At the beginning of our second day we had just cleared the entrance to Honokohau Harbor when someone clocked a pod of dolphins. The divemasters decided maybe that would be a good place to start the day. You think? Sadly it was on this site that our first criticisms of the dive operation became apparent. But I was optimistic and excited. I knew if we were going to encounter Laverne or any of her tiger shark cousins this would be the most likely place. We rushed to get geared up. The dolphins were all around the boat. Then, the divemaster did an extended dive briefing pulling out the same fish identification guide and slowly described the same fish that we may or may not encounter while down there. Dude, there are dolphins right there in the water! The other divemaster already had his group in the water for five minutes and ours didn’t even have his gear on yet. We told him we’d go ahead and get in and wait for them at the mooring line as we do in just about every other place we’ve been.
So Jess and I jumped into the ocean hoping for the best but not expecting much by this point. We floated on the surface while the bubbles from our entry cleared and it was just then that I saw them on my right. A pod of about 12 spinner dolphins slowly came by to check us out. They swam just in front of us, twirling and showing off for my camera. And that was that. The last we saw of them. The other divers in our group never even got a glimpse of them. We spent the next hour underwater with our heads on a swivel looking everywhere for the resident tiger sharks but they never came to visit. We struck out on tigers in Hawaii. In fact we didn’t see one shark on our entire trip. It’s funny how scared people are to be in the sea because they imagine sharks lurking everywhere, waiting to ferociously attack anything they encounter. And here I am in Costa Rica and Hawaii trying to find bull sharks and tiger sharks where they are famously known to be and nothing. I can’t find them and they’re starting to give me a complex.
There are many invertebrates on the reefs around Kona but none as cool as the Hawaiian day octopus. I read about them and watched a number of videos featuring their apparent bold diurnal namesake behavior. We found quite a few of them on our dives but what we discovered was that the day octopus is a very shy animal. We also discovered our second criticism of the diving company we were with. Whenever the divemasters found one hiding in its den, they attempted to poke and prod it out into the open. We witnessed this multiple times to the point that whenever I found one I wouldn’t even tell them anymore and just observe them in their den. Big alien eyes staring out at us with apprehension. I would too if every time I encountered a human they poked at my face with a metal stick. Bad form indeed. One octopus I found hilariously blew sand at me every time I looked into the hole at him. Good for you little guy. We don’t deserve to witness how clever they are.
My two favorite encounters though were when on our third day Jess found me a dragon moray. I couldn’t have been more stoked to see this guy for the first time. I remember them from my saltwater aquarium days. Such a crazy looking little creature with beautiful orange, white and black spots, the horns of a dragon on its head and massive rows of scary looking teeth so big the animal can barely close its mouth. But it was a very shy creature hiding in the finger corals looking so much like them I never would’ve noticed it on my own. Then, later on the next dive a big spotted eagle ray casually glided up over the reef ahead of us. I assumed it would continue on its way as they typically do but I was wrong. It turned and came back towards the coral and rubble and began to feed. It smooshed its face into the rubble and crunched on the rock to get at whatever was hiding within. It did this for a while and I slowly and cautiously moved closer with my camera, always watching closely for signs of discomfort or agitation. I didn’t want to interrupt it. But it allowed me to come closer than I’ve ever been to one of its kind and I got some of the best footage I’ve ever taken of any animal.
On our last day we did an “advanced long range trip” with the dive company. We expected deeper, more challenging conditions based on the briefing. Ultimately the dives were about the same as the others but just a bit further south. The topography was a nice change on the first site called “The Dome” though. It was more dynamic than the usual spots with huge tables and holders of lava rock and ledge formations. We spotted a lot of eels, nudibranchs and even two hunting parties. One consisted of a cooperative team of goldsaddle goatfish, jacks, groupers and a free swimming yellow margin moray eel. The other was the same but with a rather bold octopus joining who immediately changed color from reef camo to bright red when he spotted me and sank slowly into hiding.
Underwater, Hawaii was a pretty cool experience and we enjoyed what we saw. Im not sure it compared to Volcanoes National Park but the diving was very casual and easy compared to other places. The life was diverse and abundant, the reefs are healthy around Kailua Kona. We’ll probably not go back though. It’s ******* expensive to dive in Hawaii. More than twice as much as in a place like Mexico and while we saw a lot of cool things, many for the first time, I find diving in a place like Cozumel, South Florida or Saba way more challenging and fun. Did I mention we didn’t see any sharks?
We spent our mornings diving and our afternoons resting mostly. We had one day of diving canceled due to unfavorable ocean conditions which was actually pretty cool because we got to check out Hāpuna Beach State Recreation Area. We drove about 30 minutes north and it was easy to find. We even ran into some more friendly Nene geese in the parking lot begging for food. They didn’t get any from us. The beach was incredible and we enjoyed watching the sunset there on the expansive white sand. Our favorite meal was nearby at a place carefully named Seafood Bar & Grill. Hey, it did what it said it would do. We sat outside overlooking a beautiful fuel refinery and had killer Mai Tai’s and the best calamari ever. They don’t chop the mantle into rings but serve it fried in steaks. It was tender and perfect. I got a lobster pot pie that was just pretty tasty too. Overall the food on the Big Island was kind of a mystery that we didn’t have enough time to solve. Especially being confined to the low elevation tourist area around Kona. But we had a few good meals. I had a decent burger one night at some TGI Fridays type place. Tha Poke Shack was pretty epic and the shave ice was wild too. Shave ice is like a giant Baltimore snowball with crazy tropical flower flavors like lilikoi and pog, whatever the hell that is. I ate it and it was delicious and made my throat and brain seize up like I was having a stroke. Good times!
The videos are very long. I edit them as more of a scrapbook for myself and my family but if you're curious they're here.
