Keawalo Pipe

Enter at the stairs leading into the sea over the sea wall next to the marine laboratory. It's an easy entry if the surf isn't breaking here. Bring a flag, as the reef is just a few feet deep here, and you'll be swimming parallel to the boat channel and just outside the channel markers. We dropped about half way between the inner and outer buoys, and this put us in 20 feet of water. Swimming out perpendicular from shore, there's a fair bit of reef, which is mostly dead. But there are lots of fish, turtles, eels, frogfish and scorpionfish, plus a whole lot of collector urchins (the kind with the friendly, short spines). Then we headed Ewa (towards the west) until we intersected the Kewalo Pipe. The pipe is an old defunct concrete storm drain, which provides a hard substrate for coral reef and associated life. We did a 90-minute dive and only made it to about 50 feet, so we didn't quite see the end of the pipe. Still, a great dive, despite moderate surface swells.

The site has good facilities and easy entry (beware of boat traffic since Kewalo Marina is co-located) into the boat channel. High surf can make entry and the long surface swim difficult and several dive operations use this as a boat dive especially at night which adds obvious hazards. Night diving is a hit and miss sometimes there are things to see others nothing special shows up. Average depth is about 30-40ft. The long pipe which ends a few hundred feet offshore provides occasional cover for many fish and a few octopus. There are several interesting reefs East of the pipe with some turtles (Horseshoe Reef) and another one a short distance to the West. Parking is fairly close as long as you get there early. Visibility gets better as you move away from the harbor unless heavy surf and rain stirs up the bottom.

This is usually considered by many to be a boat dive and many of the dive boats frequent this dive site. But this is also a good shore diving site, though a bit of a surface swim. Look at the ocean. If surf is large (as it can be from May to October) shore diving this site is not recommended. Also check for currents, at times there is strong east to west current. There is plenty of parking at the public parking for Ka'ako Waterfront Park. Parking is free and the park is open from 6am to 10pm. Gear up at your car and carry fins to the entry point. Be sure to lock up your car! There are two entry and exit points. The primary being the stairs that lead into the water just past the showers that are next to the boat channel. Go down the stairs and put on your fins just prior to entering the water. Ensure you stay on the edge of the boat channel and start swimming out. Swim toward the green buoy and, when you clear the surf zone, start swimming to the cylindrical white buoy. When you reach the white buoy continue to swim west about 50 yards and you will see the pipe (an old no longer in use drainage pipe). Drop down and tie off your dive flag. About halfway down from this point you will see the mooring buoy for the dive boats so use caution if you have to surface in this area. Dive boat and other boat traffic is very common here. Continue to follow the pipe toward the end. The tropical fish are very friendly and photogenic at this site!!! Others areas of interest are on the reefs located to the west where the drop down point is and also 3/4 of the way down the pipe. Eagle Rays, White Tip Reef Sharks, Tiger Sharks, Spinner Dolphins, and Barracudas can be scene here so some caution is advised. Turtles can also be seen here, but all sightings are very sporadic. Numerous tropical reef fish are very common, as well as various Nudi brancs. Viz can be as little as 20 feet to 100 feet depending on the surf and currents and the amount of rain as both the boat channel and Ali Wai deposit here. The alternate entry/exit is located at the second or middle pavilion. Just to the west, right after the showers, there are stairs that go into a small protected water area. Just before entering the water put your fins on and enter the way. Swim around the wall and start swimming toward the small white cylindrical buoy. If using this as an alternate exit, start swimming toward the second buoy. If conditions are good, this a good laid back dive and is convenient because it is located downtown. I would say this is an intermediate day dive and advanced night dive because of the surface swims and the boat traffic in the area and also because conditions can be rough.

This area is usually a "SECOND DIVE" for the cattle boats out here. A lot of free divers come to the area to spear fish. Be careful of boat traffic cause you are going to be in a boat channel. A flag is Paramount. This can be a great dive or terrible depending on conditions. TWICE we saw tiger sharks in the area, and with surfers overhead, that made it more exciting. There are showers at the top of the stairs which is real nice, and the site is close to town, too. I've done this as both night and day dives.

The site is done along a pipe heading out to about 60ft. The coral reef on the pipe and the surrounding areas improves as you swim out along the pipe.