Kona Makai

Kona Makai

The entry pond at Kona Makai.  Note the enclosing underwater lava tube reef.

  Kona Makai and Alii Villas are two pleasant and moderately priced condos just south of Kailua.
My friend Carol Solid (Dream Hawaii  800-967-1220)  can rent you a unit for a good price.  The snorkeling off Kona Makai is quite good and a rite of passage for intermediate snorkelers.

Here my gear is on the pedestal near the head of the pool. 

   Park in the Kona Makai lot and make your way down to the seaside deck.  Follow the lava to the right around the small inlet.  Just this side of a tide pool, find a flat pedestal about four feet above the water.   Sit on the rock to the right of the pedestal and put on your gear.  There are several lumps of lava to provide footfalls


as you slip into the water.  You will find yourself in a pool that deepens from about five feet to about twenty.  As you swim out you will reach a reef formed by a lava tube.  Swim over the reef and find yourself in thirty feet of water.   If there is any surf, you will swim through about ten yards of turbulent bubbles as you cross the reef.  There is fine snorkeling both left and right with amazing underwater lava topography.

Adjacent to the pedestal is is the stepped entry. 

    You will find the usual suspects here, but there is always a chance for something amazing.  In 2007, we scored a record for the Big Island by finding the Phoenix Island Damsel fish on the reef to the right.  This individual lived in a depression for a over a year.   Our very own Notorious P.I.D. appears in John Hoover’s  Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes.
     Getting out we find a lump in a trough depression about five feet seaward of the entry.

A Freckleface Hawkfish waiting for you at Kona Makai

    Because we live at Alii Villas, this is our home court.  It gets quite a bit of stress from spear fishermen, but it is the rare spot that escapes these fearful predators.  When you see spear fishermen at Kahaluu, you will understand the truth of this statement.  At any rate, because we swim here frequently, we have seen a lot of different fish.  Sandra and I frequently swim north to the reef in front of Sea Village and south to the reef in front of Royal Sea Cliff. 
     There is sometimes a small amount of current, but nothing an intermediate snorkeler can't handle.  Getting out can be a little tricky when it is very low tide.  In those instances, I use a lava step another few feet seaward of the usual exit.

jeff
                                                                                        © Jeffrey Hill 2011

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