Since this was going to be our last full day, we decided to do one more snorkeling trip. We'd heard from some people we'd talk to at Kahalu'u beach that there was another really good / lesser known snorkeling place that had some neat things. We weren't really clear on the name because we'd heard it called City of Refuge as well as Two Step. Apparently they're pretty synonymous. In anycase, the place is in Honaunau Bay, just south of the Captain Cook monument (that we never did make it to see, but apparently has decent snorkeling as well).

Once again we had a bit of a problem trying to find the place, mostly because it was hidden and right next to a national park. We had to park on the road again and walk down a sidestreet to get there. There wasn't much of a beach, but we set up our things near some trees on the little bit of beach there was. The rest of it was rocky bits that lead into the sea. The nice thing was, there were holes/dips in the rocks around the edge so you could walk out there with your sandals and things, and then just leave them in the holes while you go out to swim.

The place is aptly named 'two step' because the only easy was to get into the water is right at the rocky edge where in one spot the rocks dip down twice to make 'two steps'. It's still pretty hard to get in because you have to time yourself with the waves so you don't get smacked against the rocks (and then be able to swim really hard to get out into the open water). Zach didn't want to get in because it was too much effort for him. Plus, it was really deep. There was pretty much not spot in the water that you would be able to stand up in. It got really deep really fast. There was a lot of coral near the rocks, but there were some open sandy places further out. Not that I had the diving ability to get that far down.

There weren't as many fish as at the other snorkeling places, the water was very blue, and the current was really strong. I'm not sure if that was because of the day, because there seemed to be leftover strong tows like yesterday at the beach. Maybe on a brighter, calmer day it would have been an easy swim, but I definitely had to work to move around. It was very beautiful, though, because of how blue the water was and how deep it went. I spent quite a while swimming out and letting the waves bring me back in towards the shore.

Eventually, when I decided to come in, because everyone else was on the beach. It took a lot of timing and grimacing to get out of the water. The waves were pretty rough, and there were a fair amount of black spiny sea urchins around the two steps that you had to watch out for, so you had to time everything really well with the wave swells. Sometimes you'd almost make it up onto the first step, but the retreating wave would pull you out. And it wasn't shallow enough to stand before the first step. I came in and had sat down for a bit before people were pointing at something out in the water.

Dolphins. Wild dolphins coming into the bay. You should have seen how quickly I put my fins back on and jumped back in the water. I had to swim really hard to get even close to where they were coming in. And because my face was down in the water to breathe with the snorkel, I wasn't really sure where they were headed, so my Mum stood on the rocks and tried to point them out to me. I'm sure I saw the in the distance when I was out in the really deep water, but they didn't seem to stay around for very long, and eventually moved too far out for me to follow. But still, I'm going to count it as swimming with dolphins. If we ever get back there, I'd love to go back on a sunny, calm day and maybe see if I can swim with dolphins again.

I came back in not too long after that because everyone else didn't want to get in because of how difficult a swim it was, and we'd decided to head back to Kahalu'u for some easy, clear snorkeling. We almost got lost on our way there - we tried to take a road that said it would lead us almost right to the snorkel spot, but it was an empty, desert road. And we weren't sure it was going to work, so we tried to get turned around and almost got stuck on the side of the road.

We were so lucky we'd decided to head back to the easy snorkeling because, not only was it just as lovely, clear and calm as last time, but this time, there were turtles EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately, we were all too excited to go actually swim with turtles that no one remembered to bring a camera. But it was one of those moments that you don't really care about anything besides what's happening in the moment.

The first turtle was pretty much as soon as you got into the water. There were quite a few just swimming around nonchalantly, sort of watching the snorkelers watch them. There were fish everywhere too. Some turtles were swimming in pairs and many were just floating along and eating bits of coral every now and again. At one point, I was swimming along, following one turtle, and swam over top of another one. He sort of looked up at me, and I swum backwards a little so I wasn't getting too close, but he didn't seem to care, and instead came right up beside me for a bit of air, then continued on his way. What a special experience.

Definitely another highlight of our trip. And something we weren't expecting at all. We all spent quite a while in the water with the turtles, but eventually had to get out because we wanted to pick up tuna again for our second-last supper. We said goodbye to the turtles and headed off to Costco again. On our way we stopped at a chocolate factory called Donkey Balls, just because of the name. And that evening we had out last good night swim in the condo pool.