Three Days of Snorkeling off of Tunnels Beach on Kauai

Nothing excited me more while planning my latest visit to Kauai than a return to Tunnels Beach for snorkeling.  On an island chock-full of attractions, the beach was my very first outing on my first day on Hawaii's Garden Island.  Swimming with schools of surgeonfish on fish highways, green sea turtles ascending for breaths of air, and colorful parrotfish chomping on bites of coral were just some of the memories that I wanted to revisit from my very last snorkel there two-and-a-half years ago.  While my expectations were eventually exceeded, it would take three separate visits to Tunnels to finally happen. 

Tunnels Beach is close to the end of the road on Kauai, where Route 560 or the Kuhio Highway terminates near the Na Pali Coast on the mountainous and scenic north shore of the island.   The beach is actually reached from Ha'ena State Park, where there is very limited parking but facilities like a freshwater shower, restrooms, and more importantly, a lifeguard station.   However, they're all situated at an end of the beach where some lateral currents and strong waves might be dangerous, especially during the winter, when I was now visiting. 

But if you're lucky enough to find a parking spot, I suggest you hike a few hundred yards along the beach to the right, on golden sand and near the palm tree-filled backyards of multi-million dollar homes.  When you reach a bend in the coastline you should also start to see the dark outline of the rock sea bottom close to the surf's edge.  That's when you know you've arrived at Tunnels Beach.  

View west from Tunnels Beach on Kauai.

The beach is actually Makua Beach but it's been popularly referred to as Tunnels because of the underwater lava tubes that divers like to frequent.   However the extensive reef is so close you don't need SCUBA gear to explore much of the undersea wonderland.  The rock seems to often come close to breaking the water's surface, so if you find yourself in too shallow of depths, nearby channels offer safe passageways. 

I was visiting the island for the first time in a non-summer month, specifically April.  Like throughout the winter, large waves were crashing on the outer reef, several hundred yards away.   Surfboards under their arms, surfers walked atop the outer reef to reach the waves. 

Entering the calmer water on the inside of the reef, I noticed the lateral current that pulled me west, down the coast in the direction of the lifeguard tower.  I photographed a number of lagoon triggerfish, one gulping mouthfuls of sand and expelling the grains and shells, retaining any organic matter as food.  Groups of orange-band surgeonfish swam in tight formation.  I observed at least two butterflyfish, the bluestripe and raccoon, in addition to a whitemouth moray.  Afterwards, I swam back east, fighting against the strong current.

Lagoon triggerfish ejecting sand, off Tunnels Beach.

Orange-band surgeonfish off Tunnels Beach.

Whitemouth moray off Tunnels Beach.

The sunny morning darkened as accumulating clouds diminished precious underwater light.  As a result, a unique encounter with a pair of scrawled filefish left me without good photographs.  I was intrigued by the size of the creatures, each almost two-feet long.  They swam gracefully, seemingly in tandem, anticipating each other's turns.  I've never seen such a large member of this family of fish that also includes triggerfish.  The filefishes' mesmerizing patterns, scribble-like lines as in their name, flared neon blue in the low light.

Scrawled filefish off Tunnels Beach.

Poor shot of one of two scrawled filefish off Tunnels Beach.

Back on beach, the skies darkened and rain started falling, forcing me to find shelter under a large tree and my beach towel.  Waiting five minutes, and another five minutes, then ten more minutes, the rain didn't relent; it was time to call it a morning on Tunnels Beach. 

Skies darkening before the rain at Tunnels Beach on Kauai.

I was learning that already a month into spring, Kauai was still experiencing winter weather.  In fact northern swells were so ferocious that my next day's boat ride along the nearby Na Pali Coast was delayed three days, until Tuesday, when the forecast improved considerably.  Even on Monday, when I returned to Tunnels Beach for more snorkeling, tour boats were still no where to be seen.  However the high seas had significantly diminished, and surfers weren't present anymore.

With the hopeful intention of re-encountering the scrawled filefish in much better light, I re-entered the surf.  Alas there was no sign of them on the eastern end of the reef.  However I noticed more reef triggerfish as opposed to the lagoon variety that predominated on the visit three days before.  The cross current was diminished so I had to actually swim, not drift, when I decided to investigate the western end of the shoreside reef.  

It was worth the effort as in the shallows I re-discovered the beauty that I recalled so fondly from my 2019 trip.  I found myself within a school of surgeonfish, all large ringtail, speeding through the shallow sea.   A redlip parrotfish chomped at chunks of coral, wrasses close by to feed off any detritus.  The huge parrotfish was red-colored, in its initial phase, which is when the fish is female: just one detail about the complex sexual development of the species.  

