Steve Frisbie's Dive Log

Kailua Bay is right at the main pier in town. You can drive right up to it, there will be a guard at the pier gate who you'll need to ask if you can drop off gear. Two-Dollar honor-box parking is right across the street or you can park at the hotel pay lot or at the free lot a 5 minute walk away. To the left of the pier (looking outward) is a nice shallow reef with a super easy entry. Follow the swim buoys out 'til you hit deep enough water to drop down and then dive. This winter there was a huge school of fish hanging out in 15' of water for several months...one could have their own "National Geographic Moment" sitting in the middle of tens of thousands of 10' schooling silver fish. This dive maxes out at about 20-25 feet. Don't bother if a cruise ship is in, the tenders kick up lots of sand. On the right side of the pier is the small boat ramp. Walk out the beach on this side and dive along the bottom - to avoid boat traffic. Once you reach the end of the pier head a bit to the right and there is a nice reef where you can hit about 60 feet if you'd like. In either case, take a dive flag and avoid boat traffic. The right side of the pier can be a great night dive, watch out for dive boats coming back from the manta dive about 1.5-2 hours after dark.

I dove here quite a bit my first year and a half of diving before moving to warmer waters. The inland side of the 3rd finger is nice for newer divers. Lots of crab, junk and small fish to look at. There's some amount of rock hopping to do to get to the water. Once you get used to this spot, especially exiting the water, then it's fun to dive from the 5th finger on a slack tide before an incoming (high) tide. There's some fairly major boulders to climb with your gear on so you'll be happy to finally reach the water. There's a bit faster drop off at the 5th finger and you'll hit nearly 30' at depth. We dive inland along the jetty from here and get out at the inland side of the 3rd finger, nudged along by the current as the tide comes in. Along the way there are lots of fish... ling cod, cabezon, rock fish and such so it can be a good spot to bring a pole spear if you like. There are Metridium anemones, crabs and lots of nudibranchs to look at and you'll sometimes see green shrimp if you look closely. Warning...dive the bay side of the jetty, not the ocean side unless you are a very good diver and going with someone who's done it already. Divers have died on the south (ocean) side of the jetty.

If there is no current, this is a nice spot for beginners to get used to their gear and doing surface swims and such. If there is a current, it can be some work and experience would help. I dove here as part of my open water training and then later on just for kicks. Lots of grasses, clams, crabs, baby flounder, junk and such. There's actually quite a bit to look at here. My favorite thing, once I started noticing them, was all the green pipefish (seahorse relative) which were to be found mixed in with the grasses under the dock.

Crabs!!! This spot is a crab nursery. Try to hit this site at slack coming into an incoming (high) tide. An outgoing tide could blow you out to sea if you are not careful. Nothing much here to look at, but the crabbing is a blast. There are small channels and fingers in 20-30 feet of water right next to shore where the crabs are sitting on the surface of the rock or sand, or just under the sand. It's a race when you get down there to chase crabs, turning them over looking for legal size adult males with one hand while grabbing the next crab with the other hand. My wife and I loved going here regularly and getting a free meal or two of Dungeness crab before we moved to Kona.

A nice little dive, not one of Kona's very best, but if you want a quick, easy, decent shallow dive that's right in Kailua town you might want to give it a shot. A great dive for those unsure of their navigation skills. Just follow the pahoehoe lava flow outward. You'll see patchwork reef and sand and lots of interesting nooks and crannies in the lava flow for eels and such- I've always wanted to try a night dive here to see what comes out at night. Further out there is a decent reef in about 30-45 feet of water.

Did this dive once before moving away from the area years ago. It's a bit of a swim out to depth. Kind of a mildly interesting dive, going from pier post to pier post in low viz. It was the first time I'd done that, kinda neat. Occasional crab, garbage and sometimes a free crab-pot can be found (there was one the day we dove with no rope attached). There are crab fishermen on the pier who will give you stink-eye because they think you are after their crabs in their pots, so I wouldn't crab here. Little do they know that you'll see more crabs outside the pots than inside...help them out if you find any by putting them in the pots. Lots of Geoducks can be found here. Pick up a razor clam shell and fan deeply (helps if there is a tide to carry away the silt) around the necks which stick an inch or two above the surface of the muck and you might be able to get yourself a 3-5 lb supply of clam chowder meat.