Molokini Crater

A drowned volcanic tuff cone in the ʻAlalākeiki Channel between Maui and Kahoʻolawe, breaking the surface as a 0.6 km crescent that shelters a shallow lagoon famous for water clearer than almost anywhere in Hawaii — 30 m of visibility is an ordinary day, 45 m happens. Inside the arms, a coral and rubble reef at 6–18 m holds dense reef fish: schooling black durgon, yellow tang, Moorish idols, raccoon butterflyfish, parrotfish and patrolling bluefin trevally over beds of red pencil urchins. The crater's open back side is a different dive entirely — a sheer wall plunging past 60 m into blue water where whitetip reef sharks, eagle rays, the occasional manta and even Galápagos sharks cruise the drop off. Protected since 1977, it is one of the most dived sites in the islands.