Hawaii - Dolphins and Snorkelling

Our final day in Hawaii was spent aboard the catamaran, Kai'Oli'Oli, exploring the west coast of Oahu looking for dolphins.

We walked around the corner to the Marriott Hotel where we boarded a Royal Star coach to travel to the dock where the catamaran was moored. Our driver, Alan, pointed out places of interest during the drive to our destination which was not far from Paradise Cove where we attended the luau on Saturday.

There were 22 passengers on the catamaran and four crew. After the safety talk we were able to view the scenery as we proceeded along the coast including large hotels and resorts.

Like other parts of the island there are hills and mountains.

It was when we passed the power station that we discovered the dolphins.

We spent some time following the dolphins who were good at playing hide and seek. One moment they would be jumping out of the water and then they would disappear. These are spinner dolphins and from time to time would jump in the air and spin around.

They are very sociable animals and often swam in twos and threes and sometimes quite large groups.

The dolphins swam off and then it was time for most of the passengers (except me) to get ready to go snorkelling.

The chosen location has four spots for swimmers to explore.

Soon the swimmers were in the water investigating what was below

under supervision, of course.

All the underwater photographs were taken by Mani, the photographer on the Kai'Oli'Oli. Mani also took the set of four dolphin photos above, plus the photo of Robin and me about to board the catamaran.

When the snorkelers returned to the catamaran we had lunch and then continued along the coast for a while until it was time to turn around and head back.

On the return journey we met our pod of dolphins again and this time they were a little more co-operative and spent some time swimming around the boat.

It was then back to the dock and the end of a great afternoon.