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Swimming With the Dolphins Posted: 02 Dec 2011 07:33 AM PST by Crystal Beran With its beautiful beaches, year-round sunshine and welcoming locals, Hawai’i is a popular travel destination year-round. On the Big Island of Hawai’i (not to be confused with what many people refer to as the “main island,” Oahu, where Honolulu can be found) by far one of the coolest activities is swimming with the dolphins. Swimming with dolphins is an incredible experience, and if you’ve got an adventurous streak then there’s a pod of wild dolphins about a half an hour south of Kona that I’d like to introduce you too. Most mornings, you’ll find a group of 20 or so people bobbing up and down off shore, waiting for the pod to swim by. Of course, these are wild dolphins, so there’s no way to be sure they’ll show, but one of the best snorkeling spots on the island is just four miles further south, so if the dolphins are a no-show, you can easily jump in the car and see some amazing corals and fishes. For this day or half-day adventure, you’ll want to make sure you pack the following: swim suits, towels, masks and snorkels, swim fins (a must!), and a positive attitude. You may also want to bring: beach chairs, a picnic lunch (alternatively, there are some restaurants about 15 minutes from these two spots), a wet suit, and a boogie board (to float on top of, not to surf on). Head out on the road early if you hope to see this pod of wild spinner dolphins. Ideally, you want to be in the water no later than 7am, so be sure to have a good breakfast in the car and give yourself plenty of time to get there. In my experience, most of the dolphins have usually headed out to sea by about 8am, but you never know. The dolphins often hang out on the south side of Kealakekua Bay, at a park called Kealakekua Bay Park, which can be accessed by taking Napoopoo road down the mountain. If the dolphins are there, swim out from the rocky shoreline (you’ll hit white sand literally as soon as you get in the water) and swim towards the buoy. This early morning swim is one of the best feelings, especially when electrified by the excitement of swimming out to meet with a group of wild yet friendly animals. The water can feel cold at first, but early in the morning the air is cooler, so the ocean can almost feel warm when you’re first swimming out. As you swim further from shore, the white sand slips away below you, and you find yourself surrounded by turquoise blue water. The long, slanted rays of sunlight reach all the way to the sand below, which you can still see from the buoy, where the water is about 30 feet deep and almost always crystal clear. Once you reach the buoy, you’ll need to wait for the dolphins to come to you. They are wild animals so remember never to chase them or make any loud noises or sudden movements around them. Rangers occasionally patrol the area and the penalty for harassing the dolphins is a ticket for $10,000. I’ve seen anywhere from a handful of dolphins to a few dozen in the bay. They swim in a large, slow circle and if you position yourself just right they’ll sometimes come within inches of you (but keep your hands to yourself–your fingernails are sharp enough to slice right through a dolphin’s skin). If you’re very lucky, you may even get to see a few youngsters trailing after their mothers. Once, I swam slowly alongside a calf who played a game of mirror with me, turning himself around along with me and moving further away or closer in as I did. When the dolphins are heading out to sea for the day, they’ll do some incredible acrobatics. If you’re close enough, try to watch the show from both above and below the water – the corkscrew maneuvers are amazing. Make sure you head back to shore before you get too cold. If you’re not wearing a wetsuit, you really shouldn’t spend more than a half an hour in the cool water. The best part of this adventure is that even if the dolphins aren’t there when you arrive, you’re only four miles away from Honaunau beach (often referred to by the locals as “Two-Step”) just north of City of Refuge. Just head down along the low-lying road and turn into the park. The beach is accessed by a side road to the right just before the ranger station where you’d pay for parking if you were going to City of Refuge (which is an informative half-hour stroll that I do recommend). There’s not much sand at this beach – mainly just a hard slab of lava – so you may want beach chairs if you’re going to stay a while. Make sure you only enter and exit the water from either the boat launch or surrounding beach or from “Two-Step,” if you’re going snorkeling, otherwise you could harm the coral and the algae that the sea turtles feed on. If you’re not sure how to get into the ocean here, ask the locals, they’re happy to show you the way. And if you’re very, very lucky, you may run into wild spinner dolphins here as well. I took my family to Kealakekua one morning, swam with the spinners, and then headed down to Two-Step where we bumped back into the pod, this time about 200 members strong!

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