Kona Coast – Wandering Miner

I had a full day to explore the Kona coast and surrounds on the Big Island. The plan was to have a snorkelling day as many good snorkelling spots are on this side of the island and I was advised by a Swiss friend I met in Colombia, of a few spots that I may meet up with some dolphins.

My first stop was in Kahalu’u Bay- at 07h30 in the morning- so there were very few people here. The entry into the water is a bit rocky and slippery here, but taking it easy got you great rewards. The water was lovely and clear and I spotted 80% of the fish species that were popular here- I took photos of the identification guide as I still don’t have an underwater camera. Right next to this bay is also the tiny church of St Peter, nestled between some palm trees. It only seats something like 12 people.

The next bay was a considerably further drive down a winding road Kealakekua Bay- I was planning to swim if the dolphins were in the bay or to check them from the shore if they were playing further out. However, the dolphins were reported to be a far way out of the bay and so I gave the swim a miss and decided to head to Two Step Beach.

Arriving via a very narrow road, down the coastline, I did a loop of the one-way road around two step but didn’t find any parking. So I decided to visit the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park (15USD entry) and leave the car there when I was finished and then snorkel in the bay. The park literally borders the bay. It is an interesting combination of Royal Grounds that are bordered by a Great Wall, with a Refuge on the other side. The Great Wall is a huge structure: 900ft long, 10ft high and 18 ft wide. 80% of it is original!!! That is a huge feat considering the storms and hurricanes that pass through here! The wall is a dry wall (no mortar in joints between the lava rock); this allows large waves to pass through.

Going back to the purpose of a refuge. In ancient Hawaiian times if you broke the law (called kapu) –irrelevant of how small the transgression- you would be sentenced to death. However, if you could get away from the warriors that chased you down, and get to a refuge, then you would be safe there. There was a priest there that could forgive your transgression, and you could live your new life from there.

The Keawe is a reconstruction from the 1960s and now is being revived again but there is an interesting similarity between the tikis and the Moai heads on Easter Island. After the Queen ate meals together with her son and nothing happened (men eating with woman was against the kapu too!!) in order to punish the islands or its people they started to question their beliefs. Since nothing bad happened (earthquake, tsunami or volcanic eruption) they determined that their tikis had no power and started pulling down their statues. This was the same as in Easter Island.

The fish in this area were quiet plentiful- especially the large schools of yellow tang. It was a bit tricky to get over the rocky outcrops as the tide was a little low but I just scraped over the tops of the rocks. There was also a small honu (Green Hawaiian sea turtle) in the shallows of the bay.

In between beaches I took a quick detour to see the painted church. It serves as the local Catholic church. It was built in 1842 in a different location and moved in 1880. One of the parish priests- Belgian, Father Jean Berchmans Velghe. The paintings are depictions from the bible or of saints as the Hawaiians did not have a written language- so it was easier to teach them using pictures. The church is compact- it originally served a small fishing village, but the paintings are beautiful.

My final stop for the day was Ho’okena Bay- also at the end of a narrow and winding road. It is a known dolphin rest area so I was hoping to see them. Dolphins actually rest half of their brains at a time- fun fact 🙂 However there were none around when I was there swimming- so no success with dolphins today 🙁 . I did swim right over a sea snake/ eel looking thing in the shallows and it looked a big frightened- to which I was also frightened as I did not want to scare it into biting me, luckily we both made it out of there unscathed! Another interesting sight, that I didn’t see earlier was a yellow trumpet fish.

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