Big Island Trip Report

[boulderjohn]

I have been on the big island a few days, and it has been an unusual experience because of the circumstances of my visit. By that, I mean I have had a wide array of diving experiences, including shore dives with friends and boat dives with 3 different operators. Things were not as I expected them to be, so as I find time I will post dome of these experiences so that others making plans may get a better sense of what is in store for them.

 

[boulderjohn]

Before arriving at the island, I had scheduled an outing with Steve (Friscuba) and Wanna Dive. I prefer to use small charger companies when possible, and Steve's operation fits that description. An advantage to Wanna Dive is that you don't have to get up too early--they have a later starting time than most. The disadvantage is that you get back later.

We did two dives just north of the Kona harbor. I did not catch the names. Both sites broke the misconception I had somehow harbored about big island diving. I had somehow gotten the idea that I would be seeing mediocre coral (at best) and lots of fish. Instead, I got very nice coral and not a lot of fish. This was especially true at the first site, were our most interesting fauna encounters were with nudibranchs and flatworms, with some morays sprinkled around. I saw a pipe fish at that site as well. On the second site we encountered a couple of spotted eagle rays, and I found a well hidden zebra moray as well.

Before coming, I had gone back and forth trying to decide whether to bring my 3 mm suit with a 3 mm vest, or go with my full 5 mm. I eventually opted for the 3 mm plus vest, and I was plenty warm for the first dive, but I wish I had added my hood for the second.

Everything about the day was very friendly and comfortable. Steve and his crew have been together for quite some time, and it shows.

 

[boulderjohn]

Before leaving for the trip, I had posted a message in the O'Hana section of ScubaBoard, and I got a PM from a member offering to go shore diving with me. Because it was a PM, I will not reveal the name (unless he decides to come clean!). We met north of Kona at Kawaihae Harbor. He brought along another friend, tanks, and weights, and we enjoyed two very nice dives.

The first was north of Kawaihae at a site whose name I do not recall but which included the word "dome." That name no doubt comes from a massive spherical coral formation we encountered early in the dive. The hardest part of the dive was the trek with full gear down and steep path, followed by a treacherous entry in lava rocks and surf. The dive site itself was excellent, with lots of beautiful, healthy coral and a very tight swim through (which I always like). During the climb back up that path I was glad I had devoted enough time to getting this aged body into reasonable aerobic condition.

The second dive was a far easier entry at Puaku, south of Kawaihae. We parked right at the beach and just walked in. We encountered garden eels early on, then took a turn toward the shore, where there were elaborate canyons and swim throughs. (Again, that's my kind of diving.) It was at that point that a free diver came down, grabbed my arm, and waved at me. The day before I left for Hawai'i, I learned that a friend from Boulder was also going to be in Hawai'i. In one of the great coincidences of all time, we were diving where he was staying. He had spotted my familiar receding hairline and dropped down to pay a visit.

For those coming to the big island, I heartily recommend the shore diving. I am very happy I set this up with a Scuba Board veteran, who was an exceptional host, and I wish I had been more aggressive before hand about setting up other opportunities. Most of the sites I encountered throughout my stay were very close to shore, and I could have done almost all of them as a shore dive easily.

 

[boulderjohn]

Because of my unusual circumstances, I was making plans on a day to day basis. One of the problems with using the small charters I usually prefer is that you can't count on availability. Steve at Wanna Dive could not accommodate me on my next planned date, and neither could the other smaller companies he recommended. I tried Big Island Divers instead.

The first site we dived was about 20 minutes north of the Kona harbor. It had some nice swim throughs, but it was something of a disappointment, frankly. Much of the coral was reduced to rubble, I assume by storms, and it reminded me at times of the dynamited reefs I had seen in Thailand. We saw a small white tip reef shark basking in a swim through. At one point I saw the DM in the distance probing in some coral rubble, and suddenly he was enveloped in a cloud of ink. He wrestled to pull an octopus off his shoulder, and the octopus escaped in a second cloud of ink.

On the boat he said he had tried to "tickle" it out and tried not to make it ink. I am not a fan of octopus ink, and there was some discussion about the merits of not tickling it out so that there would be no ink possibility. Some of the others spoke about the joy of prodding puffer fish into expansion, and that led to another discussion about why it is not a good idea.

