Snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay

Have you ever hyperventilated while underwater trying to snorkel?  I have, can’t recommend the experience. In fact, if you keep hearing the phrase “Shark Bait!” running through your head while you are putting on your snorkeling gear, you might want to consider staying on the boat. Why didn’t I stay on the boat? Two reasons, first, my children (16 and 20) both knew that I was afraid to get into the water and I wanted them to see me overcoming my fear (failed at overcoming, but faced it rather admirably); second, I heroically decided after my son got in the water, swam 10 feet, turned around and said, “Mom, come on!” that I would position myself between the deep ocean and my kids snorkeling so the sharks would come across me first. How’s that for a beautiful family vacation memory?

What was the likelihood of us seeing a shark? Very, very, very, very remote. How do I know this? Research, of course! There is a website that lists shark attacks for all Hawaiian islands. I did a ridiculous amount of google queries involving shark attacks and all the beaches we were planning on visiting. Did this alleviate my fears? Not completely, but it did allow me to get in the water and to only give my children one lecture entitled, “Let’s talk about sharks”.

We began day 6 by checking out of the treehouse and heading to Keauhou Bay. It is approximately an hour and forty-five minute drive from Volcanoes National Park to the Bay. We elected an afternoon excursion so we would not have to worry about the commute. We choose Fair Wind Snorkeling and Diving Adventures for our trip. If you click on the link you can see an excellent aerial shot of the boat. The boat has two slides, a diving board, and steps down into the ocean. All gear is provided, including life vests, inner tubes, snorkeling boards and various flotation devices. The crew was excellent. They were all knowledgeable, informative and funny.

Our boat boarded right on time and we left the bay right at 2pm. We were very happy that we had all bought hats from the Fair Winds shop because the sun was really shining down on us. They do have a covered seating area, but we discovered if you went out onto the extension located at the very front of the boat, it was like standing on an old fashioned teeter-totter.

Riding the Waves

On the way back it was a bit wavy and the ride up there was really fun. The cords on our hats came in handy, as our hats blew off on a couple of occasions. It is approximately a 45 minute ride from the dock to the final destination, Kealakekua Bay. For those of you that may be nervous about being out on the open ocean, we were always in view of the shoreline. During your ride there the crew gives information about the history of the area. The bay was the first point of contact between westerners and the islanders. The white monument you see in the photo below is in memory of Captain Cook, the British explorer who made first contact with the Hawaiians.

Kealakekua Bay

You can see from the photo above, the boat is relatively close to the shoreline when you are snorkeling. The bay is a marine life conservation district and is a great place to see a large variety of sea life. As the boat nears the final destination the crew begins to give directions about snorkeling. There are demonstrations on how to properly fit the mask, how to expel water, how to enter and exit the water. The crew encourages everyone to wear a life vest. Much to my children’s chagrin, I insisted they put them on. I figured a shark would not care for the taste of a life vest. I also did not want them to get tired from swimming for over an hour and accidentally step on a sea urchin. The crew’s directions include not to stand up at any time (although most of the water near the reefs is less than 4 feet deep). The corals are damaged by people standing on them or touching them and both are prohibited. The corals also are home to sea urchins and anemones, both things that you do not want to step on. The crew also informed us that if they feel that anyone in the water is struggling in anyway, they will call out and ask if they are ok. If they do not receive an immediate response, that person will be rescued, whether they want to be or not, so you had better answer them if you are ok. When my son heard this he said, “Who thinks Mom is going to be accidentally rescued?” I’m not going to say how many hands went up. The crew was stationed all along the boat, near the slides, at the stairs, to watch over all the snorkelers. I made the assumption they would also be watching out for my imaginary shark friends. Finally, we were told that the depth of the ocean towards the shore was no deeper than 10 feet, most areas being closer to 4 feet, but on the ocean side dropped off to 40 feet right past the boat. We were allowed to go anywhere, they were just informing us of the depth….which in my mind, meant that is where the sharks were lurking.

