Hawaii first timer - suggestions?

[friscuba]

Poor me. I'm being sent to Honolulu for the last week of September for work. Of course my dive buddy wife is coming along and never having been out to the Pacific, we're a little lost as to where to go/what to do. Dive of course! For the past 3 years, we've been diving yearly in Coz and while that rocks, we're ready to expand our horizons. Oh yeah, the rest of the year, we tend to dive in lovely Tobermory.

Seriously though, I am searching the board and trying to get some ideas.
So I have to admit complete ignorance as to the quality of diving available in Hawaii and what conditions might be like at this time of year (late Sept/early Oct). One other option I was tossing around was continuing to Fiji (hi Uncle Pug) or maybe some place like Guam. Thoughts?

We prefer small dive operations, and not travelling in huge groups. We like experiencing local culture, but still like comfort. Tourist-y stuff is out. 6 pack boats are our normal modus operendi. Love viz, pretty fish, rays, and especially octopus.

Any suggestions? Thanks everyone!

A few thoughts:
Fiji will blow Hawaii away for the most part when it comes to color and sealife.

Guam is not generally highly regarded as a dive area for some reason, but I bet it's pretty darnded good unless you compare it to what is just a hop, skip and a jump away.

Hawaii diving is very good by US standards. Carribean divers may or may not prefer Hawaii. Do NOT judge Hawaii diving by any diving you do on Oahu. Oahu has decent wrecks. I'm no Oahu expert as the only diving I have done was on the south side.... I hope turtle canyons and KoKo Craters are not representative of Oahu diving cause frankly they are lame compared to anything here in Kona, as well as the little diving I've done off Maui.

The Manta dive mentioned earlier really is a world class dive. I had some divers on the boat last week who were pretty talkative about a dive with mantas they did in Fiji, then we took them to our local manta dive and they were amazed.

Have fun!

 

[chepar]

I hope turtle canyons and KoKo Craters are not representative of Oahu diving cause frankly they are lame compared to anything here in Kona, as well as the little diving I've done off Maui.

I've never been impressed by either turtle canyons or Koko Crater. I've only been to both sites a couple times each, but I recall those dives as being relatively disappointing.

 

[bluemagoo]

A few thoughts:
Fiji will blow Hawaii away for the most part when it comes to color and sealife....

Yes. Also true for tropical places like Phuket. The "problem" with Hawaii is its subtropical location and remoteness. Being in the subtropics, the water is a bit cooler than what some species prefer. But the remoteness is probably the biggest factor in Hawaii's relatively low bio-diversity (and its relatively high count of endemic species). It's a heck of a long way to fly or drift here and except for hardy species, most don't survive the trip. Related to this, Hawaii is highly exposed to the open ocean and so soft corals and such can't get a foothold except in very deep water (which also doesn't get a lot of sunlight).

....Carribean divers may or may not prefer Hawaii. Do NOT judge Hawaii diving by any diving you do on Oahu....

Compared to Hawaii, the Carribean has the advantages of being fairly sheltered, warmer, geologically older, and exposed to greater current circulations (e.g. the Gulf Stream) which aid species propogation. Oahu is heavily urbanized (duh) and much of the nearshore resources have been lost to development and population pressure. Other islands may suffer from spot development runoff (Kihei on Maui for example) but it's not as widespread as on Oahu.

...Have fun!

Absolutely -- Hawaii is far from being a scorched earth. Enjoy its uniqueness.

 

[friscuba]

Yes. Also true for tropical places like Phuket. The "problem" with Hawaii is its subtropical location and remoteness. Being in the subtropics, the water is a bit cooler than what some species prefer. But the remoteness is probably the biggest factor in Hawaii's relatively low bio-diversity (and its relatively high count of endemic species). It's a heck of a long way to fly or drift here and except for hardy species, most don't survive the trip. Related to this, Hawaii is highly exposed to the open ocean and so soft corals and such can't get a foothold except in very deep water (which also doesn't get a lot of sunlight).


Compared to Hawaii, the Carribean has the advantages of being fairly sheltered, warmer, geologically older, and exposed to greater current circulations (e.g. the Gulf Stream) which aid species propogation. Oahu is heavily urbanized (duh) and much of the nearshore resources have been lost to development and population pressure. Other islands may suffer from spot development runoff (Kihei on Maui for example) but it's not as widespread as on Oahu.


Absolutely -- Hawaii is far from being a scorched earth. Enjoy its uniqueness.

I didn't mean to come across as anti-Hawaii, just realistic. the original author brought up other locatations. I live here, dive here and love it. Even though other areas may have some different/more colorful attractions,Hawaii can still be a top knotch dive experience. Add to that it's in the good ol' USofA and relatively easy to get to from there and it's hard to pass by.

 

[sauruman]

You get manta rays on the Big Island (Kona) http://www.jacksdivinglocker.com/charters2/mantanight.htm . No colorful sponges like in Cozumel though. The coral reef itself is kind of bland, but you get the possibility of pelagic fly-by's and a higher fish biodiversity than in the Caribbean. I've always wanted to visit Palau and Fiji, but I've never gotten around to going to either place. I hope tp spend my next vacation in Cozumel (if not Fiji or Palau), so any Coz tips would be appreciated.

I'm happy to share what I've learned about Coz - should we start another thread for this?

