Diver Reviews:    (Please share your own experiences by clicking here!)

03/29/2010 Colorado Divers (Avg: 3.78 Review) - Entry and exit were tough through the surf. You should kick out at least 100 yards before descending. The life in the water was great. Lots of fish and a turtle. The coral was very healthy.

11/09/2009 Debbie Rosa (Avg: 3.33 Review) - Puako is my and my husband's favorite place to dive on the island. We dove there many times in the summer of 2008. However, this is our first time diving in November. Things have been pretty rough the past few days with swells and wind. November 8, 2009, we dove Puako in the morning and it was great. We were told that at 6:00 - 7:00 am the water was like glass. We dove around 10:00 am and it was good when we entered. We saw lots of fish life out there. Coming back in, the wind was picking up making the exit a little more tricky. We ended up moving on to south of Kona due to the winds. Puako is my favorite dive but you gotta get out there early.

09/10/2009 PAUL D. (Avg: 3.78 Review) - What a great spot on the Big Island. Thank you ShoreDiving.com for your reviews and coordinates. Took my Nav with me and finding these gems (dive spots) was a breeze. This was a fresh dive for me this vacation. Viz was excellent, surface temp 81, bottom temp. 79. One word of caution: Current can sneak up on you, especially at 70-100 ft. Had a bit of a scare myself as I tried to negotiate my way back. Breathing got heavy and felt a bit of panic as my reg only delivered so much. Controlled the situation and all was ok in the end. A definite 'must dive again spot'. Note: our entry was to the north of the open beach, between the two rocks, visible in the pic. Have not tried the south entry.

07/30/2009 Tom Cooper (Avg: 3.00 Review) - We stopped at house #40 a few miles from the end of the road. There's a shore access entry. Entry to the water was easy, there's a small beach entry. Swam out about 50 yards to a drop off of about 30 feet. Plenty of fish and coral and honu. There's also a 'honu cleaning station' where the turtles come and have algae and parasites removed by fish. We saw two honu getting this treatment! Way cool. Going back tomorrow to go out a bit further to 80' of water. We are told there is an 'eel garden' in a sandy bottom.

05/30/2009 Jerry Burawski (Avg: 4.17 Review) - Fun dive, bring a flashlight. Lots of overhangs and little caves. You don't cover much area because you find yourself digging in all the little pukas. Visibility wasn't the best but that didn't seem to matter.

04/07/2009 Brian Xavier (Avg: 4.65 Review) - Pauko Village end is a great dive on a calm day. Dive out near the clearing between the rocks and go straight out. It will take a while, but eventually you'll hit the reef's end. Reef is at 15 feet depth, but the drop is great. The first one goes to about 50 feet, and I plan to dive the second drop later. Since I solo dive, I usually go easy the first few dives at a new place.

03/04/2009 Ann Geiger (Avg: 3.39 Review) - This is an easily accessible and enjoyable site. We did two dives here in March 2009, one during calm conditions and one during pretty high winds. During both dives we could hear humpbacks singing and saw turtles, nudibranchs, flatworms, and many types of adult and juvenile fish. The shallows are nicely protected and would provide decent snorkeling for non-divers. A key piece of advice is to go early, when conditions are most likely to be calm and the area is less crowded topside and below water. If you enter and exit at the appropriate spot, there should only rarely be conditions that make getting in and out even remotely difficult. After following the directions to the site, once in the parking lot the appropriate spot is just past where the trees end. There is one place that looks OK, but the better option is several yards south. After entering the water and donning fins and mask in the protected area, one can swim right out. There are two mooring balls, a white one to the right and an orange one to the left. Swim toward the orange one and keep an eye out to the left for a large channel that leads out to the reef. One can go in either direction; to the right the reef drops to about 90 feet, to the left about 60. The reef to the right is a bit more dramatic topographically, to the left is a large flat coral garden in about 45 to 50 feet. There are no facilities at the site. Kohala Divers Limited is nearby in Kawaihae; they have reasonable rental prices and a pleasant staff who are efficient for a dive shop. Cafe Pesto in the same shopping center as Kohala Divers is a nice place for lunch, although one has to get out of obvious swimwear to feel comfortable.