Steps to the Ocean

Here are the steps to fun filled water exploration adventures…or possible death…depending on your point of view. That snorkeler is my son who was getting tired of waiting for me, my husband and daughter were long gone. I plodded down the steps in my fins and went straight in, before I could chicken out. I started hyperventilating right away, which is rather difficult to do with a snorkel, but it is possible; trust me on that. On the positive side instead of hearing “Shark Bait” over and over in my head I was hearing myself say “Just Breathe, Just Breathe, Just Breathe!” It probably took me about a minute to get myself to be able to breathe normally, all the while I was just floating several feet away from the boat. I realized I needed to move farther away from the boat before I heard someone yell at my completely not moving body, “Are you ok?” I started slowly moving in the direction of my son when a giant school of fish started swimming right at me. Well, the hyperventilating started again and I was thinking, “Please don’t touch me, I don’t want to be touched by a fish! Why are you staring at me? I am surrounded by fish staring at me!” I actually started swimming backwards to get away from the fish. I didn’t even know I could swim backwards until that moment.

At this time I stopped swimming and took my head out of the water. My son swam up to me and I said, “They are all swimming right at my face!” He said, “I know, isn’t it great! They aren’t afraid of us at all!” I said, “I really don’t want them to touch me.” He said, “They aren’t going to hurt you, Mom. Try not to get rescued!” and off he swam. I searched the water for my daughter and husband who were nowhere near each other and decided my husband was on his own in the shark battles I was envisioning and I would stay by the kids (who were not cooperating and swimming all over the place!) I decided to give it another try. I started saying things to myself like, “Isn’t that fish beautiful!” (it was) and, “I want to find a clownfish!” and unfortunately, “Please, please don’t let me see an eel!” (which I didn’t). I was doing pretty good when I decided to look around and find my kids and I realized I had unwittingly went past the boat and was near the drop off. Well, I had to figure out how to get back quickly while wearing the stinking life vest that made swimming ironically difficult, without floundering about and looking like an injured fish that would attract sharks and without causing concern among the crew on the board and risk a rescue. I got myself back to the shallow water and decided to just float and watch the fish. Well, since I was barely moving, I was also getting very cold. At this point I decided to get back on the boat. I did last about 30 minutes in the water and I was proud of myself for lasting that long.

Family Fun Snorkeling

Word of caution, it is extremely difficult to climb stairs in fins. I found this out as I tripped my way up them. Luckily, one the of the crew members grabbed me before my wipe out was complete and when I had managed to stand up the captain was standing right in front of me. He had run down the stairs when he saw my exit attempt was going very wrong. He had me sit on the steps and take off the fins before escorting me up the rest of the steps. I said, “I’m always graceful like that, pretty impressive, huh?” He laughed and said, “Yes, that was impressive.” 

I went to get my towel to warm up and my camera to get more pictures of my family and I was happily surprised that mai tais were now being served along with snacks. I thought I deserved about 12 mai tais for my bravery in the water, but knew that would not end well and settled for one. I went back on deck to find my family and was annoyed to see they had all ditched their life vests when I wasn’t looking. They swam the entire 45 minutes and were the last people to board the boat. 

All in all, it was a wonderful experience (from their perspectives). The one thing I would do differently is to buy a wetsuit. I started to get cold right away, mostly because I wasn’t really moving, and I had to leave the water to warm up. In fact, I always left the water at the beach first because I was always cold. I looked on amazon and was surprised to see they are reasonably priced and have a large variety to choose from, so I will be buying one for myself before our trip to Maui. Believe it or not, I am planning on snorkeling at Molokini Crater…the things I do for the people I love!

As always, wishing you happy travels and fantastic adventures in this thing called life.

(All pictures are available for purchase at full resolution through Alamy. If you see something you like, click on the link. If you are unable to find it, use the Contact Me page and I will make sure the image is available.)

Check out more of our adventures on the island.

Flying High An Aerial View of Kilauea

Hiking Across Kilauea Crater

Kohala Zipline

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Snorkeling Adventures At Kealakekua Bay