Where Is Turtle Canyon?

Turtle Canyon is off Waikiki, on the south shore of Oahu, a boat ride of 10 to 20 minutes from where the tours board. Pink Sails Waikiki reaches it in 10 to 15 minutes from the Ala Wai harbor, Oceanstar in about 20 from Kewalo Basin, and Island Splash Tours anchors about three-quarters of a mile off the beach. The name belongs to the boats: no state or federal agency describes a reef called Turtle Canyon off Waikiki. The closest official record is the state’s “Canyons Reef” day-use moorings, half a mile east of the Ala Wai harbor’s channel buoys, a honu reef with a maximum depth of 40 feet. It is also not the same place as the state’s “Turtle Canyons” moorings, which lie in Maunalua Bay off Hawaii Kai, several miles to the east.

The calendar above is Oceanstar’s trip, which collects you in Waikiki so you never need to find a harbor, from $107 in current promotion (usually $120) a person (checked November 2026).

Turtle Canyon, or Turtle Canyons?

Search for the name and you will find two places. The one the Waikiki tours visit lies off Waikiki, between Kewalo Basin Harbor and Diamond Head. The other is a set of day-use moorings that Hawaii’s boating division, DOBOR, calls Turtle Canyons, described in its Oahu mooring guidebook as half a mile west of the first channel marker of the Hawaii Kai boat channel, in Maunalua Bay. That is on the far side of Diamond Head, and the facts published for those moorings, depth included, belong to that reef and not to the one off Waikiki.

Where the boats leave from

Charter Oahu meets its guests at Pier B and Captain Max Boat Tours at its harbor office; neither gives a harbor name before you book, so check your booking confirmation.

Is Turtle Canyon inside a marine reserve?

No state page says so. Close to shore, the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District runs from the Kapahulu groin to the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, out to at least 500 yards or the edge of the reef, and inside it taking or injuring any marine life is banned. No agency places Turtle Canyon inside that district. The turtles are protected wherever they swim: Hawaii’s green sea turtles are listed as threatened under federal and state law, and touching, chasing or feeding one is illegal.

Can you reach it without a boat?

The trips anchor offshore and there is no published swim route to the reef. If you want to snorkel from the beach instead, Honolulu’s Ocean Safety service recommends swimming at a beach with a lifeguard tower, and in an emergency calling 911 and asking for the lifeguards. Hawaii’s state parks division notes that sea turtles can turn up wherever people snorkel and can be seen from the shore when they come up to breathe, but no agency names a Waikiki beach where they reliably appear.

Pick your trip by where you are staying

Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026; Viator checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.