Saturday: road warrior.  Sunday: ocean explorer.

Ok ok not so much exploring, as adventuring under the sea – SNORKEL Day.  Christmas present from Ash & Tom 🙂

Sunday a.m. start, 30-minute drive to Kona, party of 6 reservation.  Only my 2^nd time snorkeling – both times in Hawaii.  Lucky in life. Boarded a small catamaran from the pier.  Laid-back island adventure, entirely on Hawaiian time now 🌺

Air temp: low 70’s.  Water temp: the same.  Sunshine.  Pretty much perfect.

Things to Note: Pawai Bay has an excellent variety of tropical reef fish and dramatic terrain, with ledges, caves, shallow shelves and steep drop-offs; and all coral encrusted lava formations.  Depths vary from 3-4 feet on the shallow ledges to blue water where the bottom disappears at 100 feet.  Average is about 18 feet.

Our crew, Anglo & Hawaiian, bantered back-n-forth but both had a great knowledge of the reef.

Lotta talk ’bout ‘Tonys’ – local term for tiger sharks (as in Frosted Flakes’ mascot: Tony the Tiger).  More sharks off the Big Island than others in the Hawaiian chain.  Who knew?  Luckily, no fins this day.

Triggerfish, Yellow tang, Parrotfish, Bannerfish, Hawaiian Sergeant Fish, Cauliflower Coral – but NO sharks (or eels or barracuda…or anything else with teeth – LOL>).  3 hours, 2 reefs, FRESH PINEAPPLE snack break.  FAAANNNTASTIC!

Late lunch at Kona Brewing Company.  Taste highlight: Sweet Potato Pie.  2^nd purple vegetable I’d eaten this trip (Sis ordered Poi   the night before).  HUGE fan of purple Okinawan sweet potato (not so much for pasty Poi).

Solo evening plans.

Local trail, petroglyphs, Hawaiian ocean sunset.  Otherwise known as: ”lost at night on a lava field”.  2-mile jog morphed into a 6-mile night hike – with only an iPhone for light.  Dropped a pin on my Google map, jumped a rock fence off the 7^th green on a ritzy golf course, bushwhacked quarter-mile to a residential road.  Phone-a-friend rescue, Foodland-rendezvoused in nearby Puako (thanks Stephen).

Hiking Captain Cook in the a.m. – 2 miles/2000ft down, 2 miles/2000ft UP.  Just another Big Island Day 🌺