Turtle Watching at Kona Pier

Kona Bay has an abundance of wildlife that you shouldn't miss. Sea turtles, butterfly fish, eels and more can be seen from land or in the water.

I spent a couple of weeks at the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii in Kailua-Kona. After circumnavigating the island, I came to the conclusion that the best snorkeling was right at our hotel. The hotel has the only white sand beach on the island. Like all Hawaiian beaches, it is open to the public.

When snorkeling here, the only danger was to stay out of the way of the outrigger canoe as the actor playing King Kamehameha was paddling over to the luau area of the hotel every sunset. The pier cuts off any wave action and the water is crystal clear. Under the water I saw a 5 foot brown moray eel and numerous fish. At least a thousand yellow butterfly fish were swimming in a large golden cloud that I swam through. Sea turtles often came to see me face to face under the water.

Walking on the pier is just as much fun. This is where the tenders from cruise ships let off their passengers and party boats pick up passengers for dinner cruising with dancing. There are usually some locals sitting around bait fishing for their dinner. The butterfly fish and other fish can be seen from the pier. My favorite animals were the sea turtles which were present almost every hour of the day or night. They nibble on the seaweed growing on the pier. When waves swelled, the turtles were often lifted onto the pier ledge and would struggle to get off until the next wave came in. I saw 5 turtles at once one day.

From the pier, you can walk into town and explore the shops and restaurants or get some Kona coffee. I tried several cups of Kona and wasn't impressed while I was there. Back on the mainland I was looking through my suitcase 2 years later and found some ground coffee that I had purchased from a farmer at the Kona farmer's market. I opened the sealed foil package and brewed it up and it was fantastic.

Somehow, Kailua-Kona feels more local than Honolulu even though there are definitely tourists around, but there are a lot of friendly locals as well to meet. It's a tiny town compared to Honolulu and maybe that is what I like about it.

There is another beach nearby, just past the small boat harbor that has many turtles every night which sleep there. The small boat harbor is where you take a charter boat out for marlin fishing. I tried a half day of it and it was very interesting. We saw a pod of pilot whales. I caught three skipjacks which are used as bait for the larger fish.

Across the highway from the harbor are a number of small industrial businesses like Kona Lumber which is where I bought a small piece of koa to make my ukulele when I got back to California.

When I go back, I will spend more time in Kailua-Kona and less time driving around the island. When I was there, I drove all day to see Hilo and the erupting volcanoes and back. I was back at Kona at one in the morning.