Hawai'i - Best areas to dive in late December?

[Green Octopus]

Hi,
We've never dove in Hawaii and are thinking to go for a week in late December. Any suggestions? Where are the best diving sites for late December? We'd like to see mantas, sharks, turtles, etc.

Thanks!
Green Octopus

 

[caymaniac]

If you want to see the Mantas you will have to go to the the 'Big Island'. There are several dive ops that offer night dives with the Mantas on the big island of Hawaii. This has been a dive offered pretty much year around. Would you be comfortable diving at night? This dive takes place at about 60ft of depth and there can be some current at the dive site. While making this dive we found that you had to find a place to hold on to (grip) as the Mantas themselves cause a current that wants to push you around as you help feed them with a dive light. The Mantas get very close and sometimes bump into you. When an animal with 10 to 15ft. wingspan bumps you, you'll know it. This dive is an exciting dive and you will really suck up the air if you don't have a lot of dive experience. I notice that you have between 50 and 100 dives, are any of these dives in open ocean at night or with slight current?

 

[DeputyDan]

Kona... this forum has a dedicated Hawaii section

 

[scottitheduck]

Or wreck diving on Oahu!

G

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The Kona night dive is the best chance to see many mantas, but there have been nights in the past where none show up. Happily a few showed up when I did the dive!

December daytime manta sightings off Maui are fairly common, with the right guide/operator.

 

[Green Octopus]

thanks everyone! yes - we have experience diving at night w/ current. although night diving isn't my favorite, my husband loves it. i would definitely go if there was a chance to see mantas.

 

[JPENDERGRAST]

Hi Octopus,

I will be in Kona with family in late December and want to do the Manta Dive.. Do you know who you're going with?

 

[friscuba]

You are highly unlikely to find current at the Kona airport manta dive site. In the winter months there can be surge. The circle (all the divers go to the same spot) is generally set up in 32 or so feet of water, on surgey nights it'll move closer to 42 or so.

I've seen current at the Keauhou site, it's really prone to surge moreso than the airport site also. It's typically shallower yet so when the current or surf is up it can be a bit of a mess at times.

In general this is an extremely easy night dive... relatively shallow, lots of light, etc. Certified divers with very little experience do it all the time. It can be more of a challenging dive if the surf is quite up, say 12'+ northwest swell, surf is unpredictable more than 5-6 days in advance that time of year, sometimes it's flat sometimes it isn't.

Most of the dive companies keep track of whether the mantas are coming in or not at the time. If you are looking at Christmas or New Year's weeks you might want to reserve pretty well in advance and just take your chances on the mantas, if you're coming in and diving before the 20th you've got a bit more leeway in scheduling closer to the actual time of the dives. In years past some of the busy ops have had Christmas week fully booked well in advance, don't know how this year will be at this point.

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

Mantas are very much a Big Island thing (I hear you can get lucky in Maui, too). As for turtles, it doesn't seem to matter which one of the islands you visit - turtles seem to be a staple of diving here. Your chances of seeing a Green Turtle during a dive here on Oahu are excellent. Seeing multiple turtles during a dive is fairly common, in fact!

I can't speak for the other islands, but there are dive sites here on Oahu where white-tip reef sharks like to hang out. My sightings have been confined to the south and leeward sides of the islands: Airplane Canyon (leeward), for example, has a little dude under one of the ledges. There are also little dudes at the Baby Barge (south side). I've never seen a Tiger shark, though, but I don't think that's the kind of shark you wanted to see, is it?!

If you're really lucky, you may get to see humpback whales, since you are coming to Hawaii smack in the middle of the humpback whale migration season. The critters migrate from the North Pacific to the main Hawaiian islands during the winter months, usually starting around November. I've been fortunate enough to see them from a dive boat, but I haven't been lucky enough to hear them singing underwater, or better yet, catch a glimpse of one while I'm in the water. Those that have say it's an amazing experience. There are great vantage points on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island where you have a chance of spotting them - see Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale - Marine Life - Top 10 Whale Watching Sites There are dive sites on Oahu's south shore that are close to the vantage points mentioned by NOAA, so you might get lucky if you hit those spots.

 

[DiveMaven]

We've seen Mantas at least once on every trip we've taken to Maui (we're on our 10th trip this year). There's a spot called "Manta Point" that's a Manta cleaning station where a few operators will take you, which we're looking forward to diving this year. We also see Spotted Eagle Rays on a regular basis as well. I'd say on at least 80% of our Molokini dives we see White Tip Sharks, and for far more sharks (including Hammerheads), you can go to Molokai while staying on Maui. We've been treated to seeing Bottlenosed Dolphins above and below the water at Molokini and Spinner Dolphins above and below the water on Lanai. If you're lucky you'll get to dive with a Monk Seal as well.

I guess to me that's one huge advantage of Maui...you can dive 4 islands (Lanai, Molokini, Maui, and Molokai). And when you go in the winter, the largest concentration of Humpback Whales in Hawaii are found in the channel between these islands. Being able to hear and FEEL whale song is an amazing experience, and every dive charter becomes a whale watching excursion. I am every hopeful that one day I'll see one UNDER water.

One day we'll get to Kona for the Manta night dive, but for now the advantages of diving Maui keep pulling us back....well that, and our timeshare there!