Wild Weather and Big Waves in Hawaii

 

The Safari Explorer in the background with waves crashing artistically in the foreground. I took this picture from our small skiff that I was driving with our guests.

Maybe I can blame El Nino for the unusual weather patterns out here in the Hawaiian Islands recently. But whatever it has been, 'unusual', is an understatement. I've been running expeditions from a small cruise ship around the islands for the past three weeks, and we have had big waves and winds the entire time. While that isn't in itself unusual, the directions the wind and waves have been coming from is highly unusual. The winds usually come from the Northeast so consistently that they are dubbed the 'trade winds.' Early traders used to rely on them to sail their merchant ships out to Hawaii. Then they would travel farther north to catch the 'westerlies' and ride them back to San Francisco area. The trade winds have been no where to be seen, so instead our usual calm protected western shoreline has been crushed with big waves and strong winds from the southwest.

It has definitely changed up our usual itinerary. I've had to change our daily plans almost every day. Luckily we thrive in this flexible environment, and I can put my years of experience to good use. We have been finding different parts of the islands to hide from the wind and still get off the boat for adventure. This is the UnCruise small expedition ship experience at its finest. I always thing it is conditions like this where the crew really shines.

Today we tucked into a protected bay called Kealakekua Bay for our final snorkel of the week. I had a few folks onboard who were not into snorkeling, so I offered to take them on an adventurous skiff tour. I told them we might get into some big waves so to bring their adventurous attitudes, and they did! The photos here paint a good picture of just how wild the coast is right now. Usually this would be calm enough for me to drive the small boat right up to the rocks and touch them. As you can see I am definitely not doing that today.

However, I did get them pretty close for some amazing photo opportunities. Check them out and enjoy. And here's hoping that things calm down soon. I miss my calm conditions out here.

We had a couple of close whale encounters on our skiff ride this morning as well. This one had a tiny wound on its tail that was still bleeding.

We have gotten some beautiful sunsets this week. I feel like they are the first sunsets not hidden by clouds that I've seen this month!

The full moon setting over the monument to Captain Cook at our snorkel spot in Kealakekua Bay.

I do love taking photos of big waves.

I got as close as I safely could to this sea cave on our adventure skiff tour.

Another amazing whale encounter. This whale was slapping its tail on the water over and over.

The palm trees probably started as a floating coconut being crashed up onto shore by waves just like this.

Wait! Is that a person sitting there!