Coral
We left Kona at about 9:30 and by the time we got to Honaunau Bay there was only one parking spot left in the small pay lot that is run by a church. Then we didn’t have the correct change ($3) required. I spoke to the man in charge after we’d parked, asking if I could get change, and he told me that someone else would have to unlock the box, and that we should just go and enjoy our day. So we did that, though we did find the operator with the key later in the day and he changed a $20 bill for us.
The beach is not really a beach at all, but rather a lot of quite flat black lava rocks. Right at the ocean there is are two steps of naturally occurring rock down to a wide bench just below the water line. It isn’t at all slippery, and the algae on the rock makes it soft, so it is a very easy entry. There were many, many yellow tang feeding right at the edge where you get into the water, and a lot of people there snorkeling as well.
School of Yellow Tang
The coral at this site is very good. It is the second best we’ve seen in Hawaii, only just ranking below Captain Cook. However this site is very easy to get to. The coral is just deep enough that no one can stand on it, but shallow enough to be very visible. There were many varieties of fish here and the water is not too rough, so it is a great snorkeling spot.