Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay is a Wildlife Refuge on Oahu, in a deeply sheltered bay. The waters are deep, with the sheer sides of the cliffs rising straight out of the water. At the head (foot) of the bay lies a beautiful, bright sandy beach, with palms and shade and abundant plant life. The waters are tropical blue, creating a picture-perfect image of an island getaway.

The park is also closed on Tuesdays. We usually dock in Honolulu on Tuesdays. However, one of the idiosyncrasies of this itinerary is that we change the order of ports at random intervals. Our first Hawaiian cruise had Nawiliwili before Honolulu, then four cruises later, we again had Nawiliwili on Tuesday and Honolulu on Wednesday. A group of us took full advantage of this occurrence and paid a visit to this remote site.

We took a long cab ride out, paid our entrance fee, waiting in the hot sun to watch a video on the importance of preservation (don’t touch the reef, folks), hiked our way down the cliffs (they were nicely paved, it wasn’t much of a hike, just a walk down a very steep incline) and arrived at one of the best snorkeling sites in the Hawaiian Islands.

There are black-tipped reef sharks in the deeper reaches of the bay, and all of us were gunning for a shark sighting. The shallow water was clogged with sand and tourists, so we all bolted for the breakwater. We made it out past the sheltering reef to find fewer people but still poor visibility. I headed straight out toward the mouth of the bay, hoping for a shark encounter. Thirty feet beyond the breakwater, the water cleared to leave me floating in 20-plus feet of crystal-clear caribbean-blue water, above picturesque reef sculptures, amid a smattering of vibrant tropical fish. The sheer vastness of the display was striking.

I didn’t see a single other snorkeler out in the clear water. I went to the opening of the bay and back, taking my time and exploring. The reef was far below me, but the water was clear, and the fish were interesting. I saw a few sea turtles (one adult, who led me to three babies), but no sharks. Slightly disappointing, but what can you do.

After about half an hour of battling the roughening waves, I headed back into shore. As soon as I hit the breakwater, I couldn’t see more than 3 feet around me, and people started bumping into me. It’s crazy what some people will settle for.

We met back up on the beach, since we had all snorkeled in different parts of the bay, then began the long journey back to the ship. What a nice way to spend the day.