[Journal entry for April 12, 2007] Kayaking in Kealakekua Bay, Kona Coast, Hawaii. I awoke at 6:30 AM, and cooked a breakfast of eggs on my MSR stove at my Spencer Beach campsite. I spotten a small mammal, a mongoose, I guess, in the brush near the campsite, as well as several ground-dwelling fowl that that were roughly the size of grouse, but much thinner. Judging from a guide book, they are possibly Erckel's Francolin. I then drove down to Kealakekua Bay for kayaking. This bay is on the Kona Coast, about an hour and a half drive south of Spencer Beach. I had arranged with an outfitter, Adventures in Paradise, to rent a boat. A very enthusiastic employee helped me assemble gear, pick out a boat, and get it onto the top of my car. The Bay is a ten minute drive from the rental shop, down windy Napoopoo Road. The launch site is a solid-looking concrete pier that projects a bit into the Bay. It lacks a true launch ramp, but instead has indented sections that are set three feet or so above the water - not the greatest for kayaks, but manageable. I donned my PFD (my usual rescuer's vest, with its hydration pack and marine radio, not one from the outfutter) and launched my rental boat, an Ocean Kayak Scrambler. It's an eleven-foot, plastic sit-on-top rec kayak. It's very stable and it both tracks and turns very well. But, for a racer like me, it's dreadfully slow! Even with my best technique, I could not push it above 4.5 mile per hour (which is less than half the top speed of my racing kayak). Still, it was quite a servicable boat for a day paddle, and I enjoyed my day of kayaking with it. Kealakekua Bay (N19:28.406, W155:55.156, WGS84) is about two miles long, and makes a half-mile deep indentation into the west coast of Kona. Its notable for being the site of the explorer Capt. James Cook's death in 1779; a monument at the north end of the Bay commemerates the event. The Bay also has a very distinctive sea cliff that towers above the northern half of its shoreline. The cliff exposes a many lava flows, each a few feet thick, that dip gently toward the north. Blocks of lava have fallen out here and there, forming small caves. I first paddled northward, towards the Cook Memorial, a small white obelisk on a low woody promentory at the north end of the Bay. Many people snorkeled in the shallows there. I could see rosettes of coral, urchins, and fish - some rather plain, others colored bright green and blue - among the submerged lava blocks, through the very clear water. I then paddled to the northern end of the Bay, finding a calm, sheltered spot among shoals that were being battered by breaking surf. I sat just beyond the white water, enjoying the sight and sound of the waves and surging water. I then paddled back southward. I spotted a pod of eight or so dolphins playing in the northeasternmost corner of the Bay. They were mostly dark grey in color, but must have had some white markings on the submerged, lower parts of their bodies, for I saw flashes of white when they manuevered underwater. They were about eight feet long. I watched them for a while, being careful to maintain a respectful distance, and then continued on my way. I had several other similar encounteres with dolphins - perhaps the same pod - during the course of the day, all in this same area. I resolved to paddle fifteen miles during the day, the same daily amount that I had been paddling last month on my Florida Keys trip. This was arguably an unwise goal, given the sluggishness of the Scrambler, but I was looking forward to a full day of paddling. I headed south, past the launch dock and surrounding houses, past several rock shoals and points. I then turned about and paddled back to the Cook Memorial. A large catamaran, carring snorkelers, had just arrived. The big boat slowly maneuvered into the northeastern corner of the Bay, near where I had seen the dolphins. Several zodiaks, also carrying snorkelers, had also arrived, along with many more kayakers in rec boats. During the whole day, I saw only one other experienced kayaker, beside myself, judging on the basis of paddling technique and gear, a woman guiding a tour, who used a blue-bladed paddle and a green-colored, sleek and well equipt sit-on-top, and who wore a faded red-cross emplazoned PFD. Once angain, I turned about and headed south, this time heading for the extreme southern end of the Bay, by a beach that sported many palm trees. I turned about between several rocky shoals located just offshore of the beach. Surf was breaking over the shoals. I mostly avoided the breakers, but one or two topped the shoal and bubbled over the deck of the Scrambler, wetting my legs and torso. I thought the boat handles the waves well. I did no surfing, for my rental agreement prohibited it, but I would guess that it is rather too short a boat for effective wave-riding. I paddled up and down the coast of the Bay, bring my total up to six round trips. I wound up back at the Cook Memorial with my GPS odometer reading 14.2 miles. Here I ran into the guide again, out with another tour group, I guess. This time we chatted briefly. She said that she belonged to a local club that paddled OC-1's out of a bay a little further to the south, and invited me to drop by a 4:30 PM practice. Unfortunately, I had to return the rental boat and do some shopping, so was not able to accept the offer. The weather was starting to deteriate, too. What has begun as a superbly sunny day had now turned overcast, and rain was falling at higher elevations, inland from the shore. I said goodbye and called it a day, my odometer reading 15.2 miles at my return to the launch dock. An outfitter helped me out of the boat and back onto the dock - my legs were pretty stiff from five-plus hours of sitting. During the course of the day I had drunk three liters of water. I thought that I had brought a lot, but could have used even more! My total time on the water was five hours and thiry minutes.