Today we arrived in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii for only a few hours. What an amazing part of the island, though. Our morning started off very interesting.
First, the shore line at Kona is absent of a pier and the water is to shallow for the ship to anchor near the shore. We got our first and hopefully only ride on the life boats. They lowered the orange and white life boats from their positions on the boat to use as tenders for the day. The ship anchored several yards from the shore. This made the tender ride about 10 minutes. The only time I’ve felt queasy this entire trip has been on the tender. The ride is not very sturdy in the choppy ocean. On the outside of the tender it has large words saying 109 passengers as a tender and 150 as a lifeboat. During one of the tender trips we had 70 people on the tender; I’m not sure where the other 39 people would have fit not to mention the other 80 if it was being used as a lifeboat… But I’m sure if the need should arrive for the tender to serve a lifeboat we’ll sit in each other’s laps.
Our second and probably most adventurous portion of this trip came during our snorkeling excursion. Some of you may remember a couple years ago Jill and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas at Christmas. As a Christmas gift for me Jill booked us an excursion to swim with sting rays. If I’ve never told you the story about swimming with the sting rays ask me sometime, but for time sake just use your imagination… swimming in open waters with sting rays, sounds safe right? Well, today’s snorkeling excursion proved to be no safer and this time I booked the excursion (paybacks are hell…haha)!
We met the rest of our group who will be snorkeling with us at the pier. They go over some basic guidelines (no one with heart trouble, back problems, etc). The lady asks us if we all understand we signed up for an adventure tour. Sure, I consider snorkeling in open ocean waters an adventure, so we were okay with the “adventure” part. Little did we know her idea of adventure and ours is completely different. She proceeds to lead us to the Captain Zodiac raft, that’s right I said raft! At this point I’m thinking to myself, how the hell do I get out of this? I don’t want to go way out in the ocean, the Pacific Ocean, in a RAFT! I look around no one else is backing out and Jill seems okay… so by peer pressure I board the raft.
If you have never been on a raft, which I had not, there are no seats. You sit on the sides where there are hand and feet ropes for you to hold yourself in place. We meet our captain and his mate. The captain again goes over all the guidelines and discusses this is an “adventure” tour. I’m really beginning to realize the word adventure is not describing what they in store for us. Once we our away from the pier far enough the captain picks up speeds to 45 mph. A raft in the choppy ocean at 45 mph, not a good idea. We immediately grasp his understanding of adventure when he whips the raft on its side to circle a large boat in the water just for fun and continues to follow the shore line as it curves in and out. Each curve meant the boat leaning to one side where
we had to hang on for dear life. I was holding the hand rope, a handle, and had both feet secured under the foot “safety” rope. I have never experienced anything like this. An adventure for sure!
The cool part, on our way to the reef we see dolphins coming up out of the water and we stop to take a closer look. There were several dolphins and they continued to play for several minutes. Jill even saw a baby dolphin jump up. As we continued on to the reef the captain made another sudden stop, because there were whales in front of us. We watched the whales for at least 15 minutes. The captain told us has been giving these tours for 5 years and this was only his third time to see the whales. The captain and his mate were extremely excited and continued telling us how lucky we are to see the whales. Very cool! Almost makes the raft in the ocean worth it!
Finally, we make it to the reef for our time to snorkel among the diversity of the ocean. The waters are so clear we can see the reef and fish from the boat. We get a little instruction on how to snorkel and we are out of the raft. Jill and I snorkeled close together to see everything. The coral is very colorful and large. There are many types of fish and other sea life. We saw an eel and parrot fish. Jill and I swam away from the reef out to the blue sea and were able to see bigger fish way below us that looked really ugly and mean. They did not seem to care we were there. People have told us Hawaii’s reefs are 2nd best only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. I’ve snorkeled now both and can say that Hawaii’s reef is very close to the Great Barrier. Not as large as the Great Barrier, but the beauty is very much the same.
After coming back on board the raft, they had snacks for us. Knowing we had an adventurous return raft ride back to pier I opted for no snacks. The ride back did not seem as thrilling as the ride out to the reef. We stopped at a couple lava tubes and saw what is believed to be the rock formation of goddess Pele. Pele is goddess of fire.
Upon returning from our adventurous snorkeling trip we did some shopping along the pier and farmers market. Jill and I both bought kukui nut necklaces. The kukui nuts are native to Hawaii and are worn by men and women during times of celebration.
It was our final tender ride back to the ship where we rested before the night’s entertainment. Tonight was prime rib night at the Aloha Café. We watched one of the ships dance shows and saw the comedian Chris Alpine, who is very funny! We even stayed up late to go to the 80s night dance party.
Tomorrow we arrive in Kaua’i, our last island of this trip. It’s quickly winding down, but I’m sure we have at least 2 more days of splendid paradise remaining. Aloha, for now!
