Diving on Oahu

[Lopaka]

This thread has gotten funny. Reminds me of the disbelief I get when I tell people I prefer diving here (well, thinking of Kona mostly, but Oahu to some extent) than the Caymans. Sure, all that soft coral is nice, but after you have seen it a few times...............you notice there are not so many fish around.

What struck me was the drastically different quantity of critters we have here. I guess swimming in a cloud of Moorish Idols or having the dive being oriented toward finding the elusive Flame Angel, Frogfish, or Viper moray kind of spoils you. A dive in Hawaii is sort of like Forrest Gump, you never know what you will come up with.

Yeah, I have dove a few barren spots, but they were not barren other dives, just that day, things change constantly. To judge Hawaii diving by a couple crappy sites/operators is dumb.

 

[sea nmf]

Yes, I agree. You just never know what you will get. Just yesterday, Scotti saw a manata. That's a rare sight here on Oahu. I've even been to "barren" sites (like Koko Craters) and had fabulous finds. Maybe I'm just easy to please.

That being said, I probably would not come to Hawaii for an exculsive dive vacation. That is because there is just so much more to see topside, as well. But I would definately dive as part of my vacation.

The OP said the vacationers chose Oahu because they received a free time-share. So, why not do a variety of activities? If they are on Oahu anyway, and they are divers, at least try the diving.

I, for one, would be happy to show them the North Shore if they come in the summer.

 

[justleesa]

Luckily these are all just personal opinions and and everyone has the right to build their own. Maybe they had an especially good experience or a really bad one or two. That was one day in time - not to be taken as a gold and applied to the over all experience that YOU (or your friends) might have. Lots of restaurants would be out of business, or cities be out of tourists if we always followed what others say. A dive is what you make of it...you shouldn't really compare to other places as every place is unique and that uniqueness alone makes it worth diving. The best way to see if Oahu Diving is for you is to try it yourself.

I'll be the first to admit that my first dives here on Oahu were disappointing after having been spoiled by Red Sea diving. But then I stopped comparing and that feeling passed quickly. Now I'm on the hunt - to collect every critter (just finding it, not collecting it to take home ) that can be found in John Hoover or John Randall books. It is fun and challenging. Just to look for the endemic critters (over 25% of our aquatic life is endemic) is worth the dives. Sure our coral isn't as great as some places - but there are dives that you will never forget, like the time we had dolphins, eagle rays, a stingray, dozens of Hawaiian lion fish and the octopus that was dining on a trigger fish all on one dive (remember Drew?). Heck, I'm diving and that's that all that really matters to me

 

[Lopaka]

I've even been to "barren" sites (like Koko Craters) and had fabulous finds.

I have to laugh, that was where I saw my first Leaf Scorpionfish in 11 years of Hawaii diving!

 

[KrisB]

Part of Oahu diving is certainly knowing how and where to look for the critters. If you have a "zoom here and there" sort of guide (or personal mentality), you're going to be extremely disappointed. If, however, you have a "slow way down" mentality (and a guide that will look in the right spots), you'll likely have some amazing finds. This, of course, is likely true of any dive, but is especially important in this case.

 

[justleesa]

Well, I've been diving with zoomers too and he zoomed straight to the coolest stuff. Like it's been said before - diving is like a box of chocolates and if you look for bad, you'll find bad...que sera, sera

 

[Lopaka]

Just to put an exclamation point on this, I dove this morning at Spitting Caves on the back side of Koko Head with IDH. One of the best dives I have had in Hawaii, on any island. Seemed like a dozen Honu, clouds of Tang and Butterflyfish, a Zebra moray, lobsters, huge almost tame Trumpetfish, and great viz. Getting out was fun with the tradewind swell, but a great dive, the opposite of the visitors observation.

All depends on location and how the critters are feeling..................

 

[scottitheduck]

Thanks for all the kind words Ohana....

To second what Justleesa said, I was rather unimpressed with the diving here at first having dived Australia, Thailand and the Bay Islands. Now after a few thousand Oahu dives I'm STOKED to wake up and go diving every day. The Manta ray on Oahu was amazing.... other Oahu dives of memory include....

1) Yellowhead Moray snacking on tang at Anglers on a night dive
2) Whaleshark on China Wall
3) Monk Seals at China Wall
4) Flying Gurnard at Sharks Cove and Kewalo Pipe
5) 30 Dolphins at Kewalo Pipe
6) Zebra Morays at Spitting Caves and Ewa Reef
7) Manta Ray at Kewalo Pipe
8) 2 Humpbacks at the Seatiger
9) Harlequin Shrimp at KOKO CRATERS!
10) Peppered Moray at China Wall
11) Galapagos Shark at the YO
12) 14 Eagle Rays at Nannys Ledge

I could go on and on. The choice is yours folks, find an OP that suits your style. Don't book on how cool a website looks or what the guy on the phone says, do your homework! Isn't that what diving is all about?

You wouldn't buy a car on the internet from pictures and what condition the owner says it's in (original owner, grandma, back and forth to church only on sundays) Why would you spend your hard earned cheddah on just one two tank charter and then blast the entire island for their lack of quality dive sites?

G

 

[ArcticDiver]

This whole thread has made me chuckle. So many times I will tell someone my favorite dive location is Oahu and I get a LARGE sneer and a scornful comment about how Oahu diving is inferior to just about anywhere in the world. With very few exceptions though the people making the comments have either never dived Oahu, or have only had one or two South Shore tourist dives.

If I want to REALLY weird them out I tell them my second favorite is BC, Canada. How can you dive cold and bsrren water? Don't you go to somewhere with good diving, or words to that effect.

If fact, just about anywhere can be good diving if the diver has the proper attitude and links up with an agreeable dive operation.

 

[MeiLing]

If fact, just about anywhere can be good diving if the diver has the proper attitude and links up with an agreeable dive operation.

That is so true. Even my worst was not devoid of critters and interesting things to see. I only dove two dives there and my operator was fabulous! Saw some of the biggest octopi I've ever seen! However, the water was too cold and dark for my taste. Because the water was so cold, the critters were kind of slow moving, almost comatose. I'm glad I did though. It was interesting. I'm a warm water wuss though!