We had to be up a bit early and drive a few miles down the road for our second snorkel adventure of this trip. This time we were transported to Kealakekua Bay Marine Conservation Area via boat, as it is illegal to be on the shore of this protected nature preserve and culturally sensitive area.
Yes, it is the site of the demise of Captain James Cook. He drowned here. The cliffs were used as an important burial site by the Hawaiians and it is estimated that the bones of about 1,000 individuals are there.
The burial cliff
Captain Cook memorial
We don't have a lot of photos from this excursion but you can see footage in our YouTube video
The variety of sea life was about as abundant as at Hanauma Bay but since the water is much deeper we didn't have to worry about the possibility of cashing into coral or sea urchins (which were way larger here). Also, the boat had some fun features - water slides and a high dive!
Without much hesitation I launched headfirst off of the diving ledge but as I was falling I suddenly realized that the falling distance was much further than I expected. I face planted, slightly. My two other dives were more refined, ha-ha.
The tour company also fed the guests two plant-based meals. On the way out we all got a nice oatmeal and fruit bowl along with some homemade banana bread. At lunch time we got a fresh salad, fried taro chips, and two sandwiches. I'll admit that the chickpea-based "tuna salad" was not that great but the pulled jack-fruit seasoned with BBQ spices was very nice and would have fooled me as "pulled pork". Fresh cookies during the return voyage were appreciated. We were back at the hotel at around 1:30-2:00 pm.
After showers and resting for a bit we went over to the hotel's on-site tiki bar.
We used our complimentary hotel mai tai tokens and Hans declared that these drinks were what he remembered from a family trip over 20 years ago and confirmed his mai tai obsession origin story.
In college he tried to replicate them but the ingredients available did not match the quality required.
We ordered a couple more rounds of drinks (their Three Dots and a Dash was the best we've tried anywhere or made ourselves), had really good food from the kitchen for dinner, and had an interesting conversation from a local who said he was there for happy hour but had a three mile walk home after. We went to bed pretty early after an eventful day. Tomorrow we have another cool activity planned.
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