Captain Cook, Hawaii by Honaunau-Napoopoo. Hawaii Route 11, part of the Hawaii Belt Road, passes through the community, leading north to Kailua-Kona and south to Naalehu. Hawaii Route 160 diverges from Route 11 in Captain Cook, leading south by a winding road to Napoopoo on Kealakekua Bay. According to the United States Census Bureau, the Captain Cook CDP has a total area of , all of it land. Most of Captain Cook lies between the and elevation, which makes it ideal as a coffee-growing region. It sits on the top of an ancient fault which created the famous Kealakekua Bay. Prior to the
Kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Captain James Cook fatally stabbed him with a metal dagger, ironically traded from Cook's ship during the same visit. Cook fell with his face in the water. This caused a close-quarters melee between the townspeople and Cook's companions. Four of the Royal Marines (Corporal James Thomas and Privates Theophilus Hinks, Thomas Fachett, and John Allen) were killed, and two were wounded. The remaining sailors and marines fired as they fled to their small boat and rowed back to their ship, injuring and killing dozens of Native Hawaiians on the beach, including possibly High Chief Kanaʻina. Cook's ships did not leave Kealakekua bay until