Dive· Lanai· Hawaii
Lanai Cathedrals (First and Second Cathedral Dive Sites)
20° 44.0′ N · 156° 53.3′ W · approximate
Hawaii's most famous cavern dives: two collapsed lava tubes off Lanai's south coast where shafts of midday sun light up the 'Altar' rock inside First Cathedral and a black-coral fan hangs from the roof of Second Cathedral.
Practical
Coordinate is approx: the dive guides only say the pair lie southeast of Hulopoe Bay, so this point is placed in the water off Puu Pehe and the Manele headland. It is not a mooring position and not a waypoint; rocks extend 300 yards east and south of Puu Pehe. First Cathedral: 25 to 60 ft, a two-story cavern entered through an archway (50 ft at the bottom, 25 ft at the top), exit through a small back hole called the 'shotgun' timed with the surge; turtles, whitetip reef sharks, lobsters and endemic bandit angelfish. Second Cathedral: 15 to 50 ft (one database gives about 70 ft max), smaller chamber with many swim-throughs, harlequin shrimp, frogfish and schools of bluestripe snapper; light is best around 11am. Overhead environment, and silt kicked up by other divers can drop visibility inside fast. Most divers go with a Maui operator from Lahaina or Maalaea (45 to 60 minutes across the Auau Channel, which builds a swell by afternoon); a cruising boat at Manele is a short dinghy or tender run away, but go with a local guide the first time. Inside the Manele-Hulopoe MLCD rules apply: take nothing.
Best for
Cavern diving with light shafts, a two-tank morning from Manele or Maui
Season
Year-round; calmest on summer trade-wind mornings; avoid big south swell
Nearby
- Puu Pehe (Sweetheart Rock)0.2 NM away
- Sharks Bay (Lanai)0.2 NM away
- Hulopoe Tide Pools and Cliff Walk0.4 NM away
- Expeditions Maui-Lanai Ferry0.5 NM away
- Hulopoe Bay Marine Life Conservation District0.5 NM away
- Manele Bay Anchorage0.5 NM away
- Manele Bay Spinner Dolphins0.5 NM away
- Manele Small Boat Harbor0.5 NM away