Hawaii first timer - suggestions?

[Cacia]

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Hawaii diving is unique. Sure, we don't have brightly colored soft coral like tropical dive destinations, but we do have beautiful lava formations, many turtles, sea caves and exciting frequent encounters with reef sharks, rays, etc. I hope I do not offend anyone out there, but I have dived Kona, Maui, Molakai, Lanai and although I really loved them, I have always had the impression that we here on Oahu are very underrated. I spent eight years in the Virgins (great) and have been to Palau several times. Some of my best dives (hard for some to believe, I know) have been right here. Granted, it is very rare, but I swam with a 45 ft whale for fifiteen whole minutes at the Corsair. I suggest giving the YO257 wreck a try, it is very beautiful and covered with snowflake coral and teaming with fish. Just yesterday, we dove our clients there and saw about ten turtles. Lets just say, it was your basic spiritual experience! I hope you have a great visit to Honolulu.

Aloha,

 

[Scubagolf]

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.

Check out the existing, very busy sub-forum for Cozumel: http://www.scubaboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=208

 

[DiveMaven]

Having just gotten back from Maui, and being someone who looks forward to going to dive in Maui yearly, I'd like to chime in. Hawaii diving is definitely different than other places, for exactly the reasons that have already been stated about it's remoteness, water temperature, etc. However, the beauty of the hardscape that Hawaii offers in it's coral, lava, and rock formations is unparallelled in the world IMO. Once you get used to the idea of the hardscape and stop comparing it to the soft reefs and formations in places like the Caribbean, you begin to see and understand the unique beauty that Hawaii offers.

We simply couldn't get enough of diving in Lanai on our last trip, and wound up doing 3 charters, repeating one location twice. Each time we went we saw something different, and reveled in the unique beauty that is the Cathedrals. We also can't wait to return and explore the reefs more since we are certain there is much we missed.

As far as critters are concerned, we saw many turtles, a manta, 2 eagle rays, multiple octopus, many eels, a few sharks, oodles of nudibranchs, and more tropical fish than I can count....all in the daylight hours. Can't even imagine how much comes out at night!

The backwall was an amazing dive, and one I hope to repeat under better conditions. The experience of being exposed in the Pacific Ocean was amazing, in particular being surrounded by blue water where you could see nothing but blue and the surface at 80 feet! The wall itself is incredible in it's sheer size and complexity, but we didn't get to see many features as we were blowing by in a 4 knot current!

As long as you're in Hawaii, consider spending your extra week on the Big Island or Maui and enjoying the unique diving that Hawaii offers....you won't be sorry.

 

[djanni]

never had this before?????

Read next post.

 

[djanni]

Honolulu...

My wife and I go 1 or 2 times a year. Our son is a grad student at UofH, Manoa, so that helps justify the frequency.

We always stay somewhere in or around Honolulu and we've always dived with Aarron's. Their shop is NW of Honolulu but they will pick you up at your Hotel and drop you off. Well run. We were last there in December.

We consider the diving very good. I'd suggest both the Corsair and the YO257 as catherine96821 did. The Corsair is just a plane sitting on a sandy botton at about 110 but it's one of those must see dives. So is the YO257 and it's a very interesting wreck.

 

[pickens_46929]

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!

Any suggestions? Thanks everyone!

Very lucky on two accounts there... 1) going to Hawaii and 2) a wife who dives!

A lot depends upon budget. I had the opportunity to do pretty much the same thing this January, unfortunately my budget didn't really allow for anything other than diving off of Honolulu which was still a wonderful experience.

Went through Island Divers and hired Scuba Drew to video tape. Unfortunately it was a rough winter (didn't do all the dives we planned) but there were three very spectacular dives... Sea Tiger wreck at 100' with eagle rays, Baby Barge with the sharks and turtles and the Sea Cave with the Turtles, Shark and Cuttlefish in 100'+ viz.

http://www.oahuscubadiving.com/
http://www.scubadrewvideo.com/

Over on Kona there's Manta Ray night dives which are very cool but I understand can be hit or miss these days. And finally there is the Kona Agressor which is very cool and I highly recommend.

http://www.konacoastdivers.com/mantana.html
http://www.aggressor.com/subpage.php?d=8

If I had more time and more money during that trip in January, I would have done some diving in Hawaii and then most likely headed further west to Palau or Truk.

 

[pickens_46929]

My wife is raising the same concern.
... snip ...
2) relatively expensive

See my other post for URLs but a did the trip in January on the cheap, and I do mean cheap. Did 8 out of 12 planned dives over 4 days, all on Nitrox, cheap hotel (Ohana Islander Wakiki) and cheap rental car for under $800.

Hotel wasn't super but wasn't there most of the time. McD's downstairs, walking distance to beach and other night life. Parking was a pain, almost wouldn't rent a car but it was handy to have the one day all dives were cancelled to goto Hanauma Bay (though I could have taken the bus which would have been ok too).

Most expensive meal I had was Shore Bird at the Ohana Outrigger Reef... ok, I ate dinner there twice since it was *so* good.

Really enjoyed walking the town at night, doing the touristy things, after a long day.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

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!

If you are diving on Oahu, there are not any 6pk boats that I know of. Capt. Joe's boat is one of the smallest and it holds around 14 divers. Pacific Paradise Divers might be able to get Joe's boat with just a couple of extra divers, but that is up to the captain. Most of the boats here are for large groups. Mainly because many different dive op's book the boats at the same time. There might just be 2 of you with a dive operator but 15 others on the boat with someone else. Drive up to the North Shore where it is prettier. If you are staying in Waikiki it will be crowded. Enjoy your visit and try at least one day of diving while you are here.

 

[Scubagolf]

Here's the website for a dive operator that appears to be well regarded by some posters on this forum.

http://www.wanna-dive-kona.com/

 

[justleesa]

The Turtle Canyon(s) on the South Shore is, from what I have heard, not that much to look at. Where as the Turtle Canyon(s) off Waikiki is full of turtles. You will see them there, some days more than others. We have seen up to 20+ turtles on 1 dive there. As they are not on "The Menu" they don't swim away as quickly as some places where they are still hunted and eaten. Usually, if they are relaxed enough you can hang out with them for a while before they have enough of us humans staring at them.

At the YO/San Pedro Wreck there are always a few turtles around 4 or 5 on each and if you go/look in the hold of the San Pedro you might even see them sleeping with a white tip reef shark or two.

I agree, if you want to see the beautiful, big corals - "this ain't the place to see'em", but our wrecks and the rest of the marine life are worth seeing.