The Big Island of Hawai’i is a must see for so many reasons. I mean…. active volcanoes, lava tubes, green sand beaches, black sand beaches, scuba diving, the list goes on. So a short plane ride from Kauai to Hawai’i and we were diving within an hour.
A SCUBA Divers Paradise
The big island has long been known for its near pristine diving. I have to say I agree that is had some of the best diving from the Hawaiian Islands I have been able to explore.
Diving The Harbor – Kona Hawai’i
First stop on our diving adventure was the Harbor. Well known as a tiger shark hangout – that was the goal of the dive here. Spoiler alert – we did not get lucky enough to see a tiger shark. We did however have a great dive. This was simple enough with a beach entry in a cove. The profile quickly drops off and we planted ourselves on the bottom or near the bottom. Why? To hopefully see a tiger shark, of course.
I did have a bit of an adventure getting out of the water on this dive. By adventure I mean almost got smashed up against the lava rocks on the side of the cove. That is what I get for not paying attention. The swell had picked up since the start of the dive and we had to really fight to get back into the cove entrance. All is well that ends well though. I am still here to tell the tale, and just a bit wiser.
Diving Old A – Kona Hawai’i
Our second stop diving just outside of Kona was a dive site called Old A. Which literally just means Old Airport – and you simply drive down the runway of an old airport to a small beach cove and giant stride off a cliff into the water. This dive was super straight forward – follow along the cliffs and enjoy the views. We opted for this dive because it had the flexibility to stay shallow or go a little deeper. In the end we really were enjoying the cliffs and some of the swim throughs, so we just hung out in the shallower parts of the dive.
The most “difficult” part of this dive in particular for me was getting out of the water. We swam back to the cove and I swear I came out of the water like a beached whale. No joke. If you have read any of my other diving posts you know that shore dives are not necessarily my favorite things. This definitely was one of those reasons.
Diving Honaunau Bay – Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park
This was by far my favorite dive spot we hit up on the Big Island. We knocked out two dives here, and it was beautiful. The dive entrance spot, called two step, was a bit crowded with snorkelers who stick to the more shallow part of the bay. But once you get into the water and away from the crowds it becomes so peaceful. It is important to note that you cannot dive from the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park. You have to go to the two step beach entrance down the street.
This bay is known for having spinner dolphins around – but sadly we did not get to see them. But the corals and other fish life was abundant. The two underwater “Aloha’s” were also a cool photo opportunity. And we managed to catch and white tip reef shark napping at 100 ft.
Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park
We did not just go SCUBA Diving on this stop – we spent about an hour and half between our dives exploring Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. The park was gorgeous, and told an amazing history of the Hawaiian people. I was a really cool way to spend a few hours, and much less touristy feeling than the Hawaiian Cultural Center on O’ahu. Honestly, you cannot beat the views of the bay from this National Historical Park.
Colored Sand Beaches of Hawai’i
We left Kona and headed toward Hilo. We planned to go to Mauna Kea when we had another day between diving and elevation, so we took the long way around Hawai’i. Which also meant we were going to be driving past tons of beaches. This included Papakolea Beach (Green Sands Beach) and several black sand beaches. So of course, we had to make a few stops. In addition to the beaches, we stopped at Punalu’u Bake Shop for some Malasada’s because I have been craving them ever since my last trip to Hawai’i.
Papakolea Beach – Green Sands
To preface this section: I don’t necessarily feel like green sands beach was all it’s cracked up to be. Honestly I was a bit disappointed with this stop. So here goes…. First of all, Green Sands is not simple or easy to get to. There is a parking lot located about 2.5 miles from the actual beach. If you don’t have 4X4 vehicle and an experienced driver, I would highly recommend you opt to park here and do one of the two options available to you: hike to Green Sands beach or hitch a ride provided by the locals in the back of a pickup truck for $25. If you choose to hike be sure to pack some sunscreen and hat, the entire path is exposed to full sun all day.
We did have a 4X4 vehicle and an experienced driver, so we went for a little off roading adventure. It was much more intimidating than it actually was difficult to drive out to Green Sands Beach. That being said – be fully confident in your off road driving abilities and drive cautiously. The locals charge A LOT if you get stuck and need a tow.
The Green Sands Beach itself was…. not very green. It definitely had hints of green in the sand but any photos you see online of brilliant emerald green sand are highly edited. There were some people who ventured out and were swimming in the cove, however the waves were incredibly rough. I opted to stay dry because we had 2 more hours of driving in front of us.
Black Sands
Unlike the Green Sand Beach, all the black sand beaches we saw were very black. We stopped at Punalu’u Beach, but there are plenty of other black sand beaches you can stop at in this area. I loved this stop for the primary reason that it is a major turtle area, so there were SIX turtles sunbathing in the sand. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.
A word of caution – the sand is NOT soft so I absolutely recommend keeping your shoes on for any black sand beach adventures.
Kaumana Caves
It would not be a trip to Hawai’i without going to a few lava tubes. Of course we went to Volcanoes National Park, but I gave that its own blog post which you should absolutely give a read. Outside the national park there are tons of other lava tubes on the Hilo side of the island. We opted to explore Kaumana Caves. It was a really unique experience for me having never seen a lava tube before. This stop was free and definitely worth the hour spent exploring.
Mauna Kea
We could not miss going up to the top of Mauna Kea. This can be a controversial topic, but it was something that I really wanted to do. So controversy aside, we drove to the top of Mauna Kea. There is an option to hike from the welcome center, but because we were flying to Oahu that evening we didn’t want to hike.
As soon as you turn from Saddle Road to Mauna Kae Access Road there are signs that state 4WD is required to go to the summit. I don’t feel like 4X4 it is absolutely necessary but the rangers will not allow you to pass the welcome center without it. You also have to stop at the welcome center for mandatory acclimation period of 15 minutes on the way up. And on the way down you could have to stop if your brakes are too hot. All determined by the rangers.
The top of Mauna Kea looks like the place they film scenes on Mars for TV. But the other cool feature on the top of Mauna Kea is all the telescopes and research stations. Sadly, none of them are open to the public, but it is a little crazy to see just how many telescopes they have up there.
Before you go
There is a lot I could include in this section, but I will try to keep it short since this post has been so long. If you are staying in Kona, I loved our stay at the Royal Kona. It was right on the water, walking distance to all the bars and restaurants, and had an amazing sunset view. For all your scuba diving needs, Jack’s Dive Locker can hook you up. This post is not sponsored by any business mentioned.
Now for the sad part… We had planned to do a Manta Ray night dive, however the timing did not work out for us. The currents and waves were not our friends and we ended up not doing the dive. I feel like it worked out for the best because we were honestly exhausted from all our other diving. Also, it gave us a night to enjoy some adult beverages at the bars.
There are two airports on Hawai’i, and we flew into Kona and left from Hilo. It definitely saved us on time driving back and forth between the two cities, but we paid for it with our one-way rental car. The Hilo side of Hawai’i is much more local, whereas the Kona side has more things to do. The word of caution I will issue is that while the distance across the island seems small to everyone from the continental US, it takes a shockingly long time to drive around Hawai’i. But we managed to cover a lot of ground… just check out the map below with all our destinations. Anything in Volcanoes National Park is mentioned in that dedicated blog post.