Sun high in sky as we launch the double kayak into the teal blue waters of Kealakekua Bay. We quickly coordinate our strokes and paddle toward where the Pacific’s waves crash against a cliff. This is the pace a small pod of spinner dolphins followed my kayak during a visit more than a decade ago.
As if expecting us, we first see a set of small, angled fins in the distance, heading right for us. Then two more off our starboard side. Suddenly, a pod appears just off our port side. I count 10, maybe more. Diving, surfacing as air from blowholes sounds like the forceful exhale of a post-dive snorkel.
They’re curious, taking a look before submerging deeper. The younger ones try their hand at the jump – spinning and splashing back into the ocean. Knowing the dolphins come to the shallower bays to rest during the day, we don’t follow as they cruise away. We continue on toward Captain Cook monument, to snorkel along a reef next to the big blue. But the dolphins double back toward us, so we float and just take in this connection to nature – it definitely rates in my top five list of outdoor experiences of my lifetime.The next day, we SUP in Kailua Bay, to be out in the sun, on the water on our last full day in Kona. We’re out on the Ironman World Championship swim course, at mile 1.2 buoy when another spinner pod shows up, slowly moving in sync. We kneel on our boards and watch them swim under us, turn their silver bellies up like my tortoiseshell cat wanting attention back home.
A swimmer we later dub the dolphin whisperer sings and talks to them through her snorkel, or maybe it’s a recording? The pod collects near her as if she’s one of them. Wherever she goes they pop up, in pairs and groups. We take this in for more than an hour before heading back in – another few hours of nature TV we’d tune into any day.
Check out Nat Geo’s underwater video, with great views of the spinners in action.