Kahalu’u Beach: Kona, Hawaii

Posted on Saturday, Dec 10, 2011

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Our trip to Hawaii was motivated in part by a promise I made to The Boy eighteen months earlier. Lewis had resisted the whole idea of swimming or swimming lessons over the last few summers so, as an incentive, I promised him that when he learned to swim we would take him to a place where he would be able to, as he later put it, “look inside the ocean and see the fish.” More than one person has since pointed out that, in doing so, I basically agreed to the world’s most expensive swimming lessons.

We ended up snorkeling on three of the four islands with the best snorkeling of all at Kahalu’u Beach, right in Kona on the Big Island. What made our Kahalu’u experience the best was part planning and part luck. We arrived at Kahalu’u early enough in the morning that the water was not yet full of sediment kicked up by other snorkelers. At popular snorkeling spots like this one the water clarity gets worse as the day goes on. The sun is also less likely to be blotted out by a layer of vog coming off of Kilauea. Sunlight really enhances the color of the fish. And, most important of all, there were lots of different fish. Turtles too. At times there were so many fish that I could not see through the crowded waters to what was past them. I guess there is a reason this place is referred to as “Snorkel Beach”.

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©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.