Day 10 - 10/11/22 - Kona, Hawaii

 Overnight we arrived at the bay at Kona where the ship anchored in position for the day.  Angela booked us on a snorkeling trip with Captain Zodiac tours through Holland America the night before.  We met in the Main Stage area and got our tour stickers (RED 10).  Soon we were off the ship and in the tender which was the first tender ride of this trip.  The Westerdam's tenders are old and of a very different design than any other we have ridden in on all the other Holland ships.  There is much more window area and the driver sits high on the right side.

We checked in for a HAL zodiac snorkeling tour that Angela had booked the night before.  We boarded the zodiac which was captained by Rick and assisted by Brenna.  I took a front position and we rocketed to K .  Once there I realized that we had snorkeled there in 2016. I was first in the water and it was very clear and about 20' deep.  There were many small and colorful fish but not quite the variety we saw in 2016.  The best snorkeling was over near the Captain Cook monument. I should note that the only ways to visit this area are via a tour boat or a rental kayak.  One can't enter the water from shore and snorkelers can't climb out on land.  The monument can be reached by a mile plus hike each way.  Cook died a few feet away from this monument.

After snorkeling we enjoyed pineapple, chips, and  cookies along with a choice of soft drinks, water, or juice. Then we motored back with two stops at volcanic formations.  The first was a cool cave and the second was a very cool formation that looked like a reclining maiden.  Ostensibly this was partial inspiration for Moana.

Back at the port as we approached the dock, Brenna spotted a humpback spout and off we went in search of it off the stern of the Westerdam.  We never saw it again, however, and returned to shore.

We walked up the hill to Walmart and did some shopping before hailing an Uber to take us back to the port with our purchases.  We visited the Ironman store and purchased some updated Ironman shirts to replace the ones we purchased in 2016 on our last visit.  

Back at the port area we were entertained by an energetic young goat and a small dog that a local had brought down.  We checked in through the port security with a driver's license and our ship card.  Soon we were on a tender back to the ship.  I gathered some fruit and salad makings and found a table on deck 9 aft where I first edited my snorkeling videos before eating the light dinner.

We intended to go to the 7pm show, but we found our friends, Eric & Marilyn, along our route in the Lido pool area and visited with them for about an hour and a half before watching Paul Sepien, a multi instrumentalist (primarily flute type instruments) from Poland and winner of Poland's Got Talent.  We had previously seen him on the Nieuw Statendam in August, 2022 where he premiered his act.

At 10:30 we went to the what we affectionately call the 10:30 feeding in the buffet.  At 10:55 there was a medical emergency PA call for an issue at a stateroom on deck 6.  Was this an omen of things to come?  We are looking forward to 6 days at sea.