Snorkeling with dolphins
 

Hi All! Going to the Big Island in July and would like to take a snorkel tour including snorkeling with dolphins. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

The best way to see the wild dolphins is to rent a kayak and paddle out to the middle of Kealakekua Bay. If you just sit a while, the wild dolphins will find you. We did that a couple of years ago and the dolphins (particularly spinners) were jumping close enough to the kayak to get decent pictures with a disposable camera.

The people that we rented our kayaks from told us not to try to paddle to the dolphins, just let them come to us and sure enough, they did. Lots of other kayakers would paddle like crazy to where they saw pods, but you just aren't going to catch them.

Go early in the day as the dolphins come into the bay early then head back out during the middle of the day. Paddling a sea kayak in a calm bay is very easy. After watching the dolphins for a while you can paddle on to Captain Cook's monumnet, there is a lot of good snorkling over there.

Take lots of water and some snacks because you will likely be out there for a while.

Watching the dolphins is one of our best memories in 8 trips to the islands.

My husband and I had a wonderful dolphin experience when we visited the Big Island. A friend had recommended Captain Veto (company name: Into Spirit, phone # 936-1470). We went out two days before leaving, with a small group on a half-day trip with our snorkel equipment and underwater one-day cameras. He found the pods of dolphins. We would go ahead of them, he stopped the boat, we all got out, and the dolphins approached us and swam with us. One of the most amazing experiences of my life!!! Highly recommend looking up Captain Veto. We also kayaked Kealakekua Bay, but didn't go early enough in the morning--the dolphins had already gone by the time we got out there--others told us they had been there earlier in the am. It was still good snorkeling, but ditto the advice to go in the earlier morning if you want to swim with dolphins. Have a wonderful time!

A couple of years ago my husband and I were hanging out at Kealakekua Bay. We noticed the dolphins spinning out in the middle of the bay. My husband decided to swim out to where they were. He stayed out until they got bored and left. He was so excited to be able to see the dolphins so close up. He talked about nothing else for days. It was the highlight of his trip.

Thanks for the tips. I went to the "In To Spirit" website, it looks
great.