Captain James Cook was the first westerner to visit the Hawaiian islands when in 1778 he landed there to replenish and repair his ships. He named this group of islands "The Sandwich Isles" after a friend and supporter, John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich. Searching for a safe harbor, Cook eventually moored in Kealakekua Bay on the Kona coast of the Big Island. Initially Cook was treated like a god, with natives lavishing him with gifts and holding ceremonies in his honour, but when he left and returned with his ship the Resolution a huge storm damaged the islands and the natives could not understand how a god could have allowed this to happen. Their respect for Cook waned, and relations between the Hawaiians and the foreigners grew tense. A misunderstanding led to a fierce battle, and Cook was killed by angry natives.
Following in the footsteps of this great British explorer the Hoblets visited Kealakekua Bay, hoping to meet some friendly natives. The monument to Captain Cook is on a secluded peninsular which is only accessible by boat (or by swimming). We opted for sea kayak. The kayak rental place was sited high up on the hills above the bay – so we carefully strapped two double kayaks and a single kayak to the roof of our hire car, which was no mean feat. We then had to negotiate our way down the steep, curving road to the dock area. This proved to be the easy bit – getting the kayaks off, into the water and the getting down the 3 feet from the dockside into the kayaks was the hard part! Somehow we managed to do this without disaster (or even falling in).For the dockside it is a 30 minute paddle across the bay to the monument. Fortunately today the sea is relatively smooth so it is a fairly easy ride across. Emily is very nervous in sea kayaks since her accident last year in La Jolla where she and Mark we hit and capsized by another kayak and she landed upside down in the water with a kayak on her head. So we have a few episodes on the way across as the kayak rises and falls on the swell. Laura travelling with Karen in the other double does really well, once Karen gets her paddling in time. On the way across a group of about 10 spinner dolphins come into the bay and pass about 50 feet from our kayaks. These small dolphins are renowned for their acrobatic skills and we are treated to a display of them leaping out of the water and spinning through the air before falling back down into the waves. Even this was not enough of a distraction to get Emily’s mind off the kayaking.
After a half an hour we do finally reach the beach landing area just down from the Captain James Cook monument. We pull the kayaks up on the rocky cove so we don’t lose our mode of transport back. It is almost idyllic here and if it were not for all the other people here (this is Easter weekend and Spring Break on the West Coast of the US) it would be perfect. The other great thing about this area is the snorkelling, so we unpack our gear and take to the waters. Even just a few feet from shore there are dozens of tropical fish, and as we go out further there is the most amazing coral reefs and varieties of fish. We have been so lucky since December to have these opportunities for snorkelling in some amazing places. Just before we leave we take the short trail through the woods to the monument to Captain James Cook. This white obelisk has most definitely seen better days, it is closed off to the public, probably because it is a not safe now to go up on the plinth structure. Also the paint is now flaking off, so the whole edifice is now in need of some loving care and attention. We sadly have to leave this lovely little part of paradise and return across the bay to dock area. By now we are experts at getting in and out of the kayaks, well.... sort of … Mark does manage to capsize the kayak with Laura in it! The journey back is uneventful at least until we get to the dock, but with some help from the locals we manage to get ourselves and the kayaks back on dry land and on top of the car.
After dropping off the kayaks we have to make the 90 mile journey back to our holiday home. Fortunately the scenery makes the onerous journey bearable. We have a little stop at a bakery on the way back where Mark continues his nationwide survey of bread pudding. This actually proves to be the best yet. We make one more stop at a black sand beach on the east side of the island, which is a most unusual sight. None of us are quite sure that we like the look or feel of black sand; it is very coarse and very black!! We have seen a similar beach in Sicily, but Jack and Emily were too young to remember this.
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