First, the shore line at Kona is absent of a pier and the water is to shallow for the ship to anchor near the shore. We got our first and hopefully only ride on the life boats. They lowered the orange and white life boats from their positions on the boat to use as tenders for the day. The ship anchored several yards from the shore. This made the tender ride about 10 minutes. The only time I’ve felt queasy this entire trip has been on the tender. The ride is not very sturdy in the choppy ocean. On the outside of the tender it has large words saying 109 passengers as a tender and 150 as a lifeboat. During one of the tender trips we had 70 people on the tender; I’m not sure where the other 39 people would have fit not to mention the other 80 if it was being used as a lifeboat… But I’m sure if the need should arrive for the tender to serve a lifeboat we’ll sit in each other’s laps.
Our second and probably most adventurous portion of this trip came during our snorkeling excursion. Some of you may remember a couple years ago Jill and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas at Christmas. As a Christmas gift for me Jill booked us an excursion to swim with sting rays. If I’ve never told you the story about swimming with the sting rays ask me sometime, but for time sake just use your imagination… swimming in open waters with sting rays, sounds safe right? Well, today’s snorkeling excursion proved to be no safer and this time I booked the excursion (paybacks are hell…haha)!
We met the rest of our group who will be snorkeling with us at the pier. They go over some basic guidelines (no one with heart trouble, back problems, etc). The lady asks us if we all understand we signed up for an adventure tour. Sure, I consider snorkeling in open ocean waters an adventure, so we were okay with the “adventure” part. Little did we know her idea of adventure and ours is completely different. She proceeds to lead us to the Captain Zodiac raft, that’s right I said raft! At this point I’m thinking to myself, how the hell do I get out of this? I don’t want to go way out in the ocean, the Pacific Ocean, in a RAFT! I look around no one else is backing out and Jill seems okay… so by peer pressure I board the raft.
If you have never been on a raft, which I had not, there are no seats. You sit on the sides where there are hand and feet ropes for you to hold yourself in place. We meet our captain and his mate. The captain again goes over all the guidelines and discusses this is an “adventure” tour. I’m really beginning to realize the word adventure is not describing what they in store for us. Once we our away from the pier far enough the captain picks up speeds to 45 mph. A raft in the choppy ocean at 45 mph, not a good idea. We immediately grasp his understanding of adventure when he whips the raft on its side to circle a large boat in the water just for fun and continues to follow the shore line as it curves in and out. Each curve meant the boat leaning to one side where
we had to hang on for dear life. I was holding the hand rope, a handle, and had both feet secured under the foot “safety” rope. I have never experienced anything like this. An adventure for sure!The cool part, on our way to the reef we see dolphins coming up out of the water and we stop to take a closer look. There were several dolphins and they continued to play for several minutes. Jill even saw a baby dolphin jump up. As we continued on to the reef the captain made another sudden stop, because there were whales in front of us. We watched the whales for at least 15 minutes. The captain told us has been giving these tours for 5 years and this was only his third time to see the whales. The captain and his mate were extremely excited and continued telling us how lucky we are to see the whales. Very cool! Almost makes the raft in the ocean worth it!
Finally, we make it to the reef for our time to snorkel among the diversity of the ocean. The waters are so clear we can see the reef and fish from the boat. We get a little instruction on how to snorkel and we are out of the raft. Jill and I snorkeled close together to see everything. The coral is very colorful and large. There are many types of fish and other sea life. We saw an eel and parrot fish. Jill and I swam away from the reef out to the blue sea and were able to see bigger fish way below us that looked really ugly and mean. They did not seem to care we were there. People have told us Hawaii’s reefs are 2nd best only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. I’ve snorkeled now both and can say that Hawaii’s reef is very close to the Great Barrier. Not as large as the Great Barrier, but the beauty is very much the same.After coming back on board the raft, they had snacks for us. Knowing we had an adventurous return raft ride back to pier I opted for no snacks. The ride back did not seem as thrilling as the ride out to the reef. We stopped at a couple lava tubes and saw what is believed to be the rock formation of goddess Pele. Pele is goddess of fire.
Upon returning from our adventurous snorkeling trip we did some shopping along the pier and farmers market. Jill and I both bought kukui nut necklaces. The kukui nuts are native to Hawaii and are worn by men and women during times of celebration.
It was our final tender ride back to the ship where we rested before the night’s entertainment. Tonight was prime rib night at the Aloha Café. We watched one of the ships dance shows and saw the comedian Chris Alpine, who is very funny! We even stayed up late to go to the 80s night dance party.
Tomorrow we arrive in Kaua’i, our last island of this trip. It’s quickly winding down, but I’m sure we have at least 2 more days of splendid paradise remaining. Aloha, for now!
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