The second dive was immediately off the mouth of the harbor. They gave me about 7 possible names for the site, depending upon what we saw there. What we saw there started with a cleaning station. We watched a manta being cleaned for a while, after which an eagle ray took a turn. The DM placed a collector urchin next to a helmet conch, and it turned into a meal.

The shallow part of the reef was very healthy and colorful.

One of the nice things about both this dive and the Wanna Dive dives was that we could stay until we had emptied our tanks to our satisfaction. It is nice not to be hurried onto a boat with have your gas in your tank.

 

[cuddlefish]

Glad you enjoyed your Kona experience. Not happy about the octopus incident though. That's SO 1980s! Anyway, the site you were diving that had disappointing coral...perhaps it was one of the many sites that just don't have much in the way of coral. Some sites have a lava rock and/or rubble bottom. It's just the way they are. It's a different habitat. Sure, it's not as pretty to look at, but it does harbor its own variety of marine life. Or, then again, it could just be damaged. Hard to say without knowing the dive site name.

 

[boulderjohn]

Tuesday evening my wife, my friendds, and I joined my Boulder friend on his chartered manta night dive with Jack's Diving Locker. We had a number of delays getting started at the shop (not really the operator's fault), so when we got to the site we had to wait for others to leave. That meant we were starting very late, but it also meant we had the site to ourselves.

I was expecting mantas, but I was not expecting this. They estimated 14 of them were there, and who am I to argue? One or two were simply huge in comparison to the others--they dwarfed the others around them. I found myself repeatedly staring deep into the maw of an incoming giant, trusting that it wold change course before collision. I was grazed a few times, with some of those grazings knocking me off balance. Mantas swirled and collided in the light above us.

I looked through the mass of mantas to the surface where my wife and friends were snorkeling, hoping they were getting a decent experience up there. I learned later that they were hoping we were having a decent experience down below, for they were seeing the same sort of thing at the surface.

If you are going to the big island, a manta dive is something you should not miss.

For the sake of convenience, I left my gear with Jack's for future use. I will be leaving to use it in about 25 minutes--I will let you know how that goes.

 

[Blazinator]

Great report. Next time I'm in Hawaii, I've got to do the Manta dive on the big Island (just got back from Maui).

 

[S0ckm0nk3y]

Before leaving for the trip, I had posted a message in the O'Hana section of ScubaBoard, and I got a PM from a member offering to go shore diving with me. Because it was a PM, I will not reveal the name (unless he decides to come clean!).

I'll come clean... it was me!

John was luckily enough to come on one of the calmest days we've had here on the Kohala coast. It made a normally treacherous entry at both sites super easy. In addition to calm, it was also sunny. Rare in the past few months that we're not engulfed in vog.

The first was north of Kawaihae at a site whose name I do not recall but which included the word "dome." That name no doubt comes from a massive spherical coral formation we encountered early in the dive. The hardest part of the dive was the trek with full gear down and steep path, followed by a treacherous entry in lava rocks and surf. The dive site itself was excellent, with lots of beautiful, healthy coral and a very tight swim through (which I always like). During the climb back up that path I was glad I had devoted enough time to getting this aged body into reasonable aerobic condition.

That site is called the Lava Dome. It sounds more dramatic than it is. The dome itself looks like a big coral bommie. There is a HI state mooring right next to the dome which makes it a popular boat dive as well. It was atypically unfishy the day John came to dive with us. Usually there are a bunch of larger game fish on the deeper side, and tons of little fish in the shallows. Luckily John is a structure type of guy not a fish peeper.

It is true the walk back is a bit of a bummer. In retrospect I should have done a better job at warning John about it, but thankfully the journey is worth the dive. It used to be that you could take a 4x4 down but a new housing development has put up a fence in the way.

