Day 10: Seahorses in Kona

Tuesday night, July 4th into Wednesday the 5th we sailed around the Big Island (seeing an active volcano on the way!) Our next stop on the Big Island was Kona. 

Kona is a bit different of a port than the others, in that it isn't an industrialized port. You can hop right off the boat to shops and a small beach. But, you're also tendered, so you have to get on the little lifeboats to head to the dock. 

Mom, Hayden, Asa and I had our one and only cruise ship sanctioned excursion in Kona, with the 'Seahorse Discovery'. We had some onboard credit to spend, and Calib and Peyton were getting an excursion of their own later, so it was just the four of us. We got off the tender and onto a bus. 

The ended up in the Marine Park at the Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm. The excursion would give you a tour of the farm, and in the end, you get to hold seahorses (or rather, they hold you- but I'll get to that). It's said that it is the only marine center in the United States that's let you touch seahorses. 

Upon arriving and getting off the boat, we were instructed to wash up to make sure we wouldn't be carrying any oils or lotions that might hurt the seahorses, and then we had a seat to wait for our tour to begin.  This seahorse farm does a couple different things. They work on rehabilitating seahorses, educating about wild and domestic seahorses, and  (their main focus) raising seahorses for home aquariums. Apparently, the main threat to seahorses is people catching them for their home aquariums. But, as you might imagine, that doesn't work out so well. The monogamous seahorses don't generally eat non-living food, and get depressed without their partners. Most only last a week or two. This farm has taught the seahorses to eat frozen shrimp, and eliminated the monogamy, so as long as the seahorse goes with one buddy- any buddy- they are happy and healthy. They also make sure everyone that purchases a seahorse is well versed in their care. It's a program that's helping the wild population from going extinct. Of course they still face issues like destruction of their habitats, but lessening the aquarium trade has been very helpful. (I forget the numbers, but it was significant- something from like a million a year taken out of the sea, to somewhere around 20,000). 

 

I also can't remember our guide's name, but she was pretty awesome. She carried around a little speaker system, so we could hear her clearly, and she was full of information about seahorses. I wish I had written this blog sooner, because I'm sure I would have remembered much more that way. But, oh well. Our first stop on the tour was where the little red volcanic shrimp breed. This is what the seahorses eat in the wild. While they have actually trained all the seahorses to have freeze dried shrimp, they also have plenty of live ones to go around. Later, we got to dump some in the seahorse tanks and watch them eat.

The second stop on the tour, we has to walk through this iodine stuff to make sure our shoes weren't bringing in bacteria. We also couldn't take pictures, because it was just tub upon tub of baby seahorses. A date on the front marked when they had been born from the day before we were there to a month earlier. You could really see how much they grow in just a week. Apparently male seahorses have about 400 babies at a time, and once he does, he rests for a few minutes, and then is ready for the female to deposit more eggs in his pouch, and he does it all over again. He can have 400 babies every 30 days for most of his adult life. In the wild, this is a defense mechanism, because only about 1 in 1000 babies survive to adulthood. At the farm, they have a rate of bout a 50% . 

Our next stop was to the seaweed tubs. We were told if we wanted, we could just pick off some seaweed and eat it. It sounded a little weird, but I figured it was a unique opportunity. Asa, Hayden and I all tried a bite. It was just like salty lettuce.  

Up next we got to see some of the bigger seahorses. These guys are the one's we got to feed, so you could seem them ingesting the little shrimp through their long snouts. It was pretty cool. 

Then we were on to the tubs where you got to hold some seahorses, or rather, they got to hold on to you. You're asked to put your four fingers together, with your thumbs out, and stick your hands straight into the water. That way you kind of simulate some coral, or plant for the seahorses to hang onto. They wrap their little tails around you and depending on how still you are, and how easy going they are, they'll stay there for a minute or much longer. Mine wasn't super cooperative, but I did get a minute or two in there. They also feel really soft, I don't know why I was excepting them to feel hard- but I was surprised at the texture. 

