Cave diving in Hawaii?

[mike.chuanshi]

Anyone on here happen to know anything about the karsts on the Islands?

 

[Goat_Tower]

Anyone on here happen to know anything about the karsts on the Islands?

The islands are mostly igneous rock, basalt from the volcanoes IIRC. You only get karsts in limestone and other sedimentary rock. Basalt doesn't react with acids in the water, so you don't get the underground formations (caves, aquifers, sinkholes) you see in Florida.

If I remember Geol 101, there shouldn't be any karsts on volcanic islands.

 

[mike.chuanshi]

The islands are mostly igneous rock, basalt from the volcanoes IIRC. You only get karsts in limestone and other sedimentary rock. Basalt doesn't react with acids in the water, so you don't get the underground formations (caves, aquifers, sinkholes) you see in Florida. If I remember Geol 101, there shouldn't be any karsts on volcanic islands.

Yet there are. There's even one right in the middle of Honolulu in Mo'ili'ili (http://www.caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V60/V60N3-Halliday.pdf). I've been told there are several others.

 

[Goat_Tower]

Yet there are. There's even one right in the middle of Honolulu in Mo'ili'ili (http://www.caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V60/V60N3-Halliday.pdf). I've been told there are several others.

Neat. I guess thats what I get for stopping after Geol 101.

 

[mike.chuanshi]

Here's another, this one far less accessible and which may have priceless Ancient Hawaiian artifacts (which may be lost forever if not recovered before the Navy destroys it).
Hawaii's Kanehili Ewa Karst Caves are Under Threat - Caving News

 

[Turbojaeger]

Last december i spent a few days on Big Island and stayed on the Kona Aggressor for a week. While on land, i visited the "queens bath", a lava tube filled with crystal clear fresh water. Sadly, i didn't have any tanks nor the time to get any as it was the day i boarded the live aboard ship. It was kind of neat to claim to have done "cave-snorkeling" but near the end of the tube (maybe just 100-150 feet from the entrance) there is an opening on the right side that goes down and further into the rock. I dove down a few times to see what came after that opening but since i am not the world's greatest freediver and you have to be careful with the sharp edges & corners of the basalt, i could only see a few feet into it. If i remember correctly, the opening was about 6-8 feet wide and about 4 feet high, so no problem to get through. But i have no clue if the tube ends after 40-50 feet of actually goes in deeper... If anyone decides to go there, let me know what you found there!!

Here is a link to the location on tripadvisor that relates to swimming and how to find it:
Kailua-Kona: Off the Beaten Path - TripAdvisor

 

[JaxonD]

I spend Hawaii diving last year that was amazing experience for me..

 

[tphelps]

Last december i spent a few days on Big Island and stayed on the Kona Aggressor for a week. While on land, i visited the "queens bath", a lava tube filled with crystal clear fresh water. Sadly, i didn't have any tanks nor the time to get any as it was the day i boarded the live aboard ship. It was kind of neat to claim to have done "cave-snorkeling" but near the end of the tube (maybe just 100-150 feet from the entrance) there is an opening on the right side that goes down and further into the rock. I dove down a few times to see what came after that opening but since i am not the world's greatest freediver and you have to be careful with the sharp edges & corners of the basalt, i could only see a few feet into it. If i remember correctly, the opening was about 6-8 feet wide and about 4 feet high, so no problem to get through. But i have no clue if the tube ends after 40-50 feet of actually goes in deeper... If anyone decides to go there, let me know what you found there!!

It's so coincidental because I actually went there for the first time today!

I live here on the Big Island and I would say that Keanalele is the only "cave" here. Puako Bay has some "swim throughs" but no true "caves." Keanalele has a restriction that my buddy and I (whom is also a cave instructor that is here on Big Island) are planning to go back and lay some line and see where that restriction goes to. Here is my video of "Queens Bath!"

[video=youtube;q2YRFLX-ifE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2YRFLX-ifE&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[Doc Harry]

I went into some caves off Puako, but they were not very big or long. The biggest one I found was only about 10 feet wide and 30 feet long.

Technically, they were "caves," but not something that I'd ever put in a log book!