Big Island shore dive for Tinker's Butterfly

[tarponchik]

@grantwiscour I live in Naalehu near South Point and was actually the diver that found and marked the location of Chads body. The swimmer who drowned recently at Green Sands. A helicopter put 2 divers in on a basket to do the recovery on the SMB I marked the site with. Big seas. Bad vis. And took 45 minutes on a dpv to locate him. Heavy day to say the least.
With that said the south side is a good place to see Tinkers and Bandits but without local knowledge and ideal seas the risk likely outweighs the reward for a tourist diver. It's important for visitors to understand that south point and even Hilo are much more dangerous than the lake like conditions of the Kona coast. I do see tinkers as shallow as 30' but most often 90'-150'+. I'v spotted them as deep as 250' and assume their range goes beyond that. They are plentiful island wide but with limited NDL and no DPV I understand why they are perceived as rarely sighted. If your lucky enough to fin up to a pair enjoy their curious and playful demeanor. They are by far my favorite fish. Both pics are from between Old A and Pine Trees. View attachment 533035 View attachment 533036

Where do you enter at the South Point? Broken Road?

 

[grantwiscour]

@grantwiscour I live in Naalehu near South Point and was actually the diver that found and marked the location of Chads body. The swimmer who drowned recently at Green Sands. A helicopter put 2 divers in on a basket to do the recovery on the SMB I marked the site with. Big seas. Bad vis. And took 45 minutes on a dpv to locate him. Heavy day to say the least.
With that said the south side is a good place to see Tinkers and Bandits but without local knowledge and ideal seas the risk likely outweighs the reward for a tourist diver. It's important for visitors to understand that south point and even Hilo are much more dangerous than the lake like conditions of the Kona coast. I do see tinkers as shallow as 30' but most often 90'-150'+. I'v spotted them as deep as 250' and assume their range goes beyond that. They are plentiful island wide but with limited NDL and no DPV I understand why they are perceived as rarely sighted. If your lucky enough to fin up to a pair enjoy their curious and playful demeanor. They are by far my favorite fish. Both pics are from between Old A and Pine Trees. View attachment 533035 View attachment 533036

Mahalo for helping with the recovery! Good info on the Tinker's. We live in Ocean View. Without DPV's or a boat, the furthest south we dive is Miloli'i Pier. Like you said, the Ka'u water is often big and bad... Great pics!

@tarponchik: great info! we'll keep watching for them. Is your book available locally?

 

[Aquanomad]

No. Mostly free divers access broken road. I use the "trail" near the hoist or put in at Kaulana. But 90% of the time we use the boat to do exploration dives.

 

[tarponchik]

Mahalo for helping with the recovery! Good info on the Tinker's. We live in Ocean View. Without DPV's or a boat, the furthest south we dive is Miloli'i Pier. Like you said, the Ka'u water is often big and bad... Great pics!

@tarponchik: great info! we'll keep watching for them. Is your book available locally?

I dunno. You can ask at Kona Honu Divers because their manager gave me a very vague promise to promote it but I have no idea if she actually did anything. If you are still there, I can give you description how to get to Bandits via your inbox.

 

[tarponchik]

No. Mostly free divers access broken road. I use the "trail" near the hoist or put in at Kaulana. But 90% of the time we use the boat to do exploration dives.

We did some diving off broken rd but my wife says it is too dangerous. What trail did you mean?

 

[Aquanomad]

Just to the south side of the hoist. A little steep but I have no issues walking down with gear. In with a giant stride but getting out can be tricky with surge.

 

[grantwiscour]

We did some diving off broken rd but my wife says it is too dangerous. What trail did you mean?

Location info would be great. We live in Ocean View and dive at least weekly.

 

[tarponchik]

Just to the south side of the hoist. A little steep but I have no issues walking down with gear. In with a giant stride but getting out can be tricky with surge.

Interesting...I never paid attention and thought there was nothing but cliff over there.

So what happened to this poor fellow? I swam at Green Sand Beach several times and watched even local schoolgirls swimming there.

 

[Aquanomad]

Walk from the hoist south along the cliff. Youll see a flat bench just above the water line. Youll see a path that leads down from there.
Green sands is usually gnarly. Some days it lays down. But with the trades its usually choppy with some swell rolling in. Poor guy just ran into trouble. There was no witness report of anything happen. Sad day though. Search and rescue and the helicopters looked for him for 2 days before I found him and conditions were bad.

 

[tarponchik]

Walk from the hoist south along the cliff. Youll see a flat bench just above the water line. Youll see a path that leads down from there.
Green sands is usually gnarly. Some days it lays down. But with the trades its usually choppy with some swell rolling in. Poor guy just ran into trouble. There was no witness report of anything happen. Sad day though. Search and rescue and the helicopters looked for him for 2 days before I found him and conditions were bad.

Thanks! Were you participating in search and rescue or you found him accidently on your regular dive?