Wailea Beach

It was fine

Ok

Parking is ample, and close to the beach there is a drop-off point for equipment. Hike out to the left end of the beach to make your entry. Take your time exploring the point. Watch for currents, of course.

The place has great parking, facilities, and easy entry. It's a bit if a walk to get to the entry point but not bad. There was quite a bit of surge and some current because it had rained all night and was still raining when we dove. If I do the site again, I would snorkel out past the point to the left and head out to the buoys then drop. Long swim out and very shallow. To the buoys. Saw turtles, eel, and fish

Swim out to the best part of the reef is somewhat challenging. Two mooring buoys mark the deeper part of the reef. Zig zag patterns coming from the deepest part of the reef and moving inland provide some great diving with good reef relief, a few swim throughs, and abundant reef life. Large surgeon fish, turtles, tangs, and triggers were abundant. Make sure to leave enough air time to swim back in to the beach submerged as the long surface swim and strong surge can be an issue.

Really good and calm.

This is a long surface swim, but well worth it. I snorkeled the site first with my girlfriend and the visibility was okay. Lots of triggers, tangs and smaller spotted puffers. The surf was up, so after 20 minutes we headed back in. I then put on my scuba gear. There was a dive boat parked maybe 500 yards off shore, so I kicked out about 100 yards then navigated the rest of the way under water. I found the divers from that boat and they picked a wonderful spot. This part of the reef had great visibility and huge schools of fish. I even saw a few of my favorite fish, the black tang. I got down to 41 feet. If you are willing to go that far out, this is an awesome site!

Oct. 10,2004 32'FSW/81*F/40'vis. South swell has stirred things up and Makena Landing with breaking surf in bay. This beach entry is easy and coral is beautiful even in low vis conditions. Anchored dive flag in 20' FSW and headed due west. There was a fair amount of surge even as we got further from the point and didn't see too much. Two scrambled egg nudibranchs were cool as well as several Potter's Angelfish. After an hour, we called it quits. Still, an average day of diving beats going to work! Out and back navigation was easy.

10/19/03-0830-Long walk (300 yards) down to beach. Had to dodge the morning joggers. Sandy beach entry. Snorkeled out approximately 100 yards to anchor required dive flag in the sand. Treated to a Devil Scorpion Fish on the move so the brightly colored fins easy to see. Followed coast south with little fish life but amazing corals. Wouldn't suggest going south unless you want to stay real shallow. Reached sandbar and turned back north. Found large Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle sleeping and a large White-Mouthed Moray right next to him. Small octopus played hide & seek with us. Back near buoy, turned west and fish & coral improved greatly. Found juv. Rockmover (Dragon Wrasse) bouncing along the sand along with many tiny peacock flounders. Not many landmarks so navigation is necessary.

This Beach is right off the walkway that fronts several of Wailea's nicest resorts. The swim out is a couple of hundred yards. This is the place to go if you want to see the otherwise rare lagoon triggerfish (the more colorful version of the humuhumunukunukuapuaa). I've seen one magnificent snake eel here, lots of frogfish, manta rays and other cool critters. Not nearly as popular for scuba or snorkeling as the adjacent Ulua Beach, but I think it's way better!