Kona · United States · Reef · Sand slope
Two Step (Honaunau Bay)
Two lava steps into turtle canyons at the Place of Refuge
Photo: Niagara66 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kona's best-known shore dive, entered down two carved lava steps just north of the boat ramp at Honaunau Bay, about 45 minutes south of Kailua-Kona. A shallow reef shelf runs offshore before breaking into a drop-off to sand, and green sea turtles work the small lava canyons on the south side of the bay.
Also known as Place of Refuge, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau.
Where it is and how deep
19.4226° N, 155.9110° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The entry gives the site its name: two steps carved into the lava just north of the boat ramp, the first dropping into about 3 metres of water and the second into about 7.5. From there a very shallow reef shelf runs offshore before breaking into a drop-off to sand at around 30 metres, so you set your own profile rather than following a fixed one. Most of the diving happens well inside that.
Green sea turtles are what most people come for, and they are most often found along the small lava canyons and channels on the south side of the bay. Eels sit in the crevices, coral fills the cracks in the lava, and reef fish are everywhere in the shallows. Two 'Aloha' messages have been laid out in cinder blocks on the seafloor, one at roughly 12 metres and the second out at about 30.
Two things to plan around. Snorkelling and diving are prohibited in Keone'ele Cove inside the adjacent national historical park, so stay out of it. And the exit is the same lava steps you came down: at low tide, climbing back up with a cylinder on is genuinely awkward, and summer south swells can make the entry hazardous or rule it out altogether.
Marine life and season
- Sea turtles
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime |
Season follows Kona: Manta rays and reef diving are consistent year-round; Dec-Apr adds migrating humpback whales, while winter swell can occasionally limit access to exposed sites.
Know before you go
- At low tide it is tricky to get out of the water with gear on, and urchins sit on the rock right beside the steps.
- Summer south swells make the lava-step entry hazardous; if water is washing over the steps, the site is off for the day.
- The shelf drops away to sand at around 30 metres offshore, so depth and no-decompression time need watching on a dive with no boat overhead.
Photos from Two Step (Honaunau Bay)
Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada · CC BY 2.0
Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada · CC BY 2.0
Dive videos
Scuba off the Kona Coast Place of Refuge Pu'uhonua o Honaunau · seahawksphan on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Where do you enter the water at Two Step?+
At two steps cut into the lava just north of the boat ramp, the first into about 3 metres of water and the second into about 7.5. It is rock, not sand; there is no beach entry at the site.
Can you dive in Keone'ele Cove?+
No. Snorkelling and diving are prohibited in Keone'ele Cove, inside Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. The dive site is the bay outside the park boundary, reached from the lava steps by the boat ramp.
Sources
- Honaunau-Place of Refuge-Two Step — Jack's Diving Locker
- Honaunau Bay (Two Step) - Turtle Snorkeling — Turtle Snorkeling
- Two Step Snorkeling at Keone'ele Cove — Hawaii Guide
Photo credits
- Palm trees frame the thatched Hale o Keawe temple on the lava shore of Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, right on Honaunau Bay. by Niagara66, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Palm trees line the lava-rock shoreline of Honaunau Bay, with clear turquoise water reaching out from the coast. by Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A calm cove of clear blue water meets a narrow sand and lava shoreline at Honaunau Bay. by Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Where to dive with sea turtlesBig animals · 15 min read
- What stings you underwater, and how to avoid itBody & health · 8 min read
- The best shore dives in the worldShore diving · 8 min read
More dive sites in Kona
Hundreds of garden eels by day, feeding mantas after dark
Cave & cavern
Two lava-tube arches, neither deeper than 9 metres
Sanctuary reef under the cliff where Cook was killed
Pelagic & blue water
Tethered in open ocean at night as deep-water animals rise to the surface
Night
Divers kneel on the sand at 10 m with lights aimed straight up
Pinnacle
Green turtles rest at the base while kole surgeonfish clean them
Similar dives elsewhere
Green and hawksbill turtles around four bommies in a row
Five to ten green turtles on a dive, in 11 m off the beach
A coral slope below the Jesus statue with a resident turtle.
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Protected since 1967, about 400 fish species