Hawaii is a lot like the Philippines geographically: volcanic islands in a tropical sea. Of course we don't have anything like the environmental regulation you would have there, and it does show, especially in places close to human habitation. Coral in this area has suffered badly from blast fishing, gathering of tropical aquarium fish using cyanide, and ashfall from the Pinatubo eruption. There are some places that survived, but most of those - at snorkeling depth, anyway - were hit hard by the bleaching plague that hit all of Asia last year, caused by unusually high water temperatures. Do you have that problem there? There are some places to snorkel with reasonable coral and a fair number of smaller fish, but nothing like the reefs down in the southern part of the country. Fair amount of marine life, especially in the protected portion of the bay, some turtles, dolphins, occasional sharks, other large fish.
No restrictions on anything, none that are enforced anyway, but we try to keep the hands off things as much as possible.
Hoping to get in a trip next month to the Caramoan peninsula, a virgin area, barely explored, very difficult to reach. Beautiful place, a reminder of what these islands must have looked like a few hundred years ago. Hard getting the kayak there, though. Been thinking about buying a folding boat, which would make that sort of trip much easier. |
