Kahe Beach Park (Electric Beach)

Kahe Point Beach Park, better known as Electric Beach or E-beach is one of the most popular shore dive sites on Oahu.  It is one of a small handful of beach dive sites that are accessible year round, has consistently good visibility and, while fairly shallow, remains an interesting dive with lots of life.  

These attributes make it an ideal dive site for every level of diver and it is very common to see SCUBA schools practicing their skills.  The site gets it's name from large power plant located across the street. The site gets its popularity from the two large cooling pipes that discharge warm water from the plant into the ocean.  These discharge pipes not only provide an artificial reef for the various species of underwater life, the warm water attracts other forms of life creating an amazing dive experience.



THE DIVE

PARKING AND ACCESS:
There are two options for parking at Ebeach.  The more common area is the paved parking lot (1) you turn into off Farrington Hwy. This is fairly close to the beach and a good place to meet other divers.  Most dive schools will congregate in the covered pavilion (3) to assemble their gear, make last minute pit-stops (4), don and do final checks before heading to the water.  Access to the beach from this route is down a short but somewhat steep path (6), easy enough for most but can be a bit dangerous for those struggling with the weight of SCUBA gear.

The alternative is to make an immediate right onto the rail access road once turning off Farrington.  Take this road down until you are immediately above the beach and park there (2).  This makes for a very short, easy path down to the beach (7). Keep in mind that there is an active rail that runs along the road, don't park on or over the tracks. As with almost all beach dive sites, theft can be a problem.  Make sure you don't leave valuables in your car. During busy days divers tend to keep an eye out for each others stuff and there is a pretty steady flow in and out of the lot.  If you see something suspicious, say something.

DIVING ELECTRIC BEACH

While there are plenty of places to explore along the reefs close to the steep shore at 10-20ft, the true experience is at the pipe outlets which sit in about 30ft of water. The most challenging and intimidating part of diving Ebeach is the beach entry itself. Most of the time seas are calm with an occasional swell that rolls up the narrow channel that leads to the beach. If the waves are above 2' use caution and seriously think about coming back another day.  Spend a few minutes getting the timing of the ocean and make your entry staying in the middle of the 25yd wide beach.  Entry

Once you are past the wall of the cooling basin and outside the surf zone, you have two options.  Either head out @260 which will take you to the North side of the pipe structure which you can explore and head to the outlets. Or you can take a heading of 260 and look for the SECOND set of "bubblers".  These are picture 6 and 7 on the top picture.  Once you hit the second set of bubblers take a course of 305 for about 250 yards you will find a lava flow with some swimthroughs that white tip sharks hang out.  I would recommend this is a surface swim since there is a whole lot of NOTHING between the bubblers and where you are going.

CAUTIONS:

If waves are above 2 ft seriously consider finding another dive site. The ocean pounds into the narrow entrance with little regard for your desire to dive.  Also, when the surf is up visibility goes down and diving is generally not great anyway.  Be careful of the two large rocks on the southern side of the beach at the entry, these will ruin your day if you find them. Once you are past the surf zone, be extremely careful not to approach the ocean side of the concrete barrier around the shore-side discharge.  The ocean will not hesitate to turn you into a bloody pulp by beating you against the jagged rocks on the wall.

Currents, while negligible in this area, tend to run with the tides.  Many times you will head out planning to explore against the current only to find the current has turned when you are making your trip back.  Check out tide and current data at PacIOOS to understand and plan for the optimal dive time.


Final warning about this dive is about the discharge pipes themselves.  While it is truly an amazing site, stay clear of the water exiting the discharge pipes.  Many divers have experienced a "pipe ride" when venturing too close and getting in the warm water flow.  If you do get caught in this water flow, you will be rapidly catapulted upward and outward in a rolling, tumbling manor that will cause your dive buddy to experience the awkward and sometimes uncomfortable phenomena of trying to laugh while on SCUBA.  Relax, enjoy the ride, you will end up about 100 yards out.  Submerge and swim back to your dive buddy and hope they got a good video for YouTube.

Reef South of discharge pipe  Outlet  Fish at Outlet