Captain Sharky finds his place in the sun, far from Lake Union

Captain Sharky is living his dream, zipping along the Hawaiian coast in a small, but very fast, boat.

With a grin on his perpetually tanned face, he's piloting a half-dozen tourists on a sightseeing and snorkeling trip along the coast of Hawaii's Big Island. It's sunny and gorgeous, with waves frothing on the wild, rocky shore and green hills stretching steeply above.

It's just another day at the "office" for Captain Sharky, otherwise known as Shawn Kay, who gave up on Seattle's winter gloom and traveled — and stayed — in Hawaii.

"I was the type of guy who was wearing sandals in the dead of winter in Seattle, so you know something was wrong," the 34-year-old said.

In Seattle, he worked in a South Lake Union bar, crewed on a Lake Union tour boat and took off to sail in the South Pacific for 10 months. After getting his sea captain's license back in Seattle, he found his place in the sun with Sea Quest, a small tour-boat company on the Big Island.

His nickname fits his marine lifestyle: "I saw pictures in kindergarten of sharks and I was fascinated by them, so I got called Sharky ... I saw my first real shark when I came to Hawaii."

We won't see sharks on our afternoon tour; such sightings are very rare in the waters where they take snorkelers, according to Sea Quest. But we will see swarms of tropical fish and, if we're lucky, sea turtles and dolphins.

Information

Sea Quest Rafting Adventures Tours depart twice daily from Keauhou Bay south of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The almost 20- year-old company has two six-passenger and two 12- passenger rafts.

888-732-2283 or www.seaquesthawaii.com; online bookings often are discounted by $15 or so.

Other tours: Other companies offering Big Island snorkeling tours include Captain Zodiac, www.captainzodiac.com; Fair Winds, www.fairwind.com; Adventures in Paradise, www.bigislandkayak.com for rental kayaks and tours.

Departing from the little Keauhou harbor near the island's main visitor town of Kailua-Kona, Sharky steers his inflatable, raftlike boat out into the open water. It can carry 12 passengers; there are only seven of us and, thanks to two powerful outboard engines, the boat rockets along the rugged, empty coast at almost 40 mph. Two preteens, swaddled in lifejackets, giggle and shriek as Captain Sharky heads straight at the rocky shore, slowing at the last minute to maneuver into a dark sea cave.

Approaching Kealakekua Bay, Sharky slows the boat and talks of the bay. Also known as Captain Cook, it's a national marine sanctuary, a historic site — and our snorkeling destination. On the shore is a small white obelisk, a monument to the 18th-century British mariner James Cook who was killed in the bay in a dispute with native Hawaiians.

Sharky hands out snorkel gear, instructs us not to stand on the fragile coral bottom, and we slip over the side into an ocean garden of clear warm water and clouds of tropical fish, from luminous yellow tangs to bulbous parrotfish and almost translucent needle fish.

He stretches out on the boat in the sunshine, dispensing advice and fish identification to snorkelers who pop up beside him with questions. Too soon, it's time to wrap up the tour. Sharky hands out cold sodas and mounds of fresh pineapple. We zoom across the open sea, wet hair whipping in the warm wind.

Back at the dock, Sharky gives each person a little fish sculpture made by folding palm leaves, tropical origami he's created while we snorkeled. It's all in a day's work, a long sunny way from Seattle.

kjackson@seattletimes.com or 206-464-2271