Mile 4.9

After hiking for a bit, you'll come upon the small bay. Just ease your way down the right side of the bay toward the fishing pole holders. There is ample parking on the side of the road. The lava flow is very dramatic, especially from under the water!

Access here may be no longer. There was a sign at the road, No Trespassing, Government Property.

I almost didn't dive here due to the previous comments. I asked the local dive shop about it, and they said it was much better, and shouldn't be missed. They were right. If it was a damaged reef, it was temporary. The hard part is getting to it. Again, if you don't have a 4x4, don't even attempt it. The road is not good! That being said, if you have a 4x4, you can get to within 30 feet of the water and there is a great entry point that is sheltered somewhat from the surf. At many of these sites, I found it best to get one diver at a time to enter the water and swim out off shore before the next diver goes, and the same coming back in. Another handy item is a dive flag that you can take straight out from the entry point and tie it off on a rock, so you can find the easy exit. We had a great dive, saw a wonderful Conch (It was huge) and one of the largest slipper Lobsters I have ever seen! We had a great dive.

My husband and I dove Mile 4.9 on 6.24.2007. The site access was not that bad although we had to park up at the highway and carry all the gear down. The shore entry was good, pretty much like from the boat: you can gear up and jump into the water from the rocks at the right hand site of the cove (a bit harder on the way back :). We tried to exit on the left side of the cove - don't do it.. We made it but could not climb up to the highway, and had to swim back along the shoreline to our entry point :) Still, it was not too bad compared to the reef and underwater conditions. The coral there is almost entirely dead! There is some lint-looking stuff hanging on it. We saw very few fish, couple of crabs and nudibranches - pretty much nothing compared to other Big Island sites. We dove this site with a boat a year ago, and the reef was nice and healthy (that time we even saw a manta there in a day time!) We have asked local divers about bad reef conditions, and they told us the problem with the reef was due to locals using some chemicals (fertilizers or similar) next to the reef that then get washed offshore, and kills the reef. The earthquake last fall has also damaged the reef. Pretty sad! Unfortunately, it's not a good choice for a shore dive anymore.

This is called "crystal cove" by the local dive charter operators. We had a jeep and drove down as far as possible and still had a small hike along a steep gravel slope. We carried our gear over the lava formations and made it to the waters edge, filled our bc's with air and threw them in the water. We checked out both locations shown on the map and found this dive to be a little boring. The coral there was very pristine, but no kewl formations. There is a buoy tied up here which is tied to an engine block. I found out later that this spot is used as a location for check out dives due to the sandy bottom. BOTTOM LINE: A lot of work for little return.

No markings on the highway - just a rough road down to the water. 4wd barely got us down the road, but we made it. Parked on top of the last ridge. Great reef - untouched & diverse. Flopped up on the rocks like a seal to get out of the water.

It is a bit of a hike down the hill, but there is a dirt road and it only takes a few minutes. It's well worth it! The corals just outside the bay are healthy, the marine life diverse, and you're not likely to see any other divers here. Several parallel underwater ridges run out to sea. Great fringing reefs to 74 feet. The highlight of the dive was a 3 foot wingspan spotted eagle ray!