havecarryonwilltravel

Murray and I love to search for small creatures when we are underwater. It usually takes a few days of diving to get our eyes and brains attuned to finding these little wonders. But once we know where to look and what to look for, we do find them hiding in coral heads, under ledges, in cracks and sometimes in the wide open.

Tiny crabs and shrimp hide in coral heads, like the shrimp in the above photo. He just stared at me while I stared back at him and then shot a pic.

Dive Master, S, holds a coral banded shrimp. Poor guy was trying hard to get away, but S kept him captive until we all had a look, then he placed him back where he found him.

The White Margin Nudibranch is a gorgeous creature only an inch long. He has two “feelers” at his front end and a bustle at the back end, which are his lungs. (Sorry for the non technical wording you marine biologists……we need a better fish book!)

It took two or three days for us to start to see the smaller stuff. The terrain and small creatureswe are so different than the Caribbean. But, by this last day we are gettting the hang of it. A couple of days ago I was finding things and showing one dive master, A. He was really impressed. Maybe I could get a job. Have to brush up on my marine biology first.

It was years of diving before Murray and I saw our first frog fish. It was in the Maldives. The frog fish was bright red and he was walking, not swimming, across his little patch of coral. Funny looking creatures. Not very fish like. A very rare sighting.

Here in Kona, we have seen four frog fish. FOUR! And they are huge! By frog fish standard, of course. And ugly.

The frog fish are whitish here, to blend in with the bleached coral. Normally they are green but they adapt to their surroundings so the ones we have spotted are white.

Their faces look almost human. Maybe there is a human trapped inside and that is why they walk instead of swim. Wait a minute! We see one swimming today! Our dive master, A, had never seen one swimming before, so we are treated with quite a rare sight.

They don’t seem to propel themselves with their legs, but with the fin on their back plus their tail. A definitely odd movement that somehow keeps them afloat and moving forward.

The frog fish like to blend in with their surroundings, but this frog fish has a warped sense of blending in. He has lodged himself in the crook of the chain at the bottom of the mooring line that our boat is tied to. Hanging upside down, trying to look like a chunk of coral.

Frog fish. Unique, odd, ugly but somehow fascinating.

We finish our two dives ” early”, around 1:15 pm, so we decide to partake in our second favourite thing on a tropical island. The first being scuba diving, of course. Our second most fav is trying out beaches.

We drive north, past the airport to Mauna Lani Bay, an area of houses, golf course, hotel and other amenities. We fumble our way through half remembered directions and actually end up in the correct parking lot.

There are two paths leading out of the parking lot, one rugged, one not. We take the rugged one and find ourselves on an uneven broken lava path.

After about 100 yards, we intersect a golf cart path which we walk on until we spy the water and what looks to be a small beach. We run across a fairway and onto the rocky path to the beach.

Once in the water, we discover oodles of golf balls laying on the sand and rocks under the water. We dive and dive picking up as many nice ones as we can, stuffing them into our bathing suits. We harvest about 30 white orbs.

Two ladies are teeing off above the beach, so we stop them as they drive by and gift them the balls. They are thrilled and promise to share the ones they do not want. I think we made them very happy!

We trudge back to the parking lot and take the not so rugged PAVED path and find ourselves at beach 49, a black sand beach. Heaven. We go for a dip and it is hard to get out of the water and continue on our quest.

Our next stop is Beach 69, on Old Puako Drive, part of the Hapuna State Park. We take our snorkel gear with us this time to the sand beach and go in search of fish. We see many of the same fish we see when we dive. We have to cut our fun short as I am getting too cold, a side effect of being in the water for the fifth time that day.

We have a successful day snagging three different beaches. And we still have more Kona beaches to discover in the next couple of days.

First impressions

The diving is great. The island is OK. Haven’t done much of the tourist thing yet so can’t say why one could come here. We’re here to dive so the choice of destination seems to be correct.

It doesn’t really seem like a good place for the ordinary tourist to frequent but there are a lot of folks here on vacation. There are things to do, like visit the volcanos, or paraglide over the ocean being pulled by a boat, or take a ride on a submarine, you can hangout at the beaches but the ones Debbie and I have been to or seen have not been what I would call world class (we do have a few more to hit in the next couple of days) or you can go diving. Other than the diving and maybe the volcanos not much else actually interests me.

There are a pleura of tourist shops and restaurants on the main water front street but one can only walk up and down that street so many times.

Traffic is very congested for a place this size. I don’t know whether it is the tourists or the locals but there are an awful lot of vehicles on the road. Silly thing is this is a small island and there are far too many trucks, SUV’s, 4X4’s and large cars. I’m guessing it is the same excuse to own one as on the mainland, I need it for work., or I use it sooooo much for (I don’t know for what but) I just use it. Big vehicle, one person driving around in that vehicle and a small island???? Although there is a lot of traffic. There are no traffic jams. Everything keeps moving. Generally people are polite. Drivers wait their turn at ‘all way’ stops or they will stop and allow a driver, trying to enter the stream, in and not many appear to be in a hurry.

