It is a three kilometre walk down to the beach area and you need to get there earlier to score parking close to the trailhead. Wear decent footwear which would be NOT wearing sandals. It is a 385 metre elevation gain on the hike back and took the two of us about 50 minutes going at a good clip. The effort to get there and back is well worth it as the snorkelling was awesome. Many different varieties of fish and sea life. Many snorkel tour boats in the bay so that says it all. Pretty clear water so visibility is good. There are no conveniences or amenities down at the beach so bring water and some food. The trail itself is pretty good except for many loose rock towards the bottom. We really enjoyed the snorkelling and spent some time down at the cove. There is not an easy way to gain entry to the water either. We recommend taking the trail on the left when you arrive as the snorkelling was better in that area.

WOW! Another great excursion in our visit to the Big Island. Captain Noah was humorous and did a great job of showing us sights coming and going to Captain Cook's Monument. We saw whales, caves, turtles, and some of the best blue snorkeling water near the monument. What a great trip and the lunch and snacks were delightful!

If you have some time and are in decent shape, take the hike down to the monument. We packed a lunch and snorkel gear and had a great time. Plan to go in the morning to avoid the heat and the large numbers of snorkelers brought in by the boat tours. The shoreline is very rocky so bring water shoes if you have them. The hike back up will take you a while (1.5 hours) and can be a bit strenuous so be aware of this.

Stop debating the hike and take a snorkel tour in by boat. The locals absolutely detest all us tourists hiking down there and killing the coral. There's not many spots to get in without damaging it. If you can't tread water in the deep to clean out your mask, you shouldn't snorkel. That said, it was amazing. Hoping us tourists don't continue to screw it up. It's a spinner dolphin sanctuary and pretty close to heaven. Let's protect it.

The monument itself is lovely just sat on the shoreline of the bay. The walk down was lovely the walk up was extremely challenging due to its 400m change in elevation over 2 miles- all up!! Stopping for a breather (regularly) on the way up I was enthralled by the birds and the sheer rugged beauty but I was exhausted by the time we got to the top. The snorkelling was lovely and we saw lots of fish - various tangs, parrot fish, pipe fish. There were a lot of commercial boats in the bay but this didn’t detract for me. It was slightly challenging getting in the water but once we worked it out I was off. Take lots of water and good training shoes absolutely do not attempt this in flip flops.