We snorkeled with Captain Kieren in late November. Our group was myself, my husband and our two 11 yo sons. We are all beginners when it comes to snorkeling, and I’m certain we have now set an unmatchable bar for all future snorkel experiences. I chose this excursion specifically because it left a little later in the morning than other tours. The 8:30 am departure time was perfect for us, since we were on a sleeping schedule of roughly 10 pm - 7 am, so plenty of time to grab breakfast at a coffee shop nearby and make our way to the harbor. It was very easy to park and walk to the check-in area. There are restrooms (state park-like style) near the check-in location. We rented wet suits for the group and I highly recommend this. They help you float more easily and in late November the water was a little chilly if you’re more sensitive to the cold. With the wet suits we had no issues jumping right in and adjusting. None of us had ever worn wet suits before but the staff were very helpful in working with us to get the sizes right. They also have prescription goggles available on site as well - my husband ordered a pair for $75 before we traveled to Hawaii and thought they were well worth it since we plan to snorkel on future vacations, but if you don’t want to go that route they have several sets available in a range of prescriptions.
Once we boarded there was a short safety review as we got underway. Before we even left the harbor we saw a couple of pods of dolphins who feed offshore and then hit “rest mode” in the mornings in the harbor. Within five minutes we were out on the ocean heading to the first snorkel spot. I have to say this was so much more than just snorkeling. Captain Kieren shared a lot of information about the history of Hawaii and the Kona coast as we traveled between stops. We learned more from him during the tour than the podcasts and other research we had done before the trip. He was very knowledgeable about the ocean, various sea life we were seeing (he also runs whale watching excursions), the traditions and history of Hawaii, the coastline itself, and took the time to get to know our itinerary for our whole visit and recommended some great hikes and local poke spots to try.
The three snorkeling spots were quite different from each other. The first was a reef which depths to 200 feet, and felt like we were on top of some underground coral mountains. The second location was farthest south, deserted and much deeper. We saw a sea turtle there. We finished in the famous bay where Captain Cook met his end, which is a protected marine sanctuary. It was crowded but still plenty of room for us to explore. This was our kids’ favorite spot because of the variety of fish and the two giant eels we saw.
On the way back we were fortunate to see a humpback whale, which Captain Kieren spotted pretty far off since he is so experienced with whale watching. He detoured us close to the whale so we could watch it for a few minutes, even though it meant getting back a little later than the scheduled end time. He also took the time to show us some sea caves, the sleeping Pele rock formation and the formation that inspired Moana.
Finally, after every snorkel stop (35-45 minutes in each place) we had amazing fresh fruit and juice waiting back on the boat, in addition to the provided lunch. I can’t give this tour a high enough rating. Don’t overthink it, just book this one!