Anini:

A short ways from Anahola is another beach we spend a lot of time at --- Anini :  This beach is over 2 miles long with lots of sand and shallow water and out quite a ways is a big rock reef knocking down the ocean waves for most of the bay.   I guess this one is technically the first of the North shore beaches, even though it's before you get to Princeville.  The first several times we tried snorkeling here we didn't see much, but we were mostly over sand.  It was such a beautiful beach, though, that we kept going back.  Eventually, we finally found the rocks and coral out a ways and to the right of the boat ramp.  Every since then, the snorkeling has just gotten better and better.   Sometimes it is pretty windy and there can be a pretty good current going across from the beach so you do have to keep an eye on where you are.    But on a good day, you can snorkel farther here then any of the other beaches around Kauai.

We like to park by the boat ramp and walk to the right to this tree and put our stuff here.  Then we head straight out or out and to the right.

Last time I actually went in at the boat ramp and was surprised to see 2 really nice coral heads just to the left of the ramp with quite a few fish on them.

a white mouth moray eel in the coral by the ramp

yellow stripe goatfish and a female cigar wrasse 

 an elusive yellow tang---not many of them around Kauai

 Dascyllus albisella  -- I found that they can actually make a clicking noise while shaking their bodies!

 Hawaiian squirrelfish

 white tip soldierfish

 Dascyllus albisella (Damselfish)

 Cardinalfish

 another whitemouth eel

 spotfin squirrel fish

one of the big coral heads near the boat ramp with the  Dascyllus albisella army guarding it.

the other coral head

 school of goatfish right by shore.

Past the boat ramp is mostly sand with little bits of grass growing from it.  Good place to see turtles eating---

 and resting

and lots of them!

 I've seen more turtles here then anywhere else

keep going to the right and eventually you come to the rocky area with the fishies.
4 spot butterflyfish

 Magnificent snake eel

female Hawaiian hogfish

 Lizardfish

 eel and juvenile Dascyllus albisella damselfish

milletseed butterflyfish

 goldring surgeonfish

 incredibly clear shallow easy entry for miles

 conspicuous sea cucumber

 swimming white mouth moray --- I've seen some really large moray eels here!

 a juvenile surgeonfish

lots of schools of juvenile fish

a couple Picasso Triggerfish

another odd invertebrate.

 a flounder

 once I saw a school of at least 50 adult coronet fish like this one

lots of these ringed sap-sucking slugs

milletseed butterflyfish

blue goatfish

teardrop butterflyfish

juveniles --- I forgot what they grow up to look like

more juvies, but these look like their parents

female spotted boxfish

 blue travelly

 adolescent rockmover wrasse

Ornate butterflyfish

Hawaiian spotted toby

turtle in the rocky area

 more schooling fish with a lone yellow tang

white saddle goatfish

school of yellow stripe goatfish

another large sea hare --- didn't see any of these the first 10 years or so that we came here, now we've seen several.  Maybe we just didn't notice them before.

 I'm thinking this is a Steindachner's Moray --- not one of the usual types of eels we see around Kauai.

 a school of Moorish Idols

 more schooling fish of different species.

 Steindachner's Moray again?

another type of Flounder

a view towards the beach from near shore

 some type of Nudibranch.  I've seen these guys at Lawai before, too.

 a Turtle emerging from his resting place within a cave.

a rather large white mouth moray eel.

 a big eye emperor

 a trumpetfish

 a couple different kinds of goatfish

saddle wrasse

 blue stripe butterflyfish

large school of goatfish

young wrasse

type of shrimp?

large eel

young hogfish

After 15 trips to Anini, in 2016  I found this really nice area of coral.  

teardrop butterflyfish

flounder

Not a good picture, but I'm including this to show what can happen if you leave band like trash in the water.  This was a large eel and looked like it had a cloth pony tail holder stuck tight around it.

 In 2016 I managed to see this guy---a frogfish.

 close up of the frogfish face.

 How calm the water often is because of the extensive reef blocking the waves.

looking to the left from near the boat ramp.

 walking to the right from the boat ramp.

lots of beach and shade

 all the way at the end of the beach.  We did try snorkeling here to the left once, but there was a swift current going out and no fish to see, so we abandoned that idea. 

driving back up from the end of the road is this little man made area.  We never stopped here, but there are often families with small children here.  There are a lot of houses (many rentals) across from this part of the beach. 

Some days it is really windy and the kite surfers and windsurfers will come in.  Makes snorkeling a bit tough then, but fun to watch the surfers.

I've wondered about the part of the bay as you first drive down to Anini, but figure it's probably too shallow to snorkel.

There's also a camp ground here and lots of pic nic tables, as well as outdoor showers, fish cleaning stations, and a large restroom.  After a day of snorkeling and enjoying Anini, we'll often shower and change and head into Hanalei for sunset and dinner before going back to our usual "home" on the East side.