(more and higher resolution photos here)
On Sunday morning we ate a simple breakfast at a local place by the beach before getting picked up for our “swiming with dolphins adventure.” The ship was launching from Ko Olina, which is about 45 minutes from Waikiki. Unfortunately it was raining and it didn’t stop when we were out on the water. We decided to rent wetsuits at the last minute and were glad we did.
Our first snorkel stop was at a reef which we were told was a common stopping point for turtles. It took a long time to find one turtle, which was about two feet wide, and that’s the only one we ever spotted.
On our way to the next spot we saw a humpback breaching a few times and then ran alongside a pod of dolphins for about ten minutes.
The dolphins were swirling beside and under the boat as we kept pace with them. However, we never got to jump in the water with them, and they were keen on getting somewhere else as they rarely broke the surface.
Our last spot was a shallow (twenty feet) area with both smooth sand and some coral. There were no turtles to be found, and certainliy no dolphins. Sam and I had to remind ourselves that after our luck with the tours on the big island we were probably setting our expectations too high, after all, this “dolphin tour” came with a disclaimer that we may not even see dolphins, let along swim with them. Still, it’s hard to ignore mising out on one of the few chances in a lifetime to swim with wild dolphins.
After we got back to our hotel we did laundry and then ate dinner at Tiki’s before taking a long walk out on the short pier to take some photos.
