Sorry to bruise the egos of the local divers but Oahu doesn't cut it compared to other Hawaiian islands, even if you slow down to near coma levels of activity. If you want a small bone to help you how about this, Oahu is better then Lake Michigan. Happy?
Granted I'm not a wreck aficionado, I’m only interested in critters. But after dragging all my equipment (scuba and extensive camera gear) to Oahu, I decided it wasn't worth the effort and moved on to other activities. After constantly sitting at the mooring line with 1500 in the tank, while everyone else is surfacing, looking for anything to justify the dive was frustrating. I was frequently lagging behind the group trying to find anything interesting and looking for the group's bubbles to track them as they raced over the reef. Setting the underwater speed record isn't my goal.
And this is from a guy who dives 3 times a week at the local aquarium or heads out to the local murky, cold quarry just to be able to be underwater. Nope, Oahu is a great vacation spot but don't expect too much out of its diving. Better then some, not as good as many. Sorry.
I will probably try Oahu again some time in the future but after comparing it to the other Hawaiian Islands or other locations I would have a difficult time justifying it solely as a dive location. Perhaps trying another operator or other spots would be helpful but how many times does one have to visit the island before its good dive spots are shared with the haoles?
Sure, the other islands have better diving, but that doesn't mean that Oahu doesn't also have some great diving. Again, you just don't know where to go. Oh, and by the way, I am a haole. As are most of the others who are on the Hawaii forum of this board.
And you don't need to be in a near coma to find things. Perhaps you should check out the video that ScubaDrew posted, in addition to the numerous others that the local folks have posted.
Like I said, previously, I don't know what operator you went with, or where you went but it obviously was the wrong one, at the wrong time or perhaps the group you were with scared everything away. I can hardly believe that any wreck here that you dove on, was devoid of marine life, unless you dove on it the day after they sunk it! The whole reason that they sink a wreck, in the first place, is to create an artificial reef to harbor marine life. They are flush with fish, have a number of eels, usually have turtles. Sometime sharks and one wreck, quite frequently there is large herd/pod/flock/whatever of eagle rays (26 reported on one dive!) that hang nearby. There was even a photo posted here last May or June, before the website crash, in which a large Tiger shark swam between a buddy pair and went on its merry way while they were diving on a wreck off Waikiki (by the way, if the dude who posted those pics, reads this, please post it again - great shots!). In addition, you should check out Scotti's blog with the big Manta and numerous fish from a dive he did just this week!
I have dove better myself (Philippines) and dove worse (Puget Sound), and would still recommend it over pretty much any other activity here in the islands, even if one couldn't make it to the other islands.
Furthermore, what time of the year you are diving here, can also make a big difference as most of the better sites are on the north and west shores are pretty much closed out due to surf most of the winter. And most of the Hawaii Kai sites aren't frequently dove.
And quite frankly, I don't need any bones from you. I'll save the good spots for someone with a better attitude like the OP! Diving and critters here on Oahu - kind of like sex - maybe you're just not doing it right!
