Honolua Bay and Napili Bay

Honolua Bay: A Marine Conservation Reserve. It has great snorkeling especially in the summer. The right hand side of the bay has a large coral reef area but you have to snorkle out too it. The middle of the bay is a sandy channel. There is coral on the left side and Rhonda and Jeff saw quite a few turtles there along with a spotted ray. The picture with the rock beach is Honolua Bay. It was our first stop. We parked more on the north side of the bay by 2 porta potties. There is a path that is level and doesn't cross the stream. I was surprised by all the concessions at the end by the boat ramp. The "Camp" on the south side of the ramp had grown. As I approached a guy came out of the concession and confronted me saying I had to leave as Dogs were not permitted. "I have been coming here for 20 years with my dogs" was my reply. There was a "No Dog" sign by the road. I did not see the sign.
I tell him the beach is State Land. Yes but you accessed it via a Hawaiians land and your dog is upsetting his dogs ( a big Rottweiler is going nuts on his leash.) In the end he let us proceed to the right side of the bay. The coral was spectacular. I love the purple and green colors. There were 6 big Ulua with bright fluorescent blue coloration. Some big schools of different reef fish. The water was very enjoyable. I later went on line and found out that Maui Land and Pine owns 269 acres in Honolua. a Hui of 8 people own .20 acre where the camp has been built up. There is another Oahu owner who owns .25 acres which the camp has also spread out onto. The North access was over Maui Land and Pine land and not over any Hawaiians land. They own not even 1/4 acre between the boat ramp and the stream. The Dept of Land and Natural Resourse has been fining them since 2006 for illegal structures in a conservation area, illegally assessing people to cross their land, illegal concession stands, fishing in a marine reserve, destroying ancient walls. Diverting the stream.
Well after a nice swim at Honolua we hiked out to go to a nice sandy beach for our lunch.
But we ended eating lunch at the car. Then off to Napili Bay about 15 minutes south. It is a spectacular white sand beach. As we exited the public shoreline access and stopped to look at the ocean we noticed some really big green sea turtles grazing on the rocks nearby. We watched 3 big ones get tumbled over the rocks. They were unphased by the tourists viewing them up close.
We found some shade and were soon in the water. It was not as clear as Hololua as it is more affected by the trade winds with a small surge. The turtles were at least 4 feet across. The tail of the big one was almost a foot long and 6 inches in diameter at its base. One turtle had a colorful 8" Christmas Wrass swimming with him. Jeff was watching one when a wave swept him over the rocks into a small lagoon area where he said he and 3 big turtles were churning around together in the shallow water.
Another relaxing day on Maui in the beautiful ocean.


South Side of Napili Bay