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Submariner
Tang at Two Step, Big Island, Hawaii It is always exciting looking for the rare or large fish. The thrill of crossing paths with a shark, swimming in tandem with a dolphin, or a close up of a hungry eel. During these searches we pass over schools of yellow tangs, black triggers, raccoon butterflies and…
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Shark Tale
We have seen her before. Visiting her cave is now part of the ritual. Swim to the left over the first big canyon, through octopus flats and back into shark shallows. Today, she was there sticking her tail out further than the last time we were together. We snorkeled above her fighting the currents, trying to…
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Yesterday I was swimming with about 50 spinner dolphins about (the adults are 150 to 200 pounds each) and I felt nothing but excitement. A few minutes later, I swam over an eight-inch fish sitting in the coral inches from my face that I didn’t see until I was right on top of him. It…
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Fascinating Octopus in Hawaii
Until recently it was rare for us to see an octopus while snorkeling. Now we’ve learned more about how to look for them and have found a place where we see them about 50 percent of the time. Octopuses (sometimes called octopi) are wonderful mimics and it is that ability that I find most fascinating. I’ve seen them take…
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Hawaiian Jelly, Big Island
An annoying thing about snorkeling is the jellyfish. Yes, there are jellyfish out there, not everywhere and not all the time. On the Big Island of Hawaii they are mostly small, almost like a snowflake. On occasion, we have come across a slightly larger ones. They just ride the water flow past you. Every once in awhile you…
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Two Step Turtles
What snorkeling adventure would be complete without eyeballing a turtle. These are green sea turtles, honu in Hawaiian. They will cruise through the blue waters to visit the various cleaning stations made available by the local reef fish. Then ride the waves into the rocky shoreline looking for a decent patch of algae to munch on. …
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Spotted a Spotted Eagle Ray, Kahalu’u
We started out the day by going to Keoneele Cove by the Place of Refuge on the Big Island of Hawaii. Because of the dangerously rough surf, we couldn’t get in the water. We’ve never seen it like that. There were three people fishing at Two Step (the place where the divers and snorkelers enter the water).…
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Water Child
I wanted to share what I felt as the dolphins were swimming around me, disappearing into the blue depth then reappearing. I felt immense gratitude and peaceful joy. It was the satisfaction of a journey completed. It seemed so little to say about an event so special, that I knew I had to share the journey to explain the feeling.…
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Honaunau Bay Naia (Spinner Dolphins of Two Step)
We headed off for another day of snorkeling at Two Step. Two Step is an unofficial name for a small county park on the edge of Honaunau Bay. Pu’uhonua Honaunau, the place of refuge, sits on one side of this bay. Here also is the Keoneele Cove, essentially a boat ramp into the bay and…
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Reef Shark at Keoneele Cove
June 13, Wednesday morning we went to our “manta ray place” in Kahauloa Bay, but the water was too rough, again. So we headed back to the Keoneele Cove (Two Step). We parked across the street from the cove on the Catholic church grounds and carefully read their signs to make sure we could have animals…