Today was our trip to my favorite snorkeling place: Captain Cook’s Cove. Miles had never been, and we were both excited to experience it together. We got up early for the 8:30am check-in time, and soon we were aboard the Fair Wind II and cruising towards our destination.
As an added adventure, we decided to go out of our comfort zones, and try snuba! (A dive about 15ft below the surface breathing through hoses attached to a raft holding oxygen above us).
The experience of being fully submerged was incredible, and took some getting used to. Unfortunately, my beloved camera met its end in a tragic snuba accident, when the underwater case leaked under the additional pressure of the dive. RIP, Sony rx100, you served us well and will be missed. Fortunately, Miles’s GoPro held up just fine, and he got some great videos.
After our 30 minute snuba adventure, we returned to the boat with perfect timing for lunch. There’s nothing quite like hamburgers grilled on a boat in one of the most beautiful places in the world. After eating, we headed back into the water for some snorkeling. Miles dutifully caught the highlights of the day on camera: the swarm and the eel. The swarm was a group of yellow and brown fish that swam as a school, and descended together on coral formations to feed. I had never seen anything quite like it. The eel (or Mr. Eel, as his friends call him), was a large moray eel who befriended Miles and decided to put on quite a show. We followed him for at least 5 minutes, as he thoughtfully displayed all his best angles. After about 45 minutes in the water, we headed back towards towards the boat just as they started to call “all aboard.”
When we got back to land in time to browse a farmers market, and then wandered around Kona for the afternoon, before eating dinner at a cute French Restaurant named La Bourgogne, run by a sweet husband and wife team. The meal ended with one of the best pot de creme’s I’ve had. Overall, it was a magical – if somewhat tragic on the camera side – day.
