Dolphin Swim, 14 May 2010 Friday

We awoke early once again, as we had reserved our spot to go snorkelling with dolphins. Making our way to a different part of the Honokahao harbour, we found the Kona Honu Divers boat. Leaving the harbour, we had to wait close to an hour, before we spotted our first dolphins. From then on, we followed their direction along the coast, dropping into the water in their path before they arrived.

As we scattered in the blue ocean, the dolphins approached. Groups of 2, usually mother and baby, as well as 3s and 4s swam past, either below us, or past our sides. Once a group of four dolphins, at least 2 males, swam very close to me and at least 1 was swimming upside down, coupling with another dolphin on top. The 2 males both coupled with the same female dolphin in turn. I was so amazed that I forgot to turn on my camera, and to my woe later, found that I had not managed to capture that amazing scene at all.

Nonetheless, it was an amazing and undescribable experience to swim with such graceful and powerful creatures. Their tail muscles were thick and rippling as they propelled their slender and aerodynamic bodies forward easily. Their bodies moved slightly up and down as it cut the water. Their long pointed mouths were closed into a slight smile, and their small eyes twinkled black behind that snout. There were 3 color zones on their bodies,  the darkest grey at the head in a distinct stripe over the back and fading towards the tail. Their sides were a paler grey and their stomachs paler still.

They were fast swimmers and it was very difficult to get a close-up picture as they zoomed past us easily, but that image of sunlight refracted onto their grey bodies as they neared the surface to breath air throught their blow-holes was imprinted in my mind.

An hour and a half passed easily and we had all grown tired by the time we decided that it was enough. We were all gladdened by the experience, and Kenon was immediately greedy for more. He wanted to do it again, but we didn't have time to schedule another dolphin swim. I am sure, however, that as long as we returned to the sea annually, we would have another opportunity, perhaps this time, unplanned, and pleasantly surprised by some other dolphins in another sea, coming to approach us when we dived.

That afternoon we spent planning for our weekend backpack to the windward side of the island. Hiding out in our rooms and consulting Google, Fodor's [which Kenon pronounces as Frodo, giving me considerable confusion as to who this person was that he kept referring to] and Aki, our hostel manager, we collected enough information to decide that we would catch the free island-wide Hele-On bus, to Honoka'a, the closest town to the Valley of the Kings where horseback riding was highly anticipated, but how we would get there, we did not know. Despite the best of our efforts, to our great frustration, we had to react when the time comes. So we gave up our futile attempt to locate public transport into the valley and enjoyed our evening by the beach again, afterall, this is a holiday. Plans were redundant.