Honolua Bay shore dive

[choiahoy]

Has anyone dove Honolua Bay from shore recently?

I found this info on shorediving.com, but the post is over 10 years old. I'd love to know if it's till an option -

We were able to drive right up to the bay, park in a safe place and walk geared up across black sand and a few small rocks. Drive past the overlook, past the "Honk Horn" sign, over a white, single lane bridge and turn left immediately after crossing bridge. Pull up to the wooden gate which is not locked. Undo cable, drive in, close gate, redo cable and drive down a forested, smooth road until you see the family who lives here & who maintain the port-a-potty. They ask for a monetary donation to park and use the facilities. Please do this graciously and thank them for the privilege of using their property. It makes diving here so easy!

 

[spoolin01]

I've dived a few times since that post, the last being about 4 years ago. It's a very nice spot, one of the top couple of shore dives on Maui in my opinion.

I've been diving there since well before that post, and I don't recall ever being able to drive down the road that leads down from the highway. Faulty memory maybe. Anyway, it's not much of a walk, maybe 150 yards. You park just off the highway shoulder. There are several parking spots but it's a popular cove and gets a lot of visitors.

I don't recall a port-a-potty but again maybe it's there. I've never been asked for money or seen anyone who I thought was anything but a visitor like me.

 

[AquamanKauai]

I've done fairly extensive diving on Maui. We last dove the bay 2 weeks ago. You can't drive down past the gate (to my knowledge), but the walk isn't that bad. We geared up at the car up top and walked down. Done this numerous times over the years. Hopefully "Shaka Doug" will see this post and guide you as he is a resident expert - in case I am wrong. You should get there early as the bay is super popular for snorkeling and parking is limited. There are port-a-potty set ups at the second parking area just a short distance up from the initial parking. The paths lead to the same spot regardless of parking choice. There isn't a sandy entry so I highly suggest booties and open healed fins. We dove it with our full foots which is doable for sure but a little trickier. We dove to the left side which is fantastic. Keeps you away from the big boats coming in to the bay and mooring on the right side of the bay. You should absolutely have a dive flag for this bay (and any shore diving in Maui for that matter). The navigation is easy and the drop offs make for fantastic visual beauty. Turtles, octopus, puffers, nudibranchs, and so much more. We never broke 35 ft and did 1.5 hour dives.

If you are doing multiple days diving there you should 100% check out Mala Wharf and Makena Landing. The critters at Mala CANT BE BEAT. Makena has fantastic cave and lava tube structures with whitetip reef sharks, turtles, frogfish and much much more. It's probably the easiest entry of all on the island and has facilities.

Maui has a great guide that is dedicated to shore diving that you may wish to look into.

Anyway, I hope this helps a bit and you have a fantastic time diving Maui. Mike Severn's has an elite staff if you are considering boat diving.

Cheers
A