We swam with the turtles

The day's barely begun and already its a hard one to top. This morning Ross and I picked up our snorkel gear from one of the booths here in Kona and headed down to Kahalu'u Beach. The woman filling out our rental agreement urged us to try the beach down by Pu'uhonua o Hanounou instead for its lower foot traffic and occasional dolphins. Despite having a car, to snorkel down there would have added 30 minutes each way, cutting substantially into our snorkel time. We stuck with the original plan and headed to the tourist ridden Kahalu'u.

And there are no regrets for that choice. The water was much less populated than those at Hanauma Bay. And much, much more choppy. Instead of the rolling sandy beach easing into the coral reef, you start out on a gravelly grey sand beach interspersed with lava rock. It looks intimidating. The waves were not huge, but the amount of rock amplified the effect as they splashed shoreward.

But once we were in the water, we were fish again. The water was easy to navigate; and not being novices, we had no need to stay close to the shore.

Perhaps 15 minutes out, we spotted our first turtle. Right below us and not 5 feet away. I tried to give him plenty of berth, but he was unfazed by our presence. After our initial awe we turned to check out the other sea life only to spot a second turtle swim by. And this was only the beginning. All in all we swam alongside, above and near at least 6 or 7 turtles. And another 3 or so were shore bound as we left the park. It was incredible. They were so close and not shy, swimming directly between me and Ross to surface for air and then returning to feed. Few words can really describe.

Hopefully the photos will help. I'm and so glad Ross insisted on picking up the underwater cameras before we hit the beach.