Technically, we cannot land our kayaks over there
because this is British territory.
-You want to watch me?
-You want to go there?
Filmed before the pandemic
Hello again from the Big Island of Hawaii,
the largest island in the entire United States of America.
Good morning! Aloha!
Today we're exploring the Kailua-Kona Coast,
and we start with an adventure.
- ♪ Tell me more, tell me more ♪
♪ Ta-da-da-da-ra-ra-da ♪
-[laughs]
This is Kealakekua Bay.
-Oh, baby!
[laughs]
We're crossing this entire bay kayaking
to go all the way over there.
Do you think it's a 25-minute job?
-No. -More than that, you know?
[laughs]
Let's see.
[music]
Sometimes there are dolphins here.
It doesn't look like it's the case today.
We're not seeing any so far.
But over there in that corner,
everyone says it is a great place for snorkeling.
She makes me do all the work.
Not really.
Baby, we made it! Yay!
-I did.
-You did!? Come on!
[laughs]
I did... What about my hard work?
-It's a new world.
Captain Cook's Monument.
This is the place where Captain Cook, the famous British explorer,
first arrived here in Hawaii.
And that's important because he was the first European
to make contact with the native Hawaiians.
But this is also where he was murdered.
We can't land our kayaks over there
because that's actually British territory.
You want to watch me?
You want to go there?
You're Canadian, you're from the Commonwealth.
They landed here...
...so why can't I land in that land? - Yeah!
[music]
It is so, so beautiful.
Perfect visibility. Everything is so crystal clear.
The water is fantastic.
And you see some sea urchins this big.
[laughs]
You see everything down there.
Transparent, really.
So beautiful! -Yeah.
[music]
It's a beautiful place!
Look at this cliff.
If you don't want to kayak, you can also get a boat to here.
Ready for the rowing back?
-Yes.
[music]
Wow.
Ooh!
That was really nice, an adventure, really.
But don't expect to arrive here at Kealakekua
and there will be people ready to rent a kayak to you.
There's nothing, really.
Look at this.
You just see houses here, people that live here.
This is something that you have to arrange in advance.
And you have a few options.
You can rent a kayak with a company in town,
then you have to find a way to bring the kayak here.
There are other companies that will bring the kayak for you.
And this company that we use, they are located right here,
so you just show up.
Of course the more convenience, the higher the price.
We paid $65 for a kayak for two.
You can stay for as long as you want.
We stayed for like three hours here.
We went with this company called Ehu&Kai
It was very nice. They were very friendly.
I booked the service this morning directly on their website,
as soon as I got up, at 6:30 AM,
we got here around 8:00, and everything was all right,
just waiting for us.
Here also at Kealakekua Bay, there's an old religious structure.
It was kind of a temple right here called Hikiau Heiau.
It's sacred to the Hawaiian people.
They even ask you to stay off the platform.
Where are we going?
-Puhu-u-nau-nau-nau-nau.
-[laughs]
You're a great Hawaiian speaker.
-Yes.
-Kameha-me-me-me-me-meha
-Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau.
It's hard to say that.
This is a park.
It's $20 to come here with your car,
or $10 per person if you park outside
and you come walking.
So for us, it would be the same.
We prefer to park here inside.
This place here is called Place of Refuge.
In old Hawaii, if you broke one of the laws,
or if you were, let's say, in the losing side of a battle,
you had one chance to be saved.
You had to make your way here.
Once you managed to get here, spend some time here,
you'd then be allowed to leave without any punishment.
[laughs]
You're so you!
These statues are called Ki’i.
They were for protection.
They even put this one here in the middle of the rocks.
Oh, this was the main temple.
This was the burial site of Hawaiian nobles and chiefs.
It's a reconstruction as the original was destroyed.
This is huge, right? -Yeah.
We arrived, you think it's just that beginning,
but there is all this here.
It's full of natural pools,
but I don't think you can swim here because this was a temple.
There's nobody in the water here.
Huge wall here, so full of details.
Look at the little rocks, how they are placed.
Can you believe it was built in five days?
Everything, of course, built with no machinery
with volcanic rocks.
Here there's something really, really cool,
a really innovative audio guide.
Everything is done over the phone.
You dial this number here, it's just a normal U.S. phone number.
And then, when you see these numbers on wood, as you walk,
you simply type in that number on the phone,
and you can hear the whole story about it.
This is so amazing. How come this is not everywhere?
Look at the numbers here.
They mentioned in the audio a game that was played here,
probably why they left the rocks exactly like this.
This canoe is 200 years old. It's original.
And that over there was kind of a net, you know, for fishing.
They'd take this to the ocean and fish would be trapped inside.
[music]
A model here of how constructions were back then, with no nails.
Right next to Place of Refuge,
you'll find this place right here,
known as Two Step.
It's another well-known location for snorkeling.
Ah, the same yellow fish as in the other bay.
Now this one here is much easier to arrive.
You can just come and park your car.
[music]
One more stop here along the Kona Coast.
This church right here, this is known as the painted church.
That's because it has painted walls.
When Hawaiians were adopting Christianism,
they didn't know how to read or write,
so they used exactly these scenes to learn the Bible.
Look at how interesting,
Hawaiian theme here in the church as well
on the ceiling.
They still have services here.
Waiter: Tartar sauces.
You've got your infamous spicy tartar
Try that one.
-Awesome. Thank you.
When a restaurant is called Fish & Chips,
You got to have fish and chips.
And look at what a charming place! It's like you're in the mountains here.
Just like you're in the middle of nowhere.
It's almost that.
Fish and chips.
Very good.
Mmm, good.
You just go for the spicy, baby?
-Uh-hmm.
[laughs]
Back to Kailua-Kona.
Here you can have a really great idea about Hawaii.
This is where we are. Kailua-Kona.
Right here.
We went... - Napoopoo...
...Honau... Hōnaunau.
Baby, you didn't graduate well the lessons in Hawaii.
-Yes, I did! We went to Napoopoo,
and we went to Hōnaunau.
-Hōnaunau. Yay!
-Yeah. -I got it right.
I got exactly right.
This is Kealakekua, where we went snorkeling.
You see the very bottom of the island?
That's the southernmost point in the entire United States.
Oh, yeah!
-Cheers!
These geckos are everywhere.
He's looking at my food.
[music]
Sunsets in Hawaii are magical, huh?
I wish we were staying longer.
There's so much more to see.
[music]
Kona is so charming.
Actually, the entire west coast of the Big Island.
Now tomorrow we're going to the other side of the Big Island,
the east coast.
For us, it means new accommodation
and definitely a little bit more rain.
Can you look that way? I'm doing a beautiful...
No, baby. No, not like that.
Like pose, like a model.
Model, baby.
In most places in the world, you have stray dogs, stray cats, right?
In Hawaii, no. It's stray chicken.
They're everywhere in Hawaii.
-Captain Cook was cooked here.
-Oh, don't say that
Yeah? -Let me tell you, 20 years ago,
I went to Hawaii with my wife.
We were driving along... beautiful day!
Beautiful day... sun...
You know... lots of fish... and there were some dolphins.
You know, my wife went out, she went to swim with them.
Yeah?
She had a snorkel. Very good for her.
She gets on, tips the boat and I got nothing.
-[laughs] -Yeah...