Dolphin Discoveries is one of several expeditions one can take out to the magnificence of the blue on the west coast of Kona – the Big Island at Keauhou Bay. May 26, 2019, will be indelibly marked in my memory banks as one of the best ocean days I have ever experienced. Fitting that today is Memorial Day and I have an opportunity to write about a lovely adventure before remembering those who have departed.
The two-women crew on the Naia Nui, Captain Erica and her First Mate Liz displayed exceptional courtesy and calm in their attendance to service while also maneuvering the boat with sagacity and aplomb. Everyone was fully at ease with these two in charge. Captain Erica’s exuberance in her explanations of the wonders of sea life beneath us as well as the telling of the history of the area made for a delightful morning of snorkeling. But what REALLY made the difference was her attention to the location of the mammals which gave our boat the best vantage point to drop into the water for viewing. She found a huge pod of Spinner Dolphins in an area where several other boats had already stopped to let their snorkeling passengers off, but she ably navigated us further away from the crowd knowing the Dolphins would head in our direction eventually to avoid them. We swam with the beautiful and intelligent beings for a good half-hour and witnessed them in various smaller pods swimming about sometimes just one-two feet away.
We all returned to the boat to fresh fruit and then a new speedy drive further out to the deeper ocean. Suddenly, Captain Erica shouted out to all: “Oh, my! You are all in for a total treat! I can’t believe we are seeing these! Look over the port side! Whales!” And then after a bit when we all saw their dorsal fins and counted at least 3 coming in our direction, she informed us they were Pilot Whales. My pal asked if we could get in the water to view them more closely. Captain Erica told us that we would have to get in without fins because where there are Pilot Whales, there are usually a shark or two not far behind and we would need to be able to exit the water up the boat ladder quickly. “Who wants to see them?” the Captain asked. Six of us shot our hands up in the air. Captain Erica quickly shot the boat ahead of the direction the whales were traveling to give us time to get in and watch them. She turned off the boat motor and asked First Mate Liz to get in first to check the area. Liz entered, looked around, and gave us a thumbs up. Then, a few of us quietly entered the water. My first thought when I went under was that I had entered a dream state of the most beautiful indigo blue I have ever seen. The water was incredibly clear and you could see far into the blue depths. You could also see everyone else in the water so much more clearly than I have ever seen underwater with a mask. I slowly looked about to take it all in when Captain Erica shouted, “Look, everyone! They are coming right up,” as she pointed. I slowly swam to where her hand guided and stopped. I saw the most breathtaking sight: four lugubrious whales together in a pod with the lead whale displaying a protruding blunted nose. The three others had blunt noses, but with a less prominent bump in the front. (I later discovered that males have the larger protuberance.) Like a slow-motion, Sam Peckinpaw moment in an ocean film that he never made, I watched them slowly swim by paying no attention to the few of us staring. This was the most stunning moment I have ever spent in the ocean. The deepness and clarity of being inside the blue with these slow-moving mammals took my breath away. I can still see and feel the moment as I type this. We all shared our thrills with a *scaturient Captain who said she had not had such a memorable moment with the whales on one of these trips.
We then set off to the second half of the Dolphin Discoveries morning adventure (the whales were an unplanned extra): to snorkel around the reef at Cook’s Monument–Kealakekua Bay. Before hitting the water, our Captain regaled us with the grand story of Captain James Cook’s demise in the area. Then we hopped in. This was a pleasant excursion to view the tropical fish nibbling on the reef and was likely more fun for the others who had not yet been snorkeling around a reef. My pal and I had already snorkeled around Kahalu’u Bay in the area where we are staying. Though there are several more fish at Cook’s Monument, we witnessed a much larger array of fish species in our area. This was still amazing as the reef has a big drop off that I found to be quite beautiful and since the area was deeper, there were many more fish swimming around in the water and not just nibbling and hiding in the reef.
As we head back to the docks on a 20-minute accelerated ride along the coast, we found one more magical delight as we were about to turn into Keauhou Bay: Bottlenose Dolphins! Here they were just outside the Bay in the open water swimming by. We found three of them. My pal asked if we could go in again, but Captain Erica alerted us to the danger of swimming with this species of dolphin as they like to play hard and they are not to be reckoned with. Also, there are usually sharks in the neighborhood when they are around, so a definitive “no.” But she continued to maneuver the boat in various ways for us all to see them a few more times. WHAT A DAY!
BEST EVER BOAT TRIP MADE PERFECT BY THE CREW ON OUR NAIA NUI!
*scaturient definition – great story here too! Later in the evening, I was catching up a couple of Dictionary.com “Word of the Day” entries and found an odd word I had never heard before. Even better after reading the definition was the first citation of its usage:
The trees, and the flowers, and the butterflies, the green and fragrant earth, all teeming and scaturient with new species. HARTLEY COLERIDGE, “CAPTAIN JAMES COOK,” BIOGRAPHIA BOREALIS, 1833
Whoa.