School of ringtail surgeonfish off Tunnels Beach.

Redlip parrotfish, in initial or female phase, with Christmas wrasse below it.

Surgeonfish, parrotfish: the only things missing were turtles.  

A worthy substitute was ready when an endangered Hawaiian monk seal lazed along the beach all morning, sunning itself whenever the clouds broke.  It was the third individual I encountered during my week on Kauai so hopefully I was witnessing the slow recovery of the species.

Hawaiian monk seal on Tunnels Beach.

The next day the seas were summer-like, unfortunate for surfers but lucky for me as my boat tour along the Na Pali Coast was on.  Lying along the northwest corner of the island, the mountainous and picturesque coastline is especially rugged and inhospitable to all traffic except by foot, helicopter, or watercraft.  

The tour started out of Hanalei, which is the closest sizeable community to Na Pali.  And lucky for me, many of the excursions out of the small town included a snorkeling stop on the outer reef off of Tunnels Beach.  As a result, I had inadvertently planned my third and most unique visit to my favorite Kauai destination.

View of Tunnels Beach from my tour boat.

After two hours of taking in the breathtaking Na Pali scenery - a subject for another story - our catamaran finally dropped anchor off of Tunnels Beach.  I could see a few hundred yards away the shore I had snorkeled from the day before and also three days before that.  It was 3:30 in the afternoon, later in the day than I had yet snorkeled on my vacation, under the sunniest skies I had seen.  

The first to jump in the water, I headed toward the reef but was quickly distracted by a bright yellow fish.  My boat's skipper would later tell me it was a queen nenue, a rare variation of the dully-colored Hawaiian chub.  It was considered a sacred fish in ancient Hawaiian culture, when only royals were allowed to kill the creature.  

Queen nenue, a rare variation of a Hawaiian chub, on the outer reef off of Tunnels Beach on Kauai.

Closer to the reef, black surgeonfish dotted the seascape, their neon spines shining like signs.  Exactly like near the shore, I came across a lone redlip parrotfish several times, but this one was mostly blue and green, in its terminal or male phase.  The water was shallow over the reef, where we snorkelers were instructed to not swim lest the swells push us against sharp coral and rocks.  

Relip parrotfish in its terminal or male phase on the outer reef off of Tunnels Beach.

So I temporarily skirted the area, peering into the coral canyons where yellowtail snappers hovered motionless in schools over that busy parrotfish.  A leopard blenny perched on a cluster of coral branches.  An especially photogenic pearl wrasse was an easy subject with my camera.  Around me were numerous surgeonfish like the orangespine and gold-ring.  The mostly calm water and bright light offered ideal conditions for observing and shooting. 

Closer to shore was another tour boat, so I headed in its direction in search of new discoveries.  As I swam near the reef's shallows, I eyed below me a symmetrical, smooth shape amid the rocks: a resting turtle!  After two previous visits to Tunnels, in addition to an uneventful stop at Poipu, I finally found a green sea turtle in its marine habitat on Kauai.  The third time to Tunnels was indeed the charm.

I lingered overhead, calmly waiting for the turtle to ascend.  The animal appeared large so I surmised it could have held its breath for a number of minutes.  But I didn't have to wait long at all, as it soon swam to the surface.  It appeared much smaller as I approached it, a distortion of underwater viewing I couldn't get used to.  Snorkelers surrounded the turtle as it floated and sipped breaths of air, many of us snapping photos, all of us silently celebrating our lucky encounter.

Green sea turtle surfacing for air over the outer reef off of Tunnels Beach on Kauai.

Feeling emboldened, maybe even euphoric, the cool, calm water not yet chilling me, I swam over the reef despite the earlier shipboard warnings.  The undersea environment appeared pristine, populated with yellow and brown clusters of corals.  Dense schools of hundreds of convict tangs grazed, while nearby a school of equally numerous whitebar surgeonfish congregated.  The groups seemed to combine and divide, undulating to rhythms completely independent from the gentle swells rocking me as I followed the activity. 

Combined schools of convict tangs and whitebar surgeonfish over the outer reef off of Tunnels Beach on Kauai.

I was captivated by the beauty of Tunnel's outer reef.  More enamored with my favorite Kauai destination than I already was when I arrived on the island six days before, I was reluctant to get back on the tour boat and say goodbye.  But the sun was beginning its descent in the late afternoon sky and the excursion was keeping to its schedule.  It was time to dry off, warm up, and follow a rainbow back to Hanalei.

Rainbow showing the way to Hanalei on Kauai.