Need Kona shore diving suggestions

[Thresa]

Headed to Kona for the second time this Friday? On our last visit we shore place of refuge, Ke'ei, puako, 4-mile marker, and hookena. What are other good sites accessible by shore? A shore diving website recommended kealakekua bay, miloli'i bay, and captain cook monument. I thought kealakekua bay and Capt cook monument were the same sight....are they different? Thanks in advance for any reccomendations.

 

[friscuba]

Ke'ei and the Place of Refuge are better that Kealakekua Bay is for the most part. There's some diving out front of the Cook Monument, but it's frankly a better snorkel than a dive... lots of plate corals, but most of the variety is above 15-20 feet or so. Manini beach on the south side of the bay offers some shallow lobe coral reef, but nothing spectacular, the wharf area is really not particularly nice, you're better off heading to places you've already been.

Puako has lots of dives, if you didn't spend a couple days of diving up there it might be worthwhile spending some more time up there and checking out different public accesses. Mahukona is pretty nice up north. There's a couple of guys here who know the northern shoredives better than I do, hopefully they'll chime in later.

Down in town the old airport park offers a couple of nice shore dives. The dive off the King Kam beach out to the right beyond the pier is surprisingly OK for a change of pace. Outside of Honokohau Harbor to the left off the beach is a very nice dive site. I've only done Pahoehoe park (about the 3.5 mile marker on Alii drive) once, once you get out to about 35 feet it's nothing but finger coral reef stretching out seemingly forever. I did a shore dive out to the north of the mouth of Keauhou Bay once, pretty good. There's lots of other spots I've heard of people dropping in and finding good diving. The only "random" choice dive I've ever done here that sucked was when a friend wanted to try diving off Kukio beach by tge 4 seasons.... 35 minute dive in 9 feet of water, saw one helmet shell and nothing else, it was the worst dive I've ever done in Hawaii. A year later another friend suggested we dive the little beach just a couple hundred yards south of Kukio, it's sort of a man made beach with imported sand, it was a very nice dive.

I've dove the south end of Milolii down by the park, it was quite nice. I only would go down there with a group, with someone to watch the vehicles, due to it's reputation for not being over visitor friendly. If you want to spend a day on taking a chance, I did a couple of very interesting dives down at Manuka one time. I wouldn't make that drive without 4WD and pretty much a guarantee that the water's flat. Lots of lava flow that's probably only 40-50 or so years old, little coral, but a buich of swim through and crawl through structure that hasn't caved in yet. Kona Paradise is another interesting dive down south.

Anyways, there's plenty of spots for the adventurous sorts.

 

[spoolin01]

There are a bunch of good spots on the stretch from Keahole Pt south for a mile or more. Turn in at the Energy Lab just south of the airport, and when you hit the coastline, go either right along the paved road, or left along the lava road. Anywhere you can get in along that stretch is pretty nice. It's exposed though, so pick your times and exit spots carefully.

The bench off the Honaunau park, next to Two-Step but inside the park, is also nice, when you can get in there. There's one pretty good entry just off the corner of the old rock wall. That area is also known as The Crack I believe, but the crack isn't that readily obvious, to me. That's also a spot that is often too rough.

There are lots of shore access spots along the 5 mile stretch between downtown Kailua and Kahuluu Beach Park. I've rarely found the visibility to be as good there as other places, but there's some decent reef and it extends out quite a bit farther from shore there than elsewhere along the coast.

North of the airport, I've been pretty unimpressed with visibility at the few places I've found access, until up as far as Puako, which is very nice, and north of there.

I've had really nice dives out at the Cook Monument - though you have to kayak over - shallow on top of the reef, and along the fairly steep wall but the last couple years when I've dropped by, there weren't as many fish it seemed. Could just have been bad luck.

 

[Thresa]

Thanks for all of the recommendations.

Steve do you have a store front yet that we could rent tanks from while we are there? I'm trying to talk Mike into doing some boat dives he's just not crazy about taking bonine since it makes him feel a little funny. Works great for the motion sickness though.

 

[friscuba]

The shop's across the highway from Honokohau Harbor above the Tesoro gas station. Unfortunately I expect I'll need all the tanks I've got for charters through about the 5th - it's the last hurrah of summer I guess, we're very busy with mostly full boats and several double charter days. Once it slows down I'll have tanks available for shore rentals. I need to pick up another dozen or so tanks it looks like. Myself or employee Annette are generally there from 10-5, sometimes a couple hours earlier, and we're both pretty up on shore dives if you want to stop in and talk story about the shore diving.

 

[pyeung429]

This post is great because I'm going to Kona over Labor Day weekend!

Of these spots, which do you recommend for novice divers? Ones that have easy access, entry, etc etc. Thanks in advance for the tips!

 

[spoolin01]

One place stands out in that regard - the one variously known as Honaunau/Two-Step/Place of Refuge. It's south 20 miles or so from Kailua town, just beyond Kealekekua. Follow the signs to Honaunau, then turn right down the one-way road just before the entry kiosk at the park. There will almost always be other divers and snorkelers there so you can readily find the eponymous Two-Step entry point, as well as the others that can be used. It's back in a little bay and more protected than any other shore site I can think of. It's also an incredible dive site, easily worth two tanks.

Kahaluu Beach park is also a very easy protected sandy beach entrance and usually calm spot, and the fish are plentiful and tame. The diving is very shallow - less than 6 ft - unless you swim out past the breakwater, which is not for novice divers unless the surf is flat.

 

[Thresa]

Place of refuge was definitely the easiest shore dive we did last time. Puako was my favorite of the shore dives. I didn't think the entry and exit were that challenging, but the conditions may have just be good the day we went.

 

[acooper]

As one of those "northern" divers, I'll chime in as well.

You will not find an easier entry than Mahukona, period. There is a ladder for goodness sake! An old sugar wharf to park on means you can throw your gear in the water from your tailgate. The wreck of an old steamer litters the bottom just beyond the wharf, including the engine and propeller. Just a pleasant place to go and spend a morning, or an evening. We did a late afternoon and night dive there a couple weeks back. A streetlight atop the pier makes finding the entry very easy after dark.

Mahukona Harbor - A Darker View

Plan on another dive or two at Puako, many of the entries provide access to different terrain. One of my favorites is House 56, one of the little public beach access points. This has an easier entry and features a short swim to the turtle cleaning station.

A Visit to the Cleaning Station - A Darker View

Tanks can be had at Blue Wilderness (Queen's Shops at Waikoloa) but I suggest calling ahead to arrange with them as they need to bring a few down to the shop. You can also get air at Kohala Divers in Kawaihae, they have a bigger shop and operation there, tanks almost always available for drop-ins.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Midge907]

One that I didnt see mentioned is Black Pebble Beach which is at the bottom of the Kona Paradise Subdivision. Next time I go back I want to dive the south side of the main harbor from the beach to the green can, we dove it from the boat last week when I was over there. Ke'ei was my favorite shore dive, two step was awesome also.