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Watch out - reg service is not difficult but there are a lot of quirks that you may not learn from a book. It's best if you can find someone with experience to help you out at first. If you want to play around, make sure to get a cheap disposable reg in case you break something (and dive it...

Sometimes the IDH staff will meet you at the Hickam gate to pick up your bottle. It's a bit of a pain, but easier than driving to Hawaii Kai. Besides them and Ocean Concepts, I don't know of anyone with a booster. See in Sea used to be great for Nitrox & O2 fills, but sadly they are no more.

Sea horses live in calm, shallow, murky areas, and aren't usually very common. Apparently, this past year there have been spotted frequently in Ala Wai canal, of all places. Although they're definitely out there, they're not a fish that you should expect to see at your usual dive sites...

IWR really does work. Most of the commercial fishermen here (myself included) trust it over the chamber for most situations. You can mess yourself up if you do it wrong, though, so most sport divers shouldn't do it. The deep spike at first is to crush the bubbles and relieve symptoms (this...

This one is really a (normal sized) Decoy Scorpionfish, Iracundus signifer. So named because the yellow patch on the dorsal fin looks like a small fish, they're quite common in areas with a lot of rubble.

With ship groundings, the original coral is pretty much toast and there's not much you can do about it. However, the real problem is that for new coral to grow, it needs a solid substrate. If the area's been turned to rubble it rolls around in the surf and nothing can grow on it. The loose...

I don't do it for personal gain. As you surely know, tourism is more lucrative than any type of fishing. I'm thankful that I'm able to earn a living doing what I love, but if I wanted to make a bunch of money I'd have started a dive charter instead of catching fish. Not everyone is...

This article is highly biased - all of the negative statistics were selectively pulled from a variety of places while conveniently ignoring anything positive. A lot of what's said is either taken out of context or is just plain false. What isn't being said here is that the state has been...

The state fishing record for the Giant Moray is 150 pounds. That's big! Chevron butterflies show up semi-regularly in Kaneohe Bay. My wife has seen two of them (and has video of one), and I know a couple of other people who've spotted them over the years. Coral-eating butterflies are almost...

This kind of thing affects just about anyone who makes money in public areas - beach vendors included. In fact, there was just an article today in the Star-Bulletin about a similar city ordinance against Waikiki street performers. You'll be happy to see that they successfully challenged it...

Hey, what do you know. I dive for aquarium fish on Oahu, and the author of that letter has been lobbying for the last couple of years to put us out of business using similar tactics. Basically, they write up some sort of proposed regulation that looks reasonable, but if you read the fine print...

The guys who are inexperienced enough to go spearfishing at shark's cove probably are not very good shots. So the damage is probably minimal. Why would someone still go in the water after somebody confronted them already? They should know you'd call the cops. Darwin awards material right...

Tanks will cost about the same, if you buy them new. However, that only goes for aluminum tanks - large steel tanks are not popular here and can be very difficult to find. If you want to dive steel 100s or 120s, you might want to look for some on the mainland first. Since Hawaii has a lot...

Eagle rays are pretty common - just keep diving and you'll see one. Electric Beach is pretty good. Stingrays are usually hard to find, since they live in boring sandy areas far from the reef, and often in pretty deep water. One clue to their presence is big circular pits in the sand - these...

Serious? There are some very nice spots in Maunalua Bay (and the rest of Oahu), and some rather plain spots on Maui that I was not impressed with but seemed pretty popular with the local divers. I suspect that both of us haven't had enough experience with each other's islands. It is true...

Injection wells are a horrible system for a tropical island and need to be changed ASAP. How come we can have ten times as many people on Oahu and not have the same level of algae problem as Maui? But, this sort of litigious mentality needs to stop. If it persists, nobody will be able to...

I'd be surprised if this passes. The fishing community will be all over it, since the area is popular for spearfishing.

"Hawaiian sling" originally referred to a simple type of spear gun - basically a small tube with a set of rubber bands on one end and an untethered shaft. You pull the shaft back through the middle of the tube, hold it there with your hand, and let it go when you're ready. Hopefully you get a...

FWIW... I've seen plenty of people get busted for fishing in Pupukea - at least there's an active deterrent. Also, seems like a lot of people are just ignorant and don't know that it's off limits (although you'd think the signs would make it clear). More often than not, they're quite willing...

...and also make them stop buying condos, driving cars, going to the bathroom, running the AC, etc. etc. etc. Everybody affects the ocean in some way, and if we want to have this many people living on this island we must be prepared to accept the consequences. Although fishing is a very...