Honaunau Bay

Here is one of my favorite spots (although I guess I have many of them in Hawaii). This is Honaunau Bay. The land nearby is Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, or City of Refuge. It is actually part of the National Park system. In ancient Hawaii, there was a system of rules or law called kapu. If you broke kapu, you would be severely punished, possibly killed. Those who broke kapu could flee for Pu'uhonua O Honaunau and be safe, absolved of their wrongdoing and return to society. There was also a part of the city of refuge for the ali'i or chiefs. Next to the park is the bay. About four years ago I saw the bay on the National Geographic or Travel channel and I said I would go there. My first full day in Hawaii I went snorkeling in Honaunau Bay and was in the water with sea turtles and spinner dolphins. Amazing. I think the bay is one of the best places to snorkel on the island and in the state. Kona is famous for clear water. Honaunau proves it. You can carefully climb in at an entry point and swim all around the bay. The floor is covered completely with huge coral heads and formations. The water along the shore is 5-10 feet deep. You can move out in the bay and quickly be in 20-30 feet of water for a while. This area is also called two-step because of the stair-like shelf -- a 20-30 foot shelf eventually drops off to a 75-100 foot bottom. You swim with every type of fish imaginable in here, including the state fish, the humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Yes, that's really the name. You're also pretty much guaranteed to see turtles just floating around or laying on the bottom resting. The left side of the bay has cool formations of rock and coral that you can explore. The middle, where it's about 75-100 feet deep, is where the dolphins sometimes swim and rest. I have been out there with a pod of 14 dolphins who were cruising in circles at about 75 feet deep for 3 or 4 minutes and then would slowly surface to take a breath before descending again. I can dive down to about 40 plus feet, so I as I saw them beginning to surface, I would meet them around 30 feet and with my hands at my sides, dolphin kick alongside them to the top, catch a breath and dive down a bit. I was about 5 feet away and they definitely looked at me and were fine with it. Totally amazing.

I didn't take the underwater photos, but borrowed them.