Kahana and Olowalu Reefs, April 29 & 30

We stayed at Kahana Reef yesterday (April 29).  While Enid finished up the laundry, I went snorkeling in front of our condo.  It was not too windy, so it was quite calm.  I was surprised at how shallow the reef was.  The water was clear enough to see, though not too good for photography.  The highlight of the day was to see a Lionfish (which is a first) and a Tiger Snake Moray Eel.  The moray was at least 6 feet long and perhaps 2-3 inches in diameter.  It slithered along the bottom for quite a while in front of me, poking it’s head into holes in the coral, until finally it found one hole and entered it completely.

Today we had planned to go north to Honolua Bay; however by the time we got ready to go it was obviously getting windy, and from the north-west so that we decided it would not be wise to go to this more open bay.  Instead we went south to Olawalu Reef, which is at mile 14 of the Honoapillani Highway.  There are no toilet facilities there, and the best part of the reef is a long swim from shore.  But it was well worth it.  The water stayed calm, we snorkeled twice, once in the morning and once after lunch, and saw some great coral formations and some new varieties of fish as well.

It was probably a very good decision to go south.  When we returned to our condo tonight the ocean in front was extremely rough, the roughest we’ve see it, and the waves are crashing into the seawall in front.  It is very noisy tonight.