This bay is known among divers as a place to see manta rays. They congregate off the South point of the bay, out in front of the Outrigger Resort. This is one of the spots that boat charters go to snorkel and dive with manta rays at night. We went on our own during the day. I didn't come here expecting to see manta rays, but it was just a spot we hadn't been to before so I wanted to see what it was like. There is a public access trail through the resort grounds that leads to the lava shoreline near the point, but on this day there was a bit of a swell so we entered the water farther in the bay at a boat launch ramp.
Inside the bay, the visibility was pretty bad. It seemed almost milky. The bottom was bare, silty rock and dead, eroded coral heads. There were a couple of species of urchins everywhere, but other than them, there was very little marine life here in the bay.
As we swam farther towards the point, there started to be more fish life. The visibility was also gradually improving.
Out at the South point of the bay, there was much more living coral covering a large, flat area. Visibility had improved quite a bit, but it was still not as good as at many of the other local spots we visited. We didn't swim all the way around the point because of the waves.
We swam back into the bay. The coral faded away and was replaced by the silty rocks and urchins.
I don't know if the visibility is usually better here, but I wasn't impressed with this spot. There didn't seem to be anywhere near as much fish and coral as most other spots we snorkeled at.
