Kayaking with Turtles in Kawela Bay

On one of our last days in Hawaii, we decided to book a kayaking excursion with Shaka Kayaks through Turtle Bay. The package lasts about two hours. It includes an hour of kayaking, a light snack, and a quick nature walk around that edge of the property. We headed out at 8 am with a guide to Kawela Bay, a U-shaped bay on the edge of the Turtle Bay property. After watching a quick safety video, we geared up with life vests and prepared to get in the water. The water varies in depth, and you feel the effects of the tide and waves. I get seasick pretty easily, and I didn’t think this was the smoothest water. Our guides said it was one of the calmer days in recent weeks.

Kayaking with the turtles

Turtle Bay definitely earned its name on our kayak excursion. The number of sea turtles we saw surprised me. Several swam around and under our kayaks, and we had to steer to avoid hitting them. We started off from the beach in the middle of Kawela Bay. From there, we paddled over to the northern side of the bay, looking for spider crabs and other wildlife. We then headed out to the mouth of the bay into deeper water. You could definitely feel the waves and tide pulling on the kayaks here. We circled around to the southern side of the bay to check out some of the million-dollar properties on the shore. After one more trip over the middle of Kawela Bay, we paddled back to shore and went on the nature walk. The walk covers a short, sandy path to a pillbox used during World War II.