Being only able to withstand the bright sunshine and morning heat for a few minutes, I made my first forage into the water at a reef south of Kona. Instantly my eyes bugged out of my head with the majesty of what I saw. There were multi-colored fish of so many varieties it was mind-boggling. The reefs themselves were also hued in numerous different combinations, from dull blues, to turquoise, to red, even yellowish-black sections could be swum over.




One of my favorite types of fish was the electronic-neon-light-blue lipped oval shaped guys who darted in an out of jagged outcropping of reef, always slightly ahead of my reach. Bright yellow species meandered around with long trailing, string-like appendages from their fins. Sea turtles! Oh my! They look and act so different in the water than on the sand. Last year I was lucky enough to catch an egg in my own hands on a Costa Rican beach, this year I swam with them in the crystal-clear blue waters of the Big Island. What a treat!

There I was, immersed in my environment more thoroughly than I could ever have imagined. I was no longer a tourist, but a participant. I could not help but think about the plight of the reefs that surround the islands, and the abuse they must take from the growing onslaught of tourism and water sports activities. There are people committed to its preservation.

Now, most curious types will look at the big white monument on the north side of a very large bay south of Kona and wonder . . . what, why, how? Evidently that piece of white marble stone is the only property owned by the British on these Hawaiian islands. To hear the fate of Captain James Cook, who sailed from Britain in the late 1800's most likely with economic incentives as his motivation, one realizes how wild things were in this fantastic land, and not too long ago.

ER Harris