Kailua Pier

Site details

Entry

Beach/Shore

Depth

0–19.8 m (0–65 ft)

Environment

Ocean/Sea

Entry effort

Easy (5 of 5)

Coordinates

19.63921, -155.99712

Site briefing

Shore dive right in central Kona. Near-shore habitats are the highlights of this dive - easy access to corals, a wall, and a gradual descent into 60fsw, where it gets really sandy. Visibility here can be astounding in the open water. Really easy to spend a lot of time exploring in < 20 fsw.

Entry and route

Land-side access to the divesite can be a bit of a challenge - there's no public parking at the divesite, and the load/unload area is near the street. You could access via Kamakahonu Beach and swim out to the end of the jetty at Kamakahonu National Historic Landmark, or giant stride in by the boat ramp. There's a lot of boat traffic here, and defined lanes for boats and swimmers: boats on the pier side, swimmers on the jetty side. The swim lane is wide enough for one diver at depth, as the rocks slope down to the channel bottom. Once past the boat hazard, a good bet is to swim out on a 210-degree heading and back on the reciprocal. Once you hit the sand, there's not more structure, but do look out for fishes. Be sure your bouyancy is dialed in, and that you're appropriately weighted - there's so much to see in the coral on the way back in, and you want to stay deep enough to avoid boats on the surface.

Tides and currents

• Nearest NOAA tide station: Kailua Kona (1617846)
• Nearest NOAA current station: Kailua Kona (HAI1129)

MyDivingSites forecasts tide, current, swell, and weather for Kailua Pier hour by hour.

Dive reports from Kailua Pier

1 logged dive, average rating 5.0 out of 5, average visibility 5.0 m (16 ft).

• Nov 28, 2025 · Joe · visibility 5 m (16 ft) — Went out with Chris at Kona Shore Divers, excellent dive. Picked up tanks and weights at the shop, Chris drove us to the pier and guided us out into the bay on "a mission". We went out through the reef into the open water and at about 50 fsw we saw 2 black tip reef sharks. Lots of other things too! urchins: blue/black, red pencil, rock boring, sea cucumbers, eels, peacock flounder, corals, tube worms, feather star. Huge school of akule. Seen: Slate Pencil Urchin, Collector Urchin, Blacktip Reef Shark, Peacock Flounder.

Marine life seen here

• Blacktip Reef Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) — seen on 1 dive
• Collector Urchin (Tripneustes gratilla) — seen on 1 dive
• Peacock Flounder (Bothus lunatus) — seen on 1 dive
• Slate Pencil Urchin (Heterocentrotus mammillatus) — seen on 1 dive

Nearby dive sites

• Pawai Bay — 1.8 mi (2.8 km) away
• Kahaluu Beach Park — 4.6 mi (7.4 km) away
• Suck 'em Up — 4.6 mi (7.5 km) away