Pay parking. Personally I have an allergic reaction if I have to pay for parking. So I try to avoid it. Yet when it comes to tourists, the life blood of the economic system here, might as well suck out every penny they can and charge to park? I managed to find several places to park for free, but I don’t mind walking a bit so I will take the time to find those free spots.

It’s warm here. Hot in fact for us any time but especially in the winter. So we should be oppressed but we are not. I don’t know whether it is the influence of the water or if the breeze is what helps but the 80+ F degrees is very comfortable. Although we are wearing considerable less clothing. Running around naked indoors has been the status quo.

The people here are very friendly whether they be locals or imports working in the tourist industry. Anyone we speak with is willing to chat for a few minutes and tell us about their life or life on the island or whatever is on their mind. I stopped to talk to a fellow in a tourist tour companykiosk and found a couple of worthy off the strip eating places. Places he frequents. Of course because of their location they are much less expensive and we have been to Killer Taco twice and will most likely end up there for lunch at least once more.

Like I mentioned personally I would not come here for a week or longer vacation unless I was diving. I think I could explore as much that interests me in 3 or 4 days. I guess island hopping is a possibility. Or just plan on do a whole bunch of diving and 10 days is easily used up.

Because of the diving I think Kona can be added to our return if we have time or need places. I would come back.

If you are a diver and haven’t been to Kona yet, go. Just go. I am surprised it took us this long to come here. The diving doesn’t get better than this.

On our second dive, within minutes of giant striding into the water, we see two turtles and a spotted eagle ray. And that is only the start. Half way through the dive a pod of dolphins swims by, once, twice, a third time and so close to me that I can see the pattern of their colouring. This is one of those sights that will be engraved in my brain for a long time. It is gorgeous to see these mammals course by.

We do not go deep today. My maximum depth today is 61 feet. Our dive times have stretched to 77 minutes. That is a long time to be under the waves, but it is peaceful and enthralling.

If you are looking for exceptional diving, go to Kona!

Yesterday we did not dive. We basically did chores and hit a few beaches. We got a general look at the surroundings. The water is great, the sun warm, people are friendly, the traffic awful, and the parking absurd.

Today we went diving! We notice right away that there is no hurry on the dive boat. It is relaxed and whenever we get in the water we get in. We also get to dive as long as we have air. So, we are diving an hour right off the start line.

Our dive group today is called the “Canucks” because there are 4 Canadians in it. Two from Quebec and Mur and me. Our dive master is from France originally. We dive well as a group, but the two Québécois are leaving tomorrow so today was their last day.

There are numerous fish that are endemic to Hawaii. We keep a watchful eye out for them and do see many. We delight in a small pod of dolphins when they surf our bow wave on the way to our second dive site. At the start of our first dive, a spotted eagle ray cruises quietly by us, unconcerned with our presence.

It is a grand start to our week of diving and we are looking forward to tomorrow already.

Got  out of bed this morning, it was just like any other morning. No rush, no fuss, sit at the computer and see what happened overnight.

We are off to Hawaii today. The thing is, I have not done the copious amounts of research I usually do before a trip. Hawaii is English speaking and a tourist mecca. There should be very little in the way of barriers and the tourist trail should be very well marked.

A arrives to give us a ride to the airport and I am neither excited nor am I wrought with angst. It felt as if I was heading out to Ardrossan for a long bike ride. I’m quite sure this is a result of not having spent numerous hours at the computer looking up places that cannot be missed, restaurants worth patronizing, beaches that must be visited or art galleries of interest. The thing is, this research in some ways stifles the spontaneity that can come from just showing up at destination and letting things unfold as the day provides, but what it does do is extend the trip. Those days spent reading about your next trip and seeing images of the way others see that particular place are a virtual extension of the trip you are about to embark on can be beneficial.

From a financial point of view this of course amatorizes the cost over a greater number of days and makes any trip much more affordable, from an educational perspective, you are much better informed of the environs both physical and cultural, and you are far better prepared and do not spend as much time sorting out what is to be participated in and how to go about getting involved.

On the other hand if today is any indication, the lack of preparation results in a more relaxed start to the day. Show up and go with what happens. The schedule is slack and it is not as important to be on time. Except of course for the first airplane, you miss that and you may as well have stayed in bed.

Ever notice how when we are waiting for something exciting, time moves like a tortoise going on a walk-about? This week leading up to our trip to Kona has been just like that! I am wishing Monday will get here but it is taking it’s time arriving.

And then when we are away, time seems to fly by. We arrive at our tropical destination, get into a dive routine, are enjoying every dive, the sun, warmth and ocean and all of a sudden we are on our last dive. How did that happen?

Time, although ever constant, changes speed.