Difficulty
beginner
Viz (last reported 2107h ago)
Max Depth
70ft
Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Place of Refuge (Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park)
The Place of Refuge (also known as Two Steps) is a 'must-do' site. The drive to get there is wonderful, the entry is easy, and the diving is great. Turtles abound! The facilities are a little sparse. Take some water and a picnic lunch. There are porta-potties on the site.
Directions: From Kealakekua Bay, you can continue to travel South on Highway 160 for 3.2 miles to find the turn off. If this is your first destination of the day, you can take a faster route: from Kailua, drive south on Highway 11 for about 19 miles, well past Captain Cook. Take a right on Highway 160, Ke Ala o Keawe Road, (about mile mark 104) to Kealakekua Bay, and wind your way about 3.5 miles down to the ocean.
Access
shore
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Rick Inman
Mar 19, 2004, 12:00 AM
scuba
Made 4 dives here, vis. ranged from 60' to 100'. Took the advice of local dive shop and headed far south of the crowd on 2 dives, and far north of the crowd on the other two, and this paid off. Especially nice south, out and around the point. Lots of good structure, lava tubes, caverns, pukas, etc. shallow. All dives were over an hour on AL80s. Saw turtles, eels, nudibranch and the normal Kona fishies. I made 16 dives in 8 days on the Big Island, all solo, and the Place of Refuge was a great 'get acquainted' dive site just too crowded for my tastes.
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