While the weather can be changable there (like when a norte comes in), the diving is on the whole really good. Lots of coral, tangs, angels, morays, eagle rays etc. We've seen octopus on night dives. Overall, I really dig it there. Vis is great (100' or more) most of the time. There is of course awesome mexican food there. Some touristy junk and people pushing their wares, but we've gotten used to ignoring them or dissuading with a simple 'no, gracias'. If you speak any french it freaks 'em out. ;-)

We dive with Papa Hogs when we're down there. Laid back, good crew and definitely no cattle boats. We've stopped doing the all inclusive thing in recent years and have stayed at Casa Mexicana, Villa Blanca etc.

hope this helps - feel free to PM me.

 

[sauruman]

BIg Isle is the best IMHO, then Maui. Oahu is ok too but not the same. The other places you mentioned are still a long ways off and may not fit in your schedule. It's only two inches on the map to Guam but still like a five hour? flight from here.

My wife is raising the same concern. In a two week trip, one of which is (mostly work) in Honolulu, time matters. We could tack on another week, but that would mean no run down to Belize/Honduras this winter. Still, I'm dying to see Fiji or Palau.
That said, never having visited Hawaii, I'm sure that there's tons to see. Embarassingly enough, I can't say I know a lot about it, besides
1) it is beautiful
2) relatively expensive
3) I hope to dive lots and pick up some tiki stuff.

best dives on Oahu that time of year will be boat dives on the south shore, depending on the weather.

Speaking of which, I know we are in storm season for the carrib, but how are things there? Should we expect chop, wind and rain?

Some boat and plane wrecks, ect. Just don't expect dive mag pics kind of coral. Try Dive Waikiki and ask for Sean. See in Sea does a pretty good job too but you have to share the boat with a couple of other companies. I dove with Aqua Zone once, only once for a reason. The big thing is to avoid booking with a compamy that caters to asian tourests, ya just won't fit in. It's worth asking.

Thanks for the tips and suggestion to ask about the clientelle that they specialise in.

cheers
Ian.

 

[sauruman]

I've never been impressed by either turtle canyons or Koko Crater. I've only been to both sites a couple times each, but I recall those dives as being relatively disappointing.

I read a trip report somewhere that someone went on a 'turtle dive' somewhere in Hawaii (I think it was turtle canyon) and saw 2 of them. While they were very happy with this, I fear we may have been spoiled in the past.

I am personally really looking forward to seeing Mantas for the first time.

 

[Damselfish]

Hawaii is beautiful with lots of interesting things to do topside, and pretty good diving - very different than Carribean or the famous dive destinations in the Pacific. I was in the same situation once, my husband was in Oahu for a week on business. We had never been to Hawaii before so we added a week in Maui to dive and see another island. Even though there may be more spectacular diving other places in the Pacific, I don't regret having made that choice instead of jumping through hoops to add on another Pacific destination. All things considered it made sense for us at the time.

We did the same thing another trip, stayed with in-laws in their Big Island time share for a week. Wanted to spend more than a week since we were all the way out there, and looked into adding on another Pacific island. Finally said the heck with it and stayed longer on Hawaii. Even though you're a good part of the way there, things are still far and routes often not direct, connections can be weird if they even exist. Getting to many of those places is not as easy to add on to Hawaii as you'd think.

If you can reasonably get to someplace else (maybe Palau/Micronesia on Continental) and don't think you will be able to do it otherwise for a long time, go for it. But spending more time in Hawaii and diving there is far from the worst thing in the world.

 

[pearl4diving]

There is great diving to be had off of Oahu!

Oahu offers great diving year round, in the September/October timeframe you may need to pay attention to the swell - where it is coming in from to determine the best sides of the island to dive, but we always find a spot!

There are some great ship wrecks on the south side of Oahu (sites with Honolulu & Waikiki in view) that have been intentionally sunk and have become healthy artificial reefs. The divers that went out yesterday mentioned both octopus, turtle and eagle ray sitings off the Sea Tiger shipwreck. Also the Yo257 & San Pedro wrecks always have a variety of underwater life (and a submarine) for divers viewing pleasure.

There are a large variety of dives off Oahu, we have some great drift diving in Maunalua Bay. Plane wrecks, shipwrecks, barges sunk for artificial reefs. And of course many natural reefs with lava rock formations can be found around Oahu. The endangered green sea turtles are happily protected in these shores and rarely do divers spend time in our waters and not swim with one. Also a large percentage of the fish seen here are endemic to Hawaii and not seen anywhere else in the world - so definitely worth a highlight on any Diver's "To Do" list.

I would definitely recommend touring the underwater shores of Oahu!

 

[sauruman]

Even though you're a good part of the way there, things are still far and routes often not direct, connections can be weird if they even exist. Getting to many of those places is not as easy to add on to Hawaii as you'd think.

If you can reasonably get to someplace else (maybe Palau/Micronesia on Continental) and don't think you will be able to do it otherwise for a long time, go for it. But spending more time in Hawaii and diving there is far from the worst thing in the world.

Hi Damselfish - you know, my wife said almost exactly the same thing this morning.
Going to the pacific is kind of like going to the candy store. I've wanted to sample everything!

We've settled on two weeks enjoying what Hawaii has to offer. I've just got diving on the mind because I haven't been out as much as I'd like lately. We're both very much looking forward to the trip and will be taking a dive specific one in February.