Adventures in Paradise

I highly recommend booking a tour with Adventures in Paradise if you are looking for a great snorkeling tour or kayaking adventure on the Big Island of Hawaii.  We opted for the kayaking/snorkeling tour to the Captain Cook monument.  Our tour guides were Kira and Ryan.  They were great, very knowledgeable of the island and the plants and animals, they were laid back and entertaining but also passionate about conservation of plants, animals, and the Hawaiian way of life.

The tour starts at the main office, so to speak, where you are outfitted with snorkel equipment and sign waivers.  They provide you with a mesh bag that your snorkel equipment goes into.  There is plenty of room to put in any water safe items you may want to bring (i.e. waterproof camera, bottle of water) and you are responsible for your own bag from the time they hand it to you until the time you turn it in.  In our experience, it is OK to leave items looked in your car here, just be smart about it and don’t leave it visible.  It would be great if they could find some space to add lockers that you can rent for your wallet, etc. since there is really no ideal place to keep those items during the excursion.

They load up 10 people in the van plus the two tour guides and drive you down to the pier.  There will be time for a bathroom break before hopping in the water.  Each person is provided a life jacket and the kayaks are two person kayaks.  Everyone goes into the water one kayak at a time.  Once everyone is settled in their kayaks, the group heads out across Kealakekua Bay for the Captain Cook Monument.  The Bay is a marine sanctuary and depending on what time of day you are there (morning is best), you have almost a 100% chance of seeing Spinner Dolphins.  We did.  A little baby only about two feet long even gave us a bit of a show!

I’ve snorkeled at several different locations in the Caribbean and to me the snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay was far superior.  Tons of different types of fish, sea turtles, eels, lots of live coral, anemones, and don’t forget the dolphins!  The clarity in the water was impressive.  Nearby there is a fresh water spring that empties into the ocean so there are pockets are very cold water.  You can even see the wavy effects of it as it mixes with the warmer salt water.  It was pretty neat to see.

Our tour left bright and early at about 7AM.  It was well worth it.  We had the Bay almost entirely to ourselves.  The big “cattle” boats that hold 50+ passengers were starting to arrive and over take our previously serene spot right about the time we were ready to head back anyway.  Something else to note is that they do provide water and snacks while you’re swimming.  They provided home made items that were delicious, fresh fruit, bags of chips, granola bars, etc.  The spread was impressive.  We didn’t realize how hungry we were until we started eating!