An Exhilarating Introduction to Scuba Diving in Hawaii

Hanauma Bay Dive Tours start by meeting your Living Ocean Scuba dive instructor by the gift shop at the entrance to Hanauma Bay. We will have you sign your Discover Scuba Diving registration, medical forms and walk you to the entrance of the park (the entrance fee is included in our price) to send you in to see a nine-minute video about preserving Hanauma Bay.

This introductory video tells you about some of the marine species that we encounter on our dive tours and gives some good guidelines to help keep Hanauma Bay nature preserve beautiful (such as not touching or standing on the coral reef.) While you are watching the video your scuba instructor will be getting all of your equipment ready for you.

Once you are finished with the video, your instructor will give you a thorough safety briefing that covers scuba equipment use, interacting with marine life, and hand signals. After your safety briefing, you will get into the gear, ride the tram to the beach and head into waist-deep water.

Our dive tours start by simply getting comfortable breathing underwater as well as practicing a few skills that your scuba instructor went over with you in the briefing. This is done in water that is shallow enough to stand up so that you can ease your way into scuba diving.

After completing the skills and experiencing scuba for the first time, your instructor will take you on a tour to see all of the beautiful species of marine animals that live in Hanauma Bay Hawaii!

Hanauma Bay Hawaii History

Hanauma Bay (“Hanauma” meaning “curved bay”) is believed to be over 35,000 years old. The bay itself is actually the floor of a volcanic crater that opened up to the ocean when its exterior wall collapsed. The State of Hawaii opened Hanauma Bay in 1967 as a marine life conservation area and underwater park.

Hanauma Bay is sheltered from strong currents and waves, making it an ideal spot for scuba diving and snorkeling. A large sandy beach is surrounded by several hiking trails that lead to breathtaking lookouts.

On clear days in the winter and early spring, you can see breaching humpback whales from shore. You can also spot the islands of Molokai and Lanai across the channel.