Captain Eddie was in charge. Ominous clouds loomed on the horizon but it didn’t matter since we were going in the water at night with lights!!

Woke up early for Dolphin Journey trip. Met Captain Nancy at small boat harbor in Kona around 9am. Weather was great. We enjoyed snorkeling out in the open sea with groups of dolphins. Forgot a waterproof camera though… On our way back rounding a point, Captain Nancy steered through 35+ kn winds and 8’ swells in our smallish boat (a little aftermath of Hurricane Felisha). After Dolphin Journeys, we headed south on the “belt highway” in route to Volcano National Park. Stopped and ate a yummy lunch at an old Kona theater. We arrived at Volcano House with LOTS of rain and no view of the crater. The hotel and staff were odd to say the least. Our room had creepy, creaky windows and the waiters reminded us of characters out of the Shinning.

After sleeping in, we awoke to clear blue skies and spent 4 hours exploring, jogging, swimming around the resort, coastline, beaches, pools etc... We also rented bicycles and checked out petroglyphs. We tried to checkout nightlife/music, but there weren’t many options, so we had another wonderfully relaxing dinner at our place. Oh! and we also rode our bikes to a beach for a sunset swim.

We woke up and drove to Pulo'o small boat harbor to meet Sian our kayak tour guide at 9am. Elyse and I rented a tandem pedal powered, sailing kayak! Our guide took us on a short paddle to a moorage buoy where we tied off and went snorkeling. We saw turtles, fish, and natural underwater arches, snacked on macadamia nuts and guava nectar, and jumped back in the water for more snorkeling. We also paddled by Niel Young’s winter house (no sightings though..). After kayaking, we stopped by Hapuna Beach state park and tried to catch some waves (bodysurfing).

Upon getting back to Mauna Lani we rode our bikes to the main resort’s pool/hot tub to lounge on eggshell looking beds by the pool while drinking pina coladas (diet Coke for Elyse). That night we made an Indian food meal at our condo.

Super early, we awoke, had a good breakfast, and met for a scuba dive at 7:30am at Kohala Divers. Elyse and I aren’t certified but have dived before, so they were nice enough to skip the pool practice and take us out on a boat for 2 different dives. Our instructor was Robin from Seattle. She gave us the run through and after spotting many dolphins on our boat ride, we finally were in the water 40’ deep!! Elyse spotted an eel and Jonah saw a huge helmet conch besides the hundreds of fish. The terrain of the sea floor was very exploratory with many caves to peak or swim into. Jonah said it was his best diving experience. We both agreed to get certified in Bellingham before our next warm water trip.