John Hoover's Dive Log

I just want to comment that the widespread stories about coral being trampled and killed at Hanauma Bay are untrue! The inner reef is a fossil coral reef which died many hundreds of years ago due to a lowering of sea level. It is too shallow and wave-washed now to support much living coral. The existing shallow reef is covered with coralline algae - almost microscopic plants which deposit a veneer of limestone and are actually responsible for most reef-building in Hawaii. This is the plain, brownish, sometimes pinkish stuff that most people think is dead coral. According to the environmental impact statement prepared when the present facilities were built, the present condition of the bay is not due to human impact. Beyond the inner reef where the water is deeper there is LOTS of healthy living coral.