Two Steps Snorkeling on the Big I
Two Step is located next door to the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, about 20 miles south of the main areas of Kona. It’s a great place for beginners as the entrance to the reef has two very easy ledges to enter the water. Both “steps” have a soft moss-like covering to them, but are surprisingly not slippery. The parking lot is also just a few feet from the small entrance to the reef. The parking lot is $5 and looks like some dude’s back yard. There is free parking just about a block away if you wish to save your $5. We had all of our luggage in the rented jeep and didn’t want to risk someone messing with it, so we put the $5 in the drop box and headed to the steps.
There is an abundance of small fish in the reef, and a decent amount of live coral. The reef is also large and has many cool structures and a nice wall that runs the coast line from the entrance. There were a fair amount of people at this popular spot, but it wasn’t too crowded to make things uncomfortable.
We spent about 2 hours snorkeling around taking pictures. Our hope was to convince the newbie of the group to give snorkeling another try, but that didn’t happen. We saw a few dolphins about 50 yards off the edge of the reef, but didn’t catch a glimpse of any of them in the water. I was lucky enough to see one eel, but wasn’t able to get a pic.
While not as famous or nearly as big as Kealakekua Bay Marine Life Conservation District, The home of Camptian Cook’s memorial just up the road, it’s a must stop for anybody trying to hit a few snorkeling spots on the big Island. Easy access and abundant marine life make it one of the nicer spots to snorkel on the Big Island, especially for biggers.
Sea Turtles at Waikoloa Beach
A small reef located just 20 yards or so off the beach holds a handful of sea turtles, and a few other bigger fish than I saw at 2 Steps. The water was a little murky, but it wasn’t hard to swim around and take some pics. There were a few sea turtles just chilling in the coral reef and it only took me about 20 min to find them. We got the day pass at the Mariotte Resort right next to the beach, but there is also public parking to access this area.
Snorkeling with Manta Ray’s at Night on Big Island
There is one spot right next to the Outrigger hotel, that Manta Rays will swarm to feed during the night. They come to feed on the plankton that are attracted to the hotel’s rather larger sea wall lights. This is one of the only places in the word that sees this behavior.
This was not done on purpose, but after it became a popular tourist attraction out of chance, others have tried to replicate the phenomenon in other places, without much success.
There are a few tour companies that run the boats out of the public boat launch. The boat ride is just a few hundred yards from the launch. Once you get there everyone jumps in the water, and you have to swim over to a floating light and then put on another float around your ankles to get completely flat. At first this seems silly, but once you start seeing how close the rays get to the floating raft, and you, it becomes clear this is a critical part of the process.
The underwater opera
The second silly thing they tell you as the boat leaves the harbor is to make a bunch of noise, to attract the manta rays. It takes a while for everyone to get into this, but our group did, and we had a spectacular showing of manta rays. I was humming the toon to Boomer Sooners a lot, mixed in with a few other things we might have on video.
Renting a wetsuit
I was the only person in our group without a wetsuit. My brother had his, but most people rented one for the hefty fee of around $30. At no point in the entire trip, including the boat ride home after being in the water, did it occur to me that I should have gone for the wet suit. People were going on and on about how much the water drops in temperature once it gets dark; malarkey I say. If I had my wetsuit in the car next time, I wouldn’t even bother putting it on.
Snorkeling with the manta rays was one of the greatest underwater snorkeling or diving experiences of my life. I might want to go a few more times. After a 30-45 min float and seeing about 10 rays, that was plenty of time in the water for one trip.
Big Island Snorkeling FAQ
Can you snorkel with rays in Oahu or Maui?
Do they have manta rays in other parts of Hawaii?
No, You can’t see them or snorkel with them anywhere but this one location. They are out there, but this is the main colony of them. It is unusual to see a random Big Ray on typical snorkeling trips. You typically see a few smaller rays like sting rays. This trip is available because of the unusual feeding pattern caused by a very large set of hotel lights on their sea wall.
How big is a Manta Ray?
They are big, 8’ wingspans for the rays we encountered.
How many Mantra Rays are on the Big Island?
In this particular place the estimate was a few hundred, that is what one of the tour operators told us. They know and name some of them by their markings.
Can you see them during the day?
You might see one random Manta scuba diving during the day, but the feeding frenzy that happens on this trip only happens in the evening hours. They have a few time slots right before dark, but it’s best to take the trip in the total darkness
Is snorkeling at night scary?
If you don’t know how to snorkel, YES! If you’re a novice snorkeler this trip is not for you.