Here are a few photos I took on a previous trip to the Lava Dome:

The walk back about halfway up the road (our cars look tiny):

Tricky entry from the water:

Looking down at the entry from the end of the trail:

Trixie the dog on the walk down:

The second dive was a far easier entry at Puaku, south of Kawaihae. We parked right at the beach and just walked in. We encountered garden eels early on, then took a turn toward the shore, where there were elaborate canyons and swim throughs. (Again, that's my kind of diving.) It was at that point that a free diver came down, grabbed my arm, and waved at me. The day before I left for Hawai'i, I learned that a friend from Boulder was also going to be in Hawai'i. In one of the great coincidences of all time, we were diving where he was staying. He had spotted my familiar receding hairline and dropped down to pay a visit.

Puako has some of area's best shore diving with easy car access. We dove a spot called Paniau at the end of the Puako road. I've seen this site listed on the web as Puako End. Typically this site is a tricky entry with any amount of surge but it was so calm there were some folks dropping their gear off in the water and walking back to pick up the rest of their stuff. The viz was just ok but better than it has been. I guess they say the light winds and lack of trades lets all sorts of gunk build up in the water.

It was a busy day at Paniau but not busy enough that we ran into any other scuba divers under water. The other guy we dove with lives in Puako and has done this site countless times. We followed his usual routine where he covers a good amount of ground along the way, which made the pace a bit faster than I prefer. At one point coming back from seeing the garden eels in the sand I started jogging through the water. I'm glad it sank in that I wasn't interested in keeping up.

Cracks, canyons, and lava tubes at Paniau are really fun but you have to be an overhead environment type of person to really enjoy it. If you don't dig on the dark, the rest of the reef is just as interesting. I'm pretty sure that I could dive here a few times a week for a couple months and not see all this site has to offer. I look forward to trying.

A few photos from my last swim at this dive spot:

Paniau at dusk:

Surge at the entry:

Someone told me the other day that all the yuck in the water has attracted some big bait balls of fish and small manta rays. I heard tell of at least 30 small mantas flopping around the surface during the day yesterday.

For those coming to the big island, I heartily recommend the shore diving. I am very happy I set this up with a Scuba Board veteran, who was an exceptional host, and I wish I had been more aggressive before hand about setting up other opportunities. Most of the sites I encountered throughout my stay were very close to shore, and I could have done almost all of them as a shore dive easily.

I'm sorry I didn't have more time to get more dives in with you John. There are a few other spots that if I didn't have a leaky tire on my truck we could have gone offroading to see. Investing in a scooter would bring a whole new world of diving into view on the Kohala coast as most of it isn't accessible even by 4x4. I think my buddy took some photos of us. If he emails them to me I'll post them here.

Glad you saw a few mantas. The couple times I've been out to see them in the last month or two it's been pretty manta-riffic. Hopefully you got a chance to meet Keller at Jack's. He really makes the manta experience worthwhile.

If anyone else is visiting the Big Island and wants to shore dive up north away from the Kona crowds please let me know in this forum or PM. I'm always looking for an excuse to get in the water.

Aloha,

-Eric

 

[Teamcasa]

...The second dive was immediately off the mouth of the harbor. They gave me about 7 possible names for the site, depending upon what we saw there. What we saw there started with a cleaning station. We watched a manta being cleaned for a while, after which an eagle ray took a turn. The DM placed a collector urchin next to a helmet conch, and it turned into a meal.

The shallow part of the reef was very healthy and colorful.

One of the nice things about both this dive and the Wanna Dive dives was that we could stay until we had emptied our tanks to our satisfaction. It is nice not to be hurried onto a boat with have your gas in your tank.

I loved diving that site. They called it "Ripoff Reef" because it was so close to the harbor that some divers felt they need to be further out to get their monies worth.

We had a huge pod of spinner dolphins go by us, a flock of spotted eagle rays and tons of fish when we dived there.

We also did the shore dive at two-step, amazing shore dive.

And, the Manta's Wow! What a show and not to be missed.

I look forward to the rest of your excellent dive reports John, thanks for posting them.

 

[Abidon]

Great trip report boulderjohn!
I've been back for less than a week, and I already miss the Big Island. :depressed: I was lucky enough to see 13 mantas on my dive with Big Island Divers. They also took us to Garden Eel Cove.

Teamcasa,
Two-step was great shore dive. My friend did a couple of introductory dives with South Kona Scuba at two-step, and now she's hooked. All she could talk about for the last couple of days of the trip was getting certified. :cool2: