Hanauma Bay Puns

Has anyone done this hike recently? I can't find this trail on AllTrails anymore. Are they giving out fines?

Hello! Im visting Oahu next week and am wondering if any locals could offer advice around Winter snorkeling at Hanauma bay. I have read that swells can get large in the afternoon and its best to go in the early morning before low tide? Are there any resources to check current tides? What are things i need to be cognizant of to be as safe as possible in terms of tides and currents? Thank you for any advice. Greatly appreciated.

Just got back from a 5 day trip to Oahu over Thanksgiving break. It’s my first time visiting Oahu with my boyfriend (we are both young, mid-20s, fully vaccinated) but I've been to Maui before. Wanted to share our experience and happy to answer any questions!

Our focus was mainly on outdoor activities (hiking, snorkel, surfing, zip-lining) and food, especially Japanese food. I think we ended up spending around $3000+ total for everything (flights, hotel, car rental, food, activities/tours). We stayed in Waikiki and rented a car for the whole trip.

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Day 0 - Arrival

Arrived pretty late in the evening (9-10pm) so most restaurants were already closed. Tried to find some food at 7 Eleven but it was pretty underwhelming (maybe they just sold out of most hot food options?) and all the snacks were expensive. We ended up going to Sam’s Kitchen near our hotel which was open late and had the garlic shrimp. Tasty but a bit pricey for the portion size.

Day 1 - Koko Crater, Waikiki Beach

Holy Grail Donuts (food truck) - The best donuts I’ve ever had in my life!! They are made with taro and fried in coconut oil, and made fresh to order. Very unique flavors. Each donut is small so you won’t feel sick after eating one. They have just the right balance of sweetness. I love the drinks too (chai, matcha, coffee, all made with nut milk) but they are a bit expensive. We came back here three times for breakfast. Opens at 7am and there’s never a line, food is out in a few minutes and donuts are nicely packaged in a box to take to go. They rotate flavors weekly and I wish I could have tried them all!

Koko Crater Hike - Diamond Head was closed on Thanksgiving day so we went to Koko Crater instead. Plenty of free parking at the base of the trail. This hike is insane, like 1.5 miles of stairs straight up. It starts steep and then just gets steeper the higher you go. The way up is physically demanding and the way down is hard on the knees (recommend hiking poles if you have them). Lots of people were there - we arrived at around 8:30am, and left around 10:00am, on our way down it was hardly any space between people. We got lucky with clouds blocking the sun for most of our hike, and lots of wind to help cool down. If you like the challenge you should do it. But for views of the island just drive up to Tantalus Lookout, it was way less crowded. (My legs were SO sore the next day, I could still swim and walk but probably wouldn’t be

I've seen a few posts that suggest creating a profile on the PROS website to speed up ticket ordering. I did so, but when I click on the time I want, my information still doesn't appear and I have to type it in, so by the time I go to check out, all the tickets are gone. Is there a trick to getting the website to pre populate your information?

I have upcoming reservations for Hanauma Bay for 9:00 AM. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the parking situation since the 30 person limit per time slot limit has been put into effect. Any idea on the likelihood of the parking being full by then?

Based on the math, it seems unlikely (330 max people by 9:00 AM based on everyone from previous time slots being there, and averaging 2 people per car puts it at 165 spots being taken), but I was curious to know if anyone has insight into this. Thanks!

Does anyone find that it is easier to get reservations now?

My trip isn't until August, but I still check https://pros6.hnl.info/hanauma-bay every day or two to get a feel for how quickly the times sell out. As I recall, before the price increase, without fail the reservations would all be gone before 7:03am HST, meaning within 2-3 minutes. But recently I checked (post price increase), and it seemed to last all the way until 7:50am HST, which seems too good to be true. So maybe doubling the entry fee has slowed down demand appropriately? Anyone have post price increase experience they can share?

You can read more about it here: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/06/29/hawaii-news/fees-for-nonresidents-at-hanauma-bay-will-more-than-double/ and https://apnews.com/article/hi-state-wire-hawaii-health-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-9078bf6bf75fca399da772aed00d7fb0

I was on their website and it says :

NO Walk-in traffic – All guest must come by private vehicles, NO Commercial traffic at this time.

Kind of confused... so we can’t take the bus or Uber there?

Edit: I am going to call them tmmr in case no one knows and give y’all an update

Edit: no phone number. Emailed them. They said you can Uber there. They didn’t give me much of a detailed response just basically what their website said

Hi, I got an extra ticket for Hbay on Dec 26 2021, 7:00 am for non resident. Contact me if you fancy visiting the park at that time.

First time visiting Oahu and I've got most of my itinerary planned, except for Hanauma Bay/east side of the island. Hoping to make a reservation for snorkeling, but if that doesn't work out I might try the drive-up/walk-in tickets in the morning.

I'm not sure how long I need to spend in this area. Is one morning enough or should I budget morning + afternoon? After snorkeling in Hanauma Bay I'm thinking of checking out some of the scenic spots nearby like the Halona Blowhole, Koko Crater, and Makapu'u. How would you compare the Koko Crater trail vs. Makapu'u Lighthouse trail if I had to pick one? Are they worth doing the full hike?

Aloha! Wanted to clarify—the no reservations pilot program for locals to visit Hanauma Bay is pau now, right? Now everyone has to make reservations? Thanks very much.

Website directs us to secure tickets at Honolulu Parks & Recreation website, but that site appears to be down. What is the deal with visiting Hanauma Bay this week?

Tickets go live 7am HST 2 days before. Note they are close Monday and Tuesday, so no tickets post on Saturday or Sunday.

The website is buggy. I was able to get reservations on my laptop but couldn't even see the reservations for the day had opened on my phone. Check on multiple devices for the best chance.

The tickets go very fast. The system does NOT reserve the tickets in your cart while you check out so by the time you finish the tickets may not be available any more. If younget an error, that's what happened.

If you can't get online reservations, they do reserve a limited number of day-of walk in tickets and drive in tickets each day.

The procedures seem to be evolving and when we were there, different people said different things so be flexible and try not to get upset.

To get walk up tickets, your entire party should be in line and they give out tickets at 6:45am for that day. They have like 4 tickets for each showing and just hand them out in order. My partner got 810 and I got 820, but we were able to go in the 810 showing together because there was room. If you have tickets for different showings, just let them know and be cool. Note: for walk up tickets they expect people to actually walk up the hill to Hanauma, not get dropped off and the parking lot doesn't open until after the walkup tickets are handed out so you can't park at Hanauma bay and "walk up" to get the tickets.

There are also a limited number of drive-up tickets. Basically, a line of cars lines up on the town side shoulder waiting for the gates to open (no line-up on the Sandy beach side. At any time the police could make everyone parked on the shoulder leave (parking on the shoulder is not actually allowed) and then you'd lose your place in line, so beware. There are a lot of cars waiting. We got there at 615 and were about 20 cars back..and the rest ofnthe way down the hill filled up before 645. When they open the gates, everyone drives in and at the bottom of the driveway, go to the right to the commercial lot (rather than left to the regular lot) and they pass out tickets. Same deal - they have limited tickets for each show time and they go fast. We were in line before 615am and by the time we got the drive up tickets they were handing out 1230pm tickets. There were many cars behind us so some of them must not have gotten tickets.

When you get there for your showtime, pay for parking at the gatehouse ($3 visitors - cash only). You park and get in the line with your sh

It’s our second time in Oahu and the last time we were there, we didn’t bother reserving spots at Hanauma Bay and went to Shark’s Cove instead. That was on a July and we had a great time. Is there any alternative to Hanauma Bay in case we can’t grab a spot in January? Thanks.

Woke up early to make reservations and around 7:00AM - 7:10AM HST kept refreshing their reservations page but it’s unable to load. Tried it all on my computer and 2 other phones; definitely not a Wifi or device issue. Anyone experience this before or currently? What’s the best way to secure tickets to hanauma bay if we cant get an online reservation?

If I have a reservation for 7am and we get there late like 10am, will they dent entry or will we end up on standby?