Snorkeling Kauai's North Shore

I was more excited about snorkeling at Ke'e Beach than anywhere else on my recent visit to Kauai. Of the renowned sites on the Hawaiian island's north shore, it was the only one I'd not managed to visit on my two previous trips starting in 2020. I might have only ever snorkeled there once before, thirty years ago on my very first trip to anywhere in Hawaii, and I remembered almost nothing about it.

Luckily two weeks before my latest arrival, I secured a mandatory reservation for entrance to the site, part of Ha'ena State Park, along with a remote parking spot and a shuttle between the sites, all for forty dollars. However I was surprised to learn that the other travelers on my shuttle weren't going to the park's famous beach, Ke'e, but instead were setting out for a completely different adventure: a hike along the Kalalau Trail.

The trail hugs Kauai's remote and spectacular Napali coastline, a remote palisade of volcanic cliffs that tower over the Pacific Ocean. At the shuttle's drop-off point, while most of the riders listened to an orientation on the trail conditions and rules, I sought out a lifeguard at the beach to ask about surf conditions. He thought it was a safe day to be in the water, but he was surprised that I didn't choose Tunnels instead, a section of nearby Ha'ena Beach, where he said the snorkeling was better and the reef more expansive.

Undeterred, I set my things under the shade of some trees and waded into a calm expanse of water sheltered from heavy surf by an outer reef. There weren't a lot of people joining me. Poor visibility near the shore might have contributed to that, but truthfully, the sea life I encountered was not very interesting.

If there were more swimmers, I might have ventured to the outer reef, where things might have been different. Instead I circled the same shallows, near an expanse of flat, calcified coral that created a few channels. There were a number of reef triggerfish and a few varieties of butterflyfish like the blue stripe. In deeper water, I encountered a large school of black triggerfish. Indeed, the lagoon-like area created a safe area for swimming and snorkeling under the stunning backdrop of the start of the Napali coastline. But as most of the people on the shuttle bus already knew: those cliffs and not the reef were the star attraction.

The next day I drove to nearby Tunnels Beach bright and early to guarantee a parking spot. On an island chock-full of attractions, the beach was usually my very first outing on Kauai. 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 last time.

I turned right along the shore, hiking a quarter mile on the beach's golden sand, and passing the palm tree-filled backyards of multi-million dollar homes. At a bend in the coastline, I started to see the outline of the coral rock sea bottom close to the surf's edge: I'd arrived at Tunnels Beach.

Like at Ke'e and all the safest beaches, an outer reef provided protection from the ocean's swells. However I immediately noted how much better the visibility was compared to the previous day. I quickly encountered lots of triggerfish and butterflyfish close to the shoreline. Large parrotfish patrolled the channels and Hawaiian chubs gathered in a school while various unicornfish swam by.

I was peering into the deep canyons and coral-encrusted passages - the tunnels the beach is named for - when I spotted my first green sea turtle of the trip. It was grazing on something for a short while but soon swam up for a breath of air.

Six separate tour boats gathered near the outer reef and I considered swimming out to snorkel with them. Four years ago, I was on a similar excursion and enjoyed the quality of the corals and its variety of sea life. In the end, I was too lazy to venture that far.

However back at my rental in Princeville later that afternoon, I found the energy to snorkel at a brand new beach, Hideaways. It's famous - even notorious - because there are only a few public parking spots while the surrounding neighborhood is quick to tow cars parked without a permit. Fortunately, I was staying just a short walk away. Nevertheless from the trailhead, it was a steep trek down a muddy trail to reach the beach.

The setting was pretty, but the surf had kicked up and the visibility was poor. I gave up on the idea of snorkeling and decided to try an old-fashioned swim. While enjoying the waves, I chatted with a fellow Arizonan who knew where to find sea turtles. He wanted to explore but his wife didn't like him snorkeling alone - a wise opinion! - so we decided to go together. We both ignored the news that there was a tiger shark sighting at the nearby Hanalei pier the day before.

We swam a hundred yards or so out and didn't see any turtles or much of anything in the churned up water. But after relenting and turning back to shore, I spotted a turtle. Soon after, we found another one.

The next morning was my last one waking up on Kauai's north shore. I could see the reef of Hideaways spread out below the cliff my condo was perched atop. The blue water was calm and clear, and the channels beckoned me. And I didn't have to deal with slippery mud to reach them because my rental's community maintained a private, paved trail to this very east end of Hideaways. The beach wasn't as sandy as the renowned west end, but it was still easy to enter the water. And oh what beauty awaited me there!

Hundreds of convict tangs schooled within just a few feet of shore. Several orange band surgeonfish and a lone, serene trumpetfish joined the crowd. Amid lush outcrops of corals swam parrotfish, wrasses, butterflyfish, and unicorn fish. And in the crystal clear water, it was easy to spy a green sea turtle swimming a short distance away. Hands down, it was my favorite snorkeling adventure of the trip so far.

The next day, I visited Anini Beach, my last planned north shore snorkeling spot and the only location with adequate parking. I had actually checked into a hotel on the eastern shore, in Kapa'a, and drove the forty minutes back for the day. On a previous trip, Anini was where I had encountered a turtle cleaning station, a site where the creatures gathered and allowed fish to eat algae from their skin and shells.

I entered the ocean to the right of the boat ramp, heading directly out to the reef where a flag was mounted as some kind of marker. Maybe it was indicating where the reef break started; but waves clearly already showed that. Or maybe it helped guide pleasure craft through the reef and told swimmers to beware. Having swam to the flag, I can tell you it did not indicate the location of a turtle cleaning station. In fact I didn't see any turtles until my return to shore, when I saw a couple of lone individuals on the sandy sea bottom that was crisscrossed by tendrils of viny seaweed.

The shallow reef to the right of the flag was actually the most healthy and beautiful I had seen on the trip. Pairs of butterflyfish swam by while morays and porcupinefish hid in the shadows. On my second and third trips out there, I even discovered lone sea turtles resting under colorful coral outcrops.

I started following groups of children with guides who swam a slightly different path out to the reef. Instead of making a beeline for the marker, they entered the water a few hundred feet to the right of the boat ramp where the reef came much closer to the shore. In fact near to where they entered was roughly where I finally found a turtle cleaning station.

At first I saw a lone turtle enjoying a scrub, but soon another and then another came into view. At one point I watched at least six in my field of vision waiting for their fishy helpers. Convict tangs and gold-ring surgeonfish, along with a few wrasses, were the predominate cleaners. Hawaiian damselfish looked on curiously.

But what started out as a sunny morning progressed to a cloudy one, and one with frequent showers. The conditions didn't keep me from snorkeling, but the light wasn't great for spotting sea creatures, let alone photographing them. And by noon, the surf started to pick up.

My late-May, early-June visit was actually a good season to snorkel on Kauai's north shore. However local weather conditions changed from day to day, and from hour to hour: the mornings definitely provided much better conditions than afternoons. If there are other sites in addition to Ke'e, Tunnels, Hideaways, and Anini, I'm all ears - and fins - for next time!