Page 82 of Big Island Horizons
“Because then you’d have to carry me.”
Cody sighed. “Because then I’d have to carry you.”
“I knew it!” She pushed past him and ran down the trail.
“Piper!” he shouted, loping after her. “Seriously, it’s not funny! Slow down!”
Tara let out an exhausted sort of laugh and glanced at Liam, who just smiled. His perfectly poised angel of a daughter walked just behind them, talking horses with the calmer of the twins.
The sun was blazing when they finally reached the end of the trail, and they dove straight into the cool blue water without bothering with masks or snorkels.
Once they had cooled off, they climbed back up onto the warm black rocks to sort out their gear.
It was a gorgeous morning at Kealakekua Bay. They had started out in the dark to get across the island and down the trail before the sun was too high or the crowds were too thick. There were just a smattering of other people, including one older woman who Liam and Maddie greeted by name.
“She comes every week and clears the trail,” Maddie told the girls. “Watch this.”
The woman slipped into the water and then held her hands out to her little dog, who jumped off the rocks to join her. When she kicked off with her long fins, the dog balanced on her back with the easy confidence of a sailor. Back on the rocks, Paige and Piper laughed with delight.
“Imagine if I did that with Butterscotch,” Paige said.
“You can’t bring a rabbit down here,” Cody told her. “She’d be terrified.”
“Well our dogs are too big.”
Piper started to say something, then cracked up laughing before she could get the words out. After a few more false starts, she finally said, “Imagine if I brought one of the chickens,” and then burst out laughing again.
Cody shook his head and walked over to Maddie, fins in hand.
“I haven’t been down here forever,” he said to her, trying so hard to sound casual. “Where’s the best place for fish and stuff?”
“They’re everywhere,” she said with a smile. She pointed to a distant rocky outcropping, where the ocean had carved natural arches into the stone. “There’s no one swimming over there right now. Want to check it out?”
“Sure.”
The two teenagers disappeared while the twins were still spitting into their masks, rubbing the loogies around inside to keep them from fogging up.
“Ready?” Tara asked when they finally had their gear on.
Piper gave her a thumbs up and splashed into the water. Paige hesitated a minute, then followed her sister. They kicked off, exploring the rocky area along the coastline. Tara and Liam shadowed them, swimming just behind.
Fully immersed in this blue world, a high tide of emotion filled Tara’s chest.
She loved the verdant world of her farm and the rich aromas of her kitchen, but how had she let so many years pass without putting on a mask and snorkel and exploring this parallel universe that existed just on the edge of their own?
Tropical fish flitted by in a parade of stripes and colors, and she soaked it all in with gratitude.
She saw schools of yellow tangs and beautiful Moorish idols with their dramatic black on white stripes and long, graceful fins. Convict tangs swam by in a dizzying mass of stripes. She spotted Achilles tang with their dramatic red markings.
The names she had learned decades ago filled her head as she kicked slowly over the reef, keeping an eye on her girls. It was like seeing old friends again after years away.
Then came the spinner dolphins.
Piper was so excited that she lost her snorkel and came up sputtering. Once she had recovered enough to breathe, she refitted her mask and snorkel and took off after her sister, who was already swimming above the pod of dolphins.
As they watched, one dolphin grabbed something off of its friend’s tail. It swam up towards the surface and then dropped it. A leaf, Tara realized as a third dolphin caught the object on its tailfin. They were playing catch with a big leaf that had fallen into the bay.
The dolphins could have easily outpaced them if they’d wanted to, but they didn’t seem to mind the audience. They swam slowly, playing in the calm waters of Kealakekua Bay.