03/31/2008 Joe Foster (Avg: 3.70 Review) - This was our favorite site on the Island. Me and my 2 boys dove here 6 times during our vacation. No matter what the surf was doing, this spot allowed for a controlled entry and exit. It is so handy being able to park less than 20 feet from the water, too. All the advise from this website makes this dive easy, and it is very easy to navigate this dive because of both the visibility and the unique underwater landmarks. We dove left, right and deep. This is a great location to experience it all. Too bad there isn't a shower to rinse the gear!

11/25/2007 Jody Sedrick (Avg: 3.27 Review) - I took my son for his first real dive. He handled the entry very nicely. We spent a lot of time in the lava as he wanted to look in every nook a cranny. We saw the garden eels, one of which was hunting. We discovered two swim-throughs which he enjoyed. This is a great site to get your fins wet. I also HIGHLY recommend Manta Ray Bay. We swam with a school of dolphins.

09/05/2007 Clare (Avg: 3.68 Review) - The entry wasn't so bad, but the surf picked up a little upon exit. Great site with lots of life, with very cool lava formations underwater. This was one of our favorite dive sites.

07/01/2007 Maria (Avg: 3.90 Review) - Dove here 6.24.2007. Very nice site although it's shallow even at high tide, and swimming out is a bit annoying. Otherwise - great vis, healthy coral, lots of life (moray eels, fish, cornet fish). Garden eels at 92-95'! Visibility was so good that we took nice pictures of the garden eels with just a regular camera, no external flash!

09/28/2006 Yuri (Avg: 4.01 Review) - This was the most enjoyable site on Big Island that we tried, so we did this one twice. Enter through the lava "bath tub" just left of the last tree in the start of the parking lot. Swim on the surface for maybe 25-30 meters, than watch for a barrier which is very close to surface. Once you crossed it, dive. Very interesting lava/coral formations (pinnacles, tunnels, caves, walls) and plentiful wildlife. That was the only place we saw an octopus and a male Hawaiian puffer with purple/orange sides. Large schools of tangs etc. Highly recommended!

09/01/2006 Lori (Avg: 3.38 Review) - My buddy and I really enjoyed this site. To be perfectly honest, we enjoyed it more than the boat diving we did! Loved the lava tubes and "fingers". Lots of life. The entry was fairly easy, but the surf slammed me about pretty good on the exit. Otherwise, it was an awesome dive! The sandy parking area was pretty rough…pick your going carefully if you're in a non-4wd rental! We watched someone get stuck between visible lava rocks in the lot in a 4wd SUV...hairy going and lots of maneuvering to get out.

11/24/2005 Craig Bolon (Avg: 2.92 Review) - Most varied and beautiful site in Hawaii, with deep lava channels, many green sea turtles and other occasional large animals. This visit was just before Thanksgiving, 2005, and coincided with the first winter surf. There were three days of difficult access and more days of low visibility. Diving at Honaunau and Ke'ei was better most days.

09/30/2005 Chad of Tampa (Avg: 3.68 Review) - What a great place! We dove this place twice and enjoyed it more and more. When you arrive, it first appears that the entry is to the right (when looking out to the water)… take my advice and skip this entry for the one on the left by the tree. From here, snorkel straight out to the far left buoy. Along the way, you will find a drop off… drop down and head to the right, keeping the cliff on your right shoulder and work your way along this magnificent site. Turtles galore! Tons of fish. Went to check out the garden eels, but I guess we weren't sneaky enough. The locals were nice. Would highly recommend this dive over the Puako Church on ease of entry alone.

07/05/2005 Steve Porter (Avg: 4.39 Review) - This was a cool dive. You start in 5ft of water for 100 yards. In and out of the reef you'll see little drop offs. They are really caves that drop down to about 30-40ft and then out to the open ocean. Structure wise, you could dive this for a decade and still find new stuff.

