Kona, HI Rafting & Snorkling 9/30/08

Kona, HI -- Rafting & Snorkeling with Chad & Lesley of Captain Zodiac 9/30/2008
Our ship has traveled 2,000 miles to reach the Big Island of Hawaii. We have 7,500 miles to sail to reach Australia.
We took a Captain Zodiac Rafting Expedition. www.captainzodiac.com.
We rode west @ an estimated 38 miles per hour one mile offshore then seven miles south The weather was clear with incredible views of the whole west side of Hawaii. The area in the distance had Vog(volcanic fog) from the active volcanoes Kilauea & Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa is 13,677 feet above sea level and is the world’s most massive volcano

Our Zodiac 24 foot rubber raft had 12 on board. We sat on the rounded sides of the raft and put the toes of one foot under a tight rope to hold us in the boat. We held on to a rope at our seat and the other hand on a handle. Chad drove fast, i.e. James Bond, and took turns that put one side of the raft in the water. (John – this was your kind of boat ride. You would love it.) I was thrilled that I stayed in the boat since I was visualizing flying through the air & landing in the water.

We pulled up along side a nursery pod of Pilot Whales. They are native to Hawaii and cruse the area in large groups of about 100 with babies in a separate small group. One large whale swam near the front of our raft with a young baby nursing at her side. . We also saw the tips of an oceanic white tipped shark that was swimming with the group of whales to scavenge the whale’s leftovers. (Thomas – this was our first shark sighting!)

We arrived at Kealakekua Bay, a marine preserve, with the monument to Captain Cook’s death in 2/14/1779. It is not accessible by road. We were thrilled to see Dolphins swimming alongside our boat. We had a short instruction on snorkeling and defogged our goggles with Baby Shampoo. We hung our legs over the side of the raft, held our goggles in place and slid into the sea.. The snorkeling fins gave great control in the water and we cruised the bay at our own speed. We snorkeled for 1 ½ hours. The coral garden was bright and filled with caves and outcroppings. We did not touch or stand on any of the coral. Red & black spiny urchins and eels were under us. .The coral extended out from the land and then dropped off to an unknown depth. The fish ranged in size from 5 inches to 16 inches. Their brilliant colors and shapes spanned a range of all possibilities... The fish were eating the coral and you could hear them crunching it. One school of hand sized Yellow Tang numbered about 30. (Scott- It was like swimming in your salt water tank) I could reach out to the fish. I will have to research the names of the various types of fish we saw. It was utterly amazing. It was such a relaxing activity. You could swim with your face in the water or roll over and look at the sky. The water was so clear you could see 20 feet or more depending on the coral depth. We climbed back onto our raft using a flexible metal rung ladder with a two foot length of knotted rope to haul ourselves onboard.

On our return trip we saw dolphins and 2 Eagle rays. We stopped at rock formations in black lava rock or red cinder. We saw a blow hole, sea caves, a black grotto, lava tubes, and a monument to the god Pale (sp). She was laying full length in a natural rock formation. The Hawaiian’s at one time placed offerings of food in the area. We also saw the Marriott Hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Marriot is refurbishing it at this time.
Our snorkeling activity was a stunning and fun filled adventure. .We spent some time in the city of Kona watching the swimmers preparing for the 2008 Ironman. Kona will be the site for the end of the run and the beginning of the swim. We took the ship’s tender back to the Dawn. The tender is actually one of the ship’s lifeboats. It holds 150 people and is enclosed with benches for seating and storage of supplies. A section on the side of the ship folds out to create a dock.
We will now sail 1,000 miles to reach Christmas Island.