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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Anastasia Laity
Apr 14, 2004, 12:00 AM
scuba
This was our first trip to the Big Island, and we wanted an easy shore dive to do by ourselves after several days of boat diving with a shop. What a great spot! There's a big shallow area with coral heads and sand where you can poke around, though it's a bit murkier there (particularly if it's been raining). If you want to go deeper, there's a nice wall covered with plate coral that you can follow down pretty much as deep as you want to go. We were told that you'll usually find bicolor anthias hanging around at 90 feet in the plate coral. We did a night dive here, and it was fantastic! One word of advice: leave a light at the entry point, so you can find it again when you're done! Pics at http://gallery.thelaitys.com/uw-hawaii0304 (last 2 albums on the page)
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