Everyone else took their turns with the seahorses. 

Asa's really liked him. It would have sat there for hours. 

They also have some other touch tanks. 

So Hayden got to hold a sea cucumber, and a sea urchin. 

They take you through the process of just how they ship the seahorses around the world, and some tanks to look at some of the many kinds of seahorses. 

We loved our tour. Full disclosure, we had on board credit, so for the 40 of us to go on the tour, it was something like $40. Though it was one of the 'cheaper' excursions, I'm not sure it would have been worth doing through the ship if we had to pay full price. However, they totally offer tours to non-cruise ship guests, and the price is much more reasonable. We spent a little time in the gift shop, and I spent some of my penny slot winnings from Vegas. They had the coolest seahorse magnet, but it was $17- way more than I'd ever spend on a magnet, so I used my winnings to justify the splurge. 

We boarded the bus and headed back to the docks. 

Cort's family had stayed on the boat all morning, but said they would get off the boat to hit the little beach just off the docks. I, again, had told my kids they could stay on the boat (since it was our second day on the Big Island and they had such a long day at Volcanoes National Park the day before). But then Clint and Jess decided to join us, so I told Calib and Peyton they needed to get off the boat for a picture and some family time instead. (Peyton was not too pleased with this development, but he went along with it).  

The beach wasn't all that big, and it was packed with people from the boat, but there was some decent snorkeling out there by the little straw-looking house. Everyone went out there at one point or another, but Asa, Holly and Peyton said they went like a third of the way out to the ship. They reported that it was super clear and full of sea life. 

I took their word for it, as I stayed closer to shore with the kiddos. 

Garrett, who had heard about my troubles spotting sea turtles on land, gave me multiple demonstrations of what they look like coming and going from the water. 

 

Gwen and Cort rented a paddle board and did pretty well with it. 

We decided all the kids on the board would make for a good picture, so I present the sequence of events of trying to get five kids to all balance on one paddle board. 

We did also take that family picture I made Peyton get off the boat for. 

But that was our last stop with Clint and Jess (they had been to Kauai days before we got on the ship), so we had to say goodbye. 

We did very little shopping in Kona, but I did pick up a 'Big Island' magnet to add to my collection, Calib got a shirt, and Asa had a Kona Coffee- because, I mean you have to have Kona Coffee IN Kona! 

Oh, and the sand off your feet sprayer was kind of cool too. Every beach should have one of these. 

After another afternoon in the sun, we headed back on the tender and back to the boat. 

Worth noting: I think this was the bluest water I saw all trip! 

Back in the room we were greeting with are usual towel animal and snacks. 

But we still had a bit of time before dinner. The littler kids watched some Moana, and Asa and I enjoyed some time on the balcony. 

Calib tried to go to the lei making class. But he didn't get very far. 

And then we were all off to the main dining room, Skyline, for dinner. I got some shrimp potato thing for my appetizer (it was just ok), and cornish hen with root vegetables as my entree. 

I don't think I'd ever had cornish hen before, so I decided to give it a go. It was fine, but not that far off from chicken. The root veggies were awesome though! 

As we ate dinner we sailed away from Kona. Goodbye, Big Island! 

That evening I hit up some Harry Potter Triva with Asa and Peyton. (The next night we missed 'Flags of the World' trivia because our dinner reservation was at the same time, which was a bummer, because we would have killed it.) Anyway, my Harry Potter fans missed two and a half questions, and came in something like 5th place. But they were convinced the winners cheated. 

The night before, we had discovered there were crepes every night at the buffet, just like their was on our cruise in Mexico. We had some catch up to do there. 

We went and saw the show in the theater (I think it was the magician), and we spent some time at Pink's Champagne Bar on the couches. I found if I was laying down, I did much better sea sickness wise. But honestly, the night we went from Kona to Kauai was the best night I'd ever had on a cruise ship. The water was calm, the boat didn't sway a whole lot, and it was lovely! 

Next Up: Seals and Ziplines in Kauai!