Big Island Snorkeling Guide
Hapuna Beach
Hapuna Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on our Big Island Snorkeling Tour, and is often listed as one of the world's top ten most beautiful beaches. It is not normally noted as a good snorkeling location, but that is probably because most people don't know where to go. We found some excellent snorkeling here, but it was a pretty long swim to get to it, and it was in unprotected water. So it is probably for more advanced snorkelers.
This beach has wonderful golden sand, and is long and wide (over 200 feet wide). Every time we have been here it has been pretty busy, with lots of people. Once we could not even find parking.
Here are some folks heading down for some boggie board fun.
Site Snorkeling Details - Hapuna Beach
Big Island Snorkeling
We found some great snorkeling at the southern end of Hapuna Beach, but it was a bit of a swim. We hugged the rocks and swam out at least a couple hundred feet. You can see the rocky point we snorkeled around in the picture below.
We did not see anything but a couple of fish in the rocks the entire swim out. But then we found a nice surprise. Once you get out to the point there is a little bay around to the left (south). And in this bay there are some wonderful coral formations and tons of fish.
You can see a friendly Spotted Puffer fish in this picture.
We were swimming in unprotected waters at this point, so we kept a careful watch on the weather and waves and currents. We were also out of sight of the lifeguards having gone around the point.
The water clarity varied greatly depending on where we swam. The further south we went the lower the visibility became until it got so bad that we turned around. Then we huffed and puffed it all the way back to shore. It was worth it though.
Check out our second page of
Hapuna underwater pictures.
The nice folks at our vacation rental also told us that they have found excellent coral and fish on the north side of Hapuna. We checked out that possibility by looking at a satellite picture of Hapuna, and it appears to be a similar long swim out to the rocky point. We did not get a chance to do this, but maybe you have? Share your stories and pictures of snorkeling Hapuna Beach
here.
Driving Directions - Hapuna Beach
Big Island Snorkeling
From Kailua Kona, take highway 19 (Queen Kaahumanu Hwy) north out of Kona. Follow it north through Waikoloa Resort Area, past the Puako Road turnoff and mile marker 70. Hapuna Beach Road is on the left just before the 69 mile marker. On weekends plan on coming early to get parking.
The park has all the facilities you could want, showers, restrooms, water, picnic tables, and even a nice little beach restaurant (the Paradise Grill) - with reasonable prices.
There is plenty of shade, with a pavillion and lots of trees behind the beach.
More Snorkel Pictures at Hapuna Here
Go to the next location - Waialea Bay (Beach 69)
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