was a little more challenging.  We then waited for Spencer to anchor our kayaks (while Trevor and Ryan almost tossed their cookies overboard) and we jumped overboard with our snorkel gear and flashlights.  Then we had the most amazing experience.  There were about 5 manta rays that were swimming gracefully in this cove right underneath us.  The biggest was about 6-8 feet in wingspan and they swam within 6 inches of us.  It was so cool and they were so graceful.  I have to say that when a wild animal that big is swimming close to you it can be a little scary.  The wetsuits were definitely worth the $40 – a Mommy that isn’t cold is a happy Mommy.  We then hauled ourselves back up on our kayaks and paddled for shore.   

Getting ready to snorkel with mantas

Drew was so tuckered that she actually fell asleep on the row back and stayed asleep while Spencer drug the kayak up the boat launch!  Unfortunately there are no pictures of the mantas because Ryan forgot to take the camera off the kayak with him!  It would have been hard to get pictures in the dark and hold the flashlight and make sure Trevor didn’t drown.  Everyone fell asleep pretty quickly when we got back to the hotel.  However, Drew was hungry when she went to bed, which didn’t bode well for the night…

One tired girl