A BLONDE VINTAGE

Aloha! I’m excited to sit down this morning and tell you all about our favorite experience on the Big Island of Hawaii so far! You see, before we even left the mainland, the hubs and I sat down to plan our trip and decided on a few activities that were “not to be missed” while we were here. The first activity on that list was a snorkel adventure (Tyler really wanted to see dolphins in the wild!) and the second was a sunset dinner cruise. I set to work at finding the best company on the Big Island to offer us these experiences and quickly found that Body Glove Ocean Adventures was the best choice as they offered snorkel adventures, dinner cruises and even scuba! Our Favorite Experience on the Big Island of Hawaii

First things first, I have to tell you how easy it was to book online before our trip as the calendars show live availability! I was quickly able to choose our activity, our preferred date, select the time and enter in how many individuals we wished to purchase tickets for. The online booking system then took me through a simple series of questions, I entered my contact information for during the stay and my credit card information and completed my booking! It took minutes. Don’t you love efficiency? Especially when it comes to planning a vacation! Our Favorite Experience on the Big Island of Hawaii

We ended up choosing their Snorkel and Dolphin Adventure and their Captain Cook Dinner Cruise to Kealakekua, which for both experiences we found the prices to be extremely reasonable for everything provided. We seriously had such a good time on each…let me tell you about them more in depth!

Snorkel and Dolphin Adventure

Since we were staying above Waikoloa Village, at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, we ended up leaving our hotel around 6:30 am and arrived at the Kailua Pier in the heart of Kailua Kona, around 7:30 am. We decided to take advantage of the free parking offered at Body Glove’s office as it is located one block away from the Kailua Pier. It was a quick walk to the boat launch and we were perfectly in time for check in and 8:00 am departure time. We both came ready in our swimsuits, and only brought sunglasses, towels and coverups with us.

Upon boarding the 65 foot Catamaran, I quickly noticed how funny, kind and professional the staff was. I could tell right away we were going to have a good time for our 4.5 hour adventure! The boat itself was clean, and offered plenty of shade, cushioned seating, showers, restrooms and changing rooms, a high-dive platform (my favorite part!), 20 foot waterslide (Tyler’s favorite part!), sea-view boards and even stand-up paddle boards. They even offered reef safe sunscreen, which I lathered myself head-to-toe in! We were ready to go and fully equipped! Our Favorite Experience on the Big Island of Hawaii

Crew anchoring us to snorkel.

As we took off, breakfast was served. It was fairly light, plenty for us and included fresh brewed Kona coffee which was absolutely delicious! Once we began cruising out into the ocean, we ended up seeing spinner dolphins the entire way to our snorkel site, they literally swam right next to the boat for part of the journey. It was so neat to see them swimming along, they are so fast and so playful! You might remember I mentioned earlier that Tyler really, really wanted to see dolphins out in the wild.. well, Body Glove Ocean Adventures guarantees that you will see dolphins, or they will book your next adventure for FREE! That’s a pretty good deal in my opinion!

If you did not want to snorkel, you could float, or use the onboard slide or jump!

Once we reached our snorkel spot, in a secluded cove just south of Kona, we grabbed our snorkels (I brought my own, but Tyler used one provided by Body Glove which was excellent quality and clean) and hopped into the water. We saw some of the most gorgeous fish while snorkeling, easily hundreds of different kinds. When we got tired of snorkeling, we spent time playing and relaxing before lunch was served. We jumped off the high dive, slid down the slide several times, and just chilled on the boat net. Lunch was really good and included burgers and pasta salad and sweet potato chips, and complimentary sodas and water. There was even a full-service cash, premium bar available, offering local spirits, craft beers and blended libations in case you wanted a cocktail.

After several hours out on the ocean, we finally headed back to the dock. During the ride back we saw more dolphins and the crew tested our Big Island knowledge with trivia. We docked at around 12:30 pm.

Without a doubt this was my favorite snorkel adventure! We saw so many fish, had a great time being on the boat and enjoyed all the additional activities besides snorkeling that they offered. The food was tasty and the staff amazing! I really appreciated being on the ocean to snorkel, rather than navigating the rocky shorelines of the Big Island to get into the ocean from land. It was the perfect way to spend our morning!

Captain Cook Dinner Cruise to Kealakekua

Ever since I went on a sunset dinner cruise on Lake Tahoe, I’ve wanted to go on another dinner cruise, so when I saw that Body Glove Ocean Adventures offered a Captain Cook Dinner Cruise to Kealakekua Bay I was beyond excited!

Boarding time for the cruise was 3:30, so we ended up leaving our hotel roughly an hour beforehand. Since we already knew we wanted to take advantage of the free parking offered at Body Glove’s office, we did not have to worry about where to park our car or how long it would take us to walk to the Kailua Pier. Since this experience did not involve us going into the water whatsoever, I decided to dress casually and wore shorts and a nicer tank top. I brought a light sweater with me and ended up using it towards the end of the cruise. Tyler was pretty casual in shorts and a polo.

As we set off, we headed in a similar direction as our snorkel cruise the day before, but this time the onboard local Historian told us the history of the area, taking us back to when King Kamehameha ruled the land in reference to the scenery we saw along the way. Having lived on the Big Island myself, I was shocked at much rich history this part of the island held that I had never heard before! The scenery was also quite breathtaking, as from the boat we could see the caves and lava tubes along the sheer cliffs which historically had been used as burial caverns for Hawaiian Royalty.

During the entire trip the crew worked tirelessly to make sure we had a good time. Dinner was a Hawaiian-style buffet which was very delicious and made entirely from locally sourced goods, they even included cheesecake for dessert. Our first cocktail was complimentary, and was strong and tasty! Once we completed dinner, we were treated to live local Hawaiian music onboard as we steered back towards the sunset. The music and the sunset were easily my favorite part of the whole cruise! Some guests got up and danced, while others found a nice spot to relax, enjoy the amazing views and listen to the music.

Once we docked, it was completely dark and a little bit past 7 pm. Overall, I would definitely recommend going on this sunset dinner cruise! The sunset was absolutely my favorite part, as it was beyond perfection. There was nothing blocking its descent except miles of ocean. In my whole life I’ve never seen a sunset like that and I cannot wait to come back and take this cruise again!

If you have any questions about any of the Body Glove Ocean Adventures we enjoyed, please leave them in the comments below! I’d love to help as this was easily our favorite experience on the Big Island of Hawaii so far! As always, safe travels!

XO,

M

This post was sponsored, but as always all opinions are my own and I only choose to work with companies I can personally vouch for and recommend. Additionally, as an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases as well as other affiliate links found in this post. Please see my Disclosure for more information. Our Favorite Experience on the Big Island of Hawaii

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