Palauea Beach (White Rock)

Surprisingly good dive! We were expecting about the same easy conditions as Ulua beach (confined sandy bowl) but heading out to the left (looking out towards the ocean) we found massive corral reefs with deep ravines (relatively speaking), a few turtles, eels and octopus. Also found a large rock arch we weren't expecting, though that was a long ways away, just about at our turnaround point, probably pretty close to the 5 Caves site. Most of the dive was around 20', but by our max distance away we were down to 45' and the water was getting very dark blue so we may have been getting close to a drop off to some depth. So if conditions are poor elsewhere/you're bored of Ulua/Mckenna, or you can't find parking at Mckenna landing, don't hesitate to go here. You can go to both sides of the beach for reefs, to the right is an easy, relaxing dive similar to Ulua. No other divers, only have ever seen spear fishing free divers at the beach. No showers/bathrooms and limited parking but definately worth it.

Two of the undeveloped beach lots are public; the remainder are private property (the beach, generally up to the vegetation line, is considered public). Follow the rocky point on the right seaward. There are usually honu in the shallows at the base of the ridge; I've seen spinner dolphins, manta rays, eagle rays and even a lone bottlenose here! This is the only site where I've regularly encountered the viper moray eel; yellowmargin and whitemargin morays are much more common. This is a great dive site, with multiple possible dives out to 50 feet or so (rock piles). Look in the sand flats for occasional flying gunards. There are lots of large antler corals in the deeper waters; occasionally, large frogfish can be found here on the rocky outcrops. Just watch out when the South Swell is here; more than a few divers have been rolled in the surf, usually resulting in lost equipment!

This site is frequently used as a training site as well as for guided shore dives. It has a very easy sandy beach entry. It is easy to navigate here as you just follow the reef out that comes off the rocky point on the right side of the beach. Apparently, some parts of the beach itself are not public property, so you may technically need to walk on the wet sand to avoid trespassing. The parking area and the trail to shore are publicly owned and that is all you need to know to dive this fun site.