All of our other trips are yacht-based, meaning we sleep and eat on a boat. Hawaii is the exception, but we still love boats, so we charter one on the wednesday of each trip here. It allows us to easily reach a couple of unreal swimming spots. This year we chartered a big boat for a full day with Bite Me fishing charters.

Smiles as we left the harbor for our boat day adventure.

Kealekekua, AKA Captain Cook Bay, is a very special place. Dramatic cliffs, pristine coral reefs, wild history, and a steady flow of wildlife make for a satisfying swim. We arrived to find perfect conditions, light winds, very few people already there, and no swell. When you jump in here, you first notice just how dramatically the ocean floor drops out from under you. And the coral, bright, healthy, mostly green and blue. Fish everywhere. We plotted a course for a 1.5 hour swim.

Our boat came to rest just beyond the Captain Cook Monument, and Captain Momi gave us a compelling account of Cook’s experiences on the Big Island.

Manta Ray! We spotted one on a cleaning station. It's like a car wash for pelagic sea creatures. This Manta would swim in a big circle, then spread out on this massive coral head, where little fish would eat all the stuff off of it’s skin and mouth. These creatures have distinct markings, and our boat captain Momi recognized this one.

As we finished our swim, a pod of 15 or so frisky spinner dolphins appeared in the busy part of the bay, where lots of snorkelers and kayakers were playing around. They put on a brilliant show, with plenty of their signature acrobatics, spinning as they leapt from the water, and landing with a big splash. We ate the sandwiches that Chef Dan had prepared for us. Delicious.

This is a totally lame photo of just two of the pod of dolphins that came to swim with us. Photog fail. But they were beautiful!

Not all of our guests had seen the manta ray on the swim, so we motored over to have another look. While our guests were busy swimming around and watching the manta, boat deckhand Alex was snorkeling around and spotted an octopus in about 25 feet of water.

Our manta was cruising in slow circles, being cleaned by small wrasses and tangs in flight.

Captain Momi is a true water woman in every sense of the word, and these waters are clearly where she belongs.

Captain Momi’ dove down and removed it from its hiding place, swimming back to the surface in a cloud of ink. She’d normally eat it for dinner, but we pleaded with her to save this one, so she returned it to the sea after giving it a piggy-back ride to the boat, where we all admired it’s long tentacles and alien-like form. Watching Momi during all of this, I thought, dang this is one powerful waterwoman. It was not the last we’d see of her maritime prowess.

A quick motor just a few more miles south brought us to Honou’nou, a place with lots of history and lots of bright, healthy coral. Another swim, more like speed snorkeling with an opportunity for lava rock diving.

Hopper dives down to inspect the Aloha at the bottom of Honaunau.

Though we are using this boat as a platform from which to swim, it’s often used as a fishing boat, and comes with all the gear. Deckhand Alex set up 2 trolling lines, and about halfway back to the harbor, one of the lines zinged, telling us we’d caught something. Genna was given the honor of reeling it in, and from the effort, we could tell it was a very big fish. Captain Momi gaffed the beast with a powerful yank, and with her other hand, clubbed the big fish before hauling it aboard. It was an Ono, or Wahoo, about 35 pounds. It’ll feed us for 2 nights, with enough leftover for Momi, Alex, and guide Ryan.

A little trawling on the way home led to a prize catch by Genna….we will be having fresh Ono for dinner tonight!

We zipped back to the Hale for massages as the sun set and the breeze blew. Our massage therapist Amanda (different Amanda from our Yoga instructor) tended to all of our sore muscles and aches and pains. This year it was my turn to get a massage, as Heather and I trade off every year. Amanda and I talked about her experience during the pandemic, raising kids during it, trying to keep businesses alive. We were both grateful to be working again.

Massage to the sound of the waves lapping at the shores of Beach 69 - the perfect ending to a high test Wednesday.

A dinner of beef short ribs with rice and bok choy washed down nicely with a New Zealand Pinot Noir. Heather gave us a marine naturalist talk about Manta rays and their close cousins as we dined. Not a guest was to be seen as I closed up the Hale at about 9:45 pm. An early night after a big, fun day.

Hopper

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