Born and Raised on A Farm: Day 5 Big Island

Today was our official snorkeling day. We joined a tour company called "Dolphin Discoveries" and took a 4 hour tour. I am always a little apprehensive about rubber boats on the ocean, but this trip ended up being very enjoyable. We snorkeled at "Cooks Monument" and then at a place called "Place of Refuge". We then saw about 12 humpback whales breaking the surface.

4 truly happy sailors staring into the sun and anticipating our first plunge over the side.

Cooks Monument flanks the small piece of land that is the only British territory on the Islands. The coral in front of this area is pretty and fairly pristine. There is an amazing drop off from the coral ledge. We saw lots of different fish, however our snorkeling off the beach had yielded as many different fish. The water clarity in this area was quite remarkable.

This is a view to shore of the "Place of Refuge". I loved the story behind this location. Apparently in the old Hawaiian days, if you committed a crime (stood in the shadow of a chief, If a woman ate a banana in front of others, stole something etc). You would be punished (sometimes with death). If you could outrun the authorities to this small section of land, you would be safe. While on this land, a priest stationed here would decide how long you would have to do penance.

The snorkeling here was more unique than the cooks monument location. The coral looked different and we saw turtles, eels, parrot fish and many other marine bodies that I don't know the name of.

I don't have the ability to edit this photo here, but if we zoomed in you would see the back or dorsal fin of a hump back whale coming to the surface. 1000's of whales come to the Hawaaiian Islands to birth their calves, rest and mate prior to returning to the northern waters near Canada and Alaska. It was near impossible to get photos of these whales. Whenever I put my camera down, another whale hit the surface.