06/29/2004 Rob Bennett (Avg: 3.52 Review) - We dove for five days along the Puako reef using a Hooka set up and a small Avon inflatable so we could dive with a little more ease in a number of locations during the day including one night dive. On almost every dive we encountered more than one turtle, eels, the usual smaller fish which varied from just a few to fairly large schools - mostly where the underwater moorings are located in the northern end of the reef and of course lots of coral and varied terrain. We added extensions to our set up and two of us dove to 100' to the sandy bottom in search of garden eels, we did not encounter any as we only stayed for a few minutes - I suspect more time is needed and we are not experienced enough for that depth. The highlight of the entire trip was the night dive. Although we were disappointed with the small number of critters (my reading on night dives indicated we should see a lot more especially just after dark) however, our lights attracted a large Manta Ray which stayed with us, very close at times and just glided between, over and around all four of us until we had to eventually swim away. I estimate the wing span at six to eight feet. This was our first night dive and we were rewarded with a wonderful encounter. This was also our daughters first time underwater and I am glad we chose Puako as our main diving area - highly recommended.

05/21/2004 Janna Nichols (Avg: 3.92 Review) - This was an awesome site! Plenty of geological features to keep us interested, as well as abundant fish life. The entry is in a little bay, with rocks to protect against the surf. Put on your fins at waist deep water, holding onto a rock, and away you go! Be careful to avoid the surf and waves out from the entry point. Swim or snorkel out past that point, and then descend. You'll find swim throughs, holes, caves, lava tubes, valleys and all made up by the 'fingers' of lava that flowed out here. Fairly healthy reefs abound. Lots of sea life. Be sure to avoid the rough area on the way back in too. Did this dive 3 times. Best if done in mornings (goes for all dives) when surf is down.

05/18/2004 Alexis (Avg: 4.67 Review) - The best shore dive and best kept secret on the Big Island. We usually had the entire place to ourselves. The visibility is perfect for crystal clear pictures. The honus (turtles) are so friendly and the fish are almost tame. The drop off is close. Great place for any skill level or to just relax on the shore. Bring your gear, ice chest, lunch, chairs, and blanket for a relaxing all day trip. Stop by the little general store on the way if you forgot any beverages or snacks. And, be sure to catch the sunset before you call it a day. We did three dives a day and hung out on the shore with the locals if anyone was around in between dives. After a six month stay on the Big Island, Puako was my favorite spot to dive, snorkel, and just hang out. Watch for the current though; it can pick up quickly. Shore entry can be somewhat sloshy on very windy days, but the little cove makes it easier and blocks most of the surf. No worries, it was so worth it! You won't find water and animal/plant life like this anywhere else in the world. Enjoy and tell the honus I said Hi!

08/11/2003 Mik (Avg: 3.92 Review) - Did this site 4 different times in a one week trip. The morning dives all had 100+ viz and the afternoon dives closed down to about 50 feet. Both lava tubes are great to explore. Lots of turtles and eels, plenty of fish. No need to go out past the two mooring bouys [most of the sights are from 30-50 feet]. Make sure you enter in the little cove instead of on the lava shelf. One of the best sites on the Big Island.

07/22/2003 Kelley & Dan Holtman (Avg: 3.96 Review) - Great shore dive with ez entry (a little slippery at low tide.) Use your snorkel to fin out/back. We stayed shallow for 1:29 and had a blast! Saw the biggest Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles we have ever seen in the 50th State. Several species of moray, wide variety of fish including dragon wrasse moving baseball-sized rocks. Lots of little open caves and swim-thrus. Good when there is a South swell (surf) although the vis was only about 50' because of the swell. FSW 79*

02/17/2003 D.Bowers (Avg: 3.83 Review) - This is one of the best dive locations in all of Hawaii. I have dove almost every shore location you can think of in all the islands and I must say this is in the top three. The reef and visibility has been 100+ every time I have dove here. An interesting place to descend is through a lava tube out on the lava shelf. Head straight out from the parking area and to the right over the shallow lava shelf. This is tricky some times during low tide. You might find yourself rolling on your back as the waves crash on you, yuck!!. I never had this problem but I heard someone else did. Once you find the lava tube, descend through until you reach bottom at about 20 feet of water. Head out towards the ocean. The lava tube has a fractured ceiling with light coming through. In the picture on the web-site taken from the air, you can see the lava tube in the middle of the picture. It's very small but it's there. Once your heading out to deeper water, either head to the right along lava fingers, or out to deep, DEEP, water. Be careful of depth. Once you see the drop off, its easy to get beyond 150 feet. Watch your gage. It's tempting to go deep. My friend went to 151 feet at this location to see garden eels. You should not go beyond 100 feet unless you know what your doing and have had proper training.

