George Scherman:
I'm heading to Kona in November. Along with boat dives, I'd like to do a couple of shore dives. I dove 2 step last year and would lke to do it again. Can anyone give me directions for their favorite area on this dive? Seems like last time we we pretty close to the north shore. Thanks
The North wall is getting much nicer. Back in '99 when I moved here it still had a lot of damage from hurricane Iniki. Now you have 5-8 inches of new growth finger coral on the drop off. I tend to see more mantas (not common, but I've seen a couple) here than elsewhere in the bay. there's also a better chance of seeing trevally/ulua/jacks cruising and hunting the reef in this area. That aside, I usually spend more time to the south side if I'm showing the site to people.
I usually head out at about 1 o'clock form the step entry. This will put you roughly at the sandpatches. Head out to the north end of the patch with the "Aloha" cinderblocks and then drop down. You can head out towards the north as you drop over the ledge for a while and then come back southward. Heading south from this spot you will see some of the nicest plate coral formations in Hawaii. The third set has an overhang at 60' feet where there are a pair, sometimes a single or trio, of longfin anthias, which are normally found at 130' and below in Kona. There's been a huge trumpet fish hanging out in this area for years.
Once you get past the plate coral with the overhang, it's up to how good your air consumption is when choosing how far south to go. If you are around 1500-1800 psi you probably ought to head uphill and check out the turtle cleaning station and the pinnacles mentioned earlier. The turtle cleaning station is in about 16-21 feet of water just off/outside the north pinnacle, just to the south of the boat channel. It's been getting progressively busier the last couple of years and is great at low tide, high tide they tend to be feeding up in the shallows or on top of the pinnacles. If you are sitting at 2000 or more you could head a bit further south and then loop around past some sand patches and a great finger coral field before reaching the pinnacles and the turtle cleaning station.
I'd recommend doing some smaller trips and get to know the reef before trying the longer dive routes so you have an idea where you are on your way back.
Here's a few highlights for those who know the area to some extent and are good on air. There's a rock at 124' on the north side where I've seen Hawaiian Lionfish, a couple of leaf scorpions, longfin and bicolor anthias and cleaner and banded coral shrimp on all at once. There's a rock at 119 to the south of the overhang below the cinder blocks spelling out a name (name has changed over the years so I don't know what it is now) that has bicolor anthias, cleaner and banded coral shrimp and often an eel or puffer getting cleaned. Below this at "too deep", for those who are good on air and comfortable with deco dives, there is a larger rock with dozens of anthias and all the other assorted goodies on it. If you are good on air (80 minute dives and such) and are good at paying atttention to your computer and NDL status you could go far to the south (I'd still recommend get to know the closer areas first)where there is a short wall (maybe 3-4' high)which tops out at rougly 68' and goes down beyond recreational depths (been to the bottom once with one of my original instructors from back in Oregon, he had no idea we were that deep 'til I motioned to him to check his deco status). There used to be a pair/trio of Bandit angels in this area near the top of the wall for several years, I haven't been there in a couple of years though so I couldn'[t say if they are still there. I've also seen white tips here on occasion cruising below and saw one BIG guy (probalby a tiger) coming towards me years ago, I went for a big rock and noticed the Bandits and by the time I turned around it was gone.
Two step is a great dive and has something to offer for divers of all skill levels.
later,
Steve