Captain Cook Snorkeling
by Brian Carlson
In the spring of 2009 we visited the Big Island and stayed in a great B&B in the Captain Cook area above the bay. We had read about the great snorkeling and it was high on our priority list. We arrived at the dock area first thing and rented a kayak. The people at the dock were a bit questionable..but helpful. We kayaked across the bay without any problems. Once at the Monument area we beached the kayak and then had a real problem finding a way to enter the water due to the extremely slippery rocks (injured my hand) and huge abundance of Sea Urchins. We did find a route in and the snorkeling was fantastic! We had the area completely to ourselves for over two hours until commercial tours began arriving. After having enough and eating lunch we kayaked back across the bay. There was a bit of a headwind on the way back and took more effort..but we have kayaked a lot and it was not a problem. The rental people helped us up the 6' plus elevation up to the dock. No problems with our car. We are going back in Sept 2010 and will check the area out again..but may pay for a tour boat just due to the new restrictions. We have snorkeled on the other islands and this was the best location we have been to!
|