09/10/2002 Mike Kline (Avg: 3.86 Review) - Great, relaxing dive. We went at 8:00am. We had a little bit of difficulty finding the lava tube and had to surface once to get orientated with the shore to find it. We found a few turtles in the lava tube which made for a great photograph. We found only 3 other divers and several groups of racoon butterfly fish. This will always be my favorite memory of the Big Island.

08/06/2002 Kim (Avg: 3.72 Review) - A great dive - keep coming back every year. Saw a large white tipped reef shark when exploring the lava tubes this time. The entry is easy and the cove is a good place to fin up.

04/17/2002 Jon Knight (Avg: 4.56 Review) - I love this site. I wear my gear down into the small cove, put on my fins and fall in. Kick out and to the right, drop down and enter the lava tube to the right. Way in the back you can find sleeping turtles and maybe a large puffer fish. Look carefully on the cave floor for brittle stars between the rocks. Just outside the cave in the debris field, I've seen gold-laced nudibranchs, banded shrimp and a devil scorpion fish. All within a 20' radius. Also lots of interesting shells both occupied and unoccupied. You can easily do 2 dives here and not get bored.

01/23/2002 Rob (Avg: 4.10 Review) - One of my favorite dives on the island. I normally enter from the sandy beach down the road a hundred feet. The lava tubes are cool, and every time I've been there we have seen turtles. Once, late in the afternoon, I was caught by some wind chop on the way in, made it more difficult to exit, but no big deal. A fun spot. I always wait to rent my tank up at Kohala, and then get a fill and lunch, then do a second dive.

09/16/2001 Jim Goodenough (Avg: 3.91 Review) - Nice remote site without a lot of people. Had to swim out a ways to get even 30 feet deep. As I was descending to enter a lava tube, I noticed I almost wound up on top of a small eel. After that I was too shaken up to continue the dive.

07/16/2001 Nydia White (Avg: 3.53 Review) - Enjoyed this site very much! Just a couple of pointers: We entered in a little natural "cove" and to make sure that we found the same spot for our exit we put a bright towel on the rocks above and put rocks to weight it down. Don't know if this was just bad luck or what, but our car got broken into while we were diving. It's a good practice when shore diving anywhere to leave nothing of value in your car. We use one of those watertight containers to keep the car keys, our ID and a little bit of cash. The thieves even stole my sandals (old warn out pair), my tank top, and our cooler with sandwiches and water. Bummer way to end an otherwise great dive.

05/28/2001 Tom Mellor (Avg: 3.59 Review) - This site is an easier entry than Puako Church as there isn't the need to walk out on lava at low tide. Wind-blown surge can still be an issue use a snorkel for the 200 meter swim to the drop down point. The reef is very healthy and this is a popular dive site for the local dive ops. There is a mooring buoy, so be aware if you surface in this area. The visibility is generally good, but not as much as the west and south sides where there isn't as much sand. It was still about 75' on the windy, choppy day that I was there. Turtles frequent the area and the usual reef fish are plentiful. There are openings in the lava flows that provide fun swim-throughs, and interesting open mouthed caves formed by the lava tubes. The area has a large flat sandy area surface at 60' that provides for easy exploration. I swam along with a feeding turtle for about 5 minutes she didn't mind a bit. This is a better site than Puako Church.

05/20/2001 Bill Stohler (Avg: 3.38 Review) - This is one of my favorite Kona Coast dive sites. Puako has been discovered by the world, and now real estate prices are sky high. There's garden eels, a 'shark cave' with 3 entrances that sometimes houses docile white tip reef sharks. This is about as good as it gets on the Big Island!

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Diver Averages for  Puako Village End  (1=worst, 5=best)