Hawaii Shore dives

[ffdiver]

Me and my future wife will be traveling to Oahu and Maui for 13 days in Sept for our honeymoon. Alittle background, I am a DM, if all goes well later this month I will be an instructor. She is an OW diver with limited experience. I'm cheap and she gets sick on boats.

So, with all that in mind, we have had the best luck with shore diving on our past vacations. Can I get recommendations on sites, both on Oahu and Maui. I know her one thing she "has" to do is turtle town. Which I admit would be pretty cool. I would like to see some lava tubes and caverns. Is turtle town doable as a shore dive? Or rather will it be enjoyable?

any tips would be appreciated.

also if anyone knows anything about real cave dives in Hawaii shoot me a PM. I'm going to be bringing my Razor with me, so it shouldn't be too hard to pack everything else I need if the dive calls for it.

 

[TSandM]

Assuming ocean conditions cooperate, there is lovely shore diving on Maui. If you can obtain a copy of Maui Shore Dives, it is a great reference for navigation. Sites I have done in the south include Ulua Beach (easy entry, lovely reef, restrooms and showers); Polo Beach (longer walk in gear, hazard of outrigger canoe launches from the hotel, but a beautiful finger reef with very healthy corals and sea life); Makena Landing (bit of a surface swim to the point, but great reef and topography after that); Ahihi Beach (easy entry over an algae-covered boat landing, nice reef, lots of critters). In the Lahaina area, we've done Mala Pier (my favorite Maui shore dive); Old Airport (very easy entry and exit, typical Maui reef); Honolua (long hike to the water, risk of car breakins, but a beautiful reef and cove). You might check out alohashoredivers.com for additional information. If you want a guide in the south, Shaka Doug here on ScubaBoard gets great reviews for leading shore dives.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I'm going to piggyback on your thread...
We're planning to go to Oahu in May. We do plan to spend some time diving from the boats, because we want to see some of the classic wrecks. But we love shore diving.
Any recommendations for guide books, particularly good sites, or best place to rent tanks/weights for self-guided shore diving? What are the water temps and conditions generally like in early May?
Thanks.

 

[oddible]

/agree with TSandM

Maui info:

Makena Landing is fantastic, you can enter from either side but even the short surface swim is good times. There is a reef shark in one of the recessed caves along your swim out.
Old Airport is very easy, they do a lot of lessons out there, not a fantastic dive but ok.
Honolua is amazing, the reef absolutely huge but not all alive - lots of sea turtles.
Black Rock is a great dive, and one of the only wall dives you can do from shore. If you go in at the north you'll get a bit of a drift current and will surface out on the beach by the resort - there's public parking under the Sheraton lot. Saw a massive porcupine fish in a little cave this spring.
Kapalua Bay is a nice dive on a beautiful beach (though surrounded by resorts).
Olowalu Beach (Mile Marker 14) has some great shallow reef, excellent snorkeling or deeper diving if you go farther out - grab a kayak and drop an anchor and there's a wall not too far out.

As far as boat dives go, I'd HIGHLY recommend the Lana'i cathedrals, very mellow caves (really just swim throughs). Carthaginian wreck is a fun dive when the tour sub comes by.

For rentals and air I'd give a hearty thumbs up to Maui Dreams in Kihei - really great folks, good gear, excellent recommendations and advice on conditions. They run an annual Easter egg hunt which we got the chance to take part in this year - good fun!

As far as boats go, I don't really have any strong recommendations. We've dove with Mike Severns, Maui Diamond, and Extended Horizons. All were fine. My wife really likes the pace and demeanor of Extended Horizons. Maui Diamond is very hands off and mellow.

 

[ffdiver]

Turtle town, go or no go from shore?

 

[scottitheduck]

ShoreDiving.com - Your Shore Diving and Snorkeling Web Community! has good reviews (although some are dated) The reefs haven't changed for thousands of years though!

As far as Oahu goes, this book is an EXCELLENT resource though I think it's out of print:

Amazon.com: The O'ahu Snorkelers and Shore Divers Guide (9780824826468): Francisco B. de Carvalho: Books

If you have questions on boat dives, please let me know!

G

 

[StuartT]

Turtle town, go or no go from shore?

There are lots of places refered to as turtle town. One of them is just off the beach from the Makena resort (was the Maui Prince) Anywhere there is a turtle cleaning station could be turtle town. I've seen them at Makena landing, Ulua beach, Honolua bay, White rock beach, Wailea beach, the North end of Poolenalena beach and other spots too. It's pretty hard not to come across turtles diving from shore in Maui. I can't recall a shore dive where I didn't see at least 1. So yes would be the short answer to your question.

 

[smellzlikefish]

For lava tubes, I'd hit up Shark's Cove on the North shore of Oahu if conditions permit. There are more tubes to explore there than one tank will allow. As far as turtles go, it is rare that I come up from a dive without seeing at least 2 turtles. They are pretty much everywhere.

If you want to kill both turtles and lava tubes with one dive, Makaha on Oahu's west shore is a sure bet. Don't forget to bring a dive flag or the lifeguards won't let you in. The surface swim is a little long, but the caves are unique and the turtle cleaning station en route can't be beat.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

There are lots of places refered to as turtle town. One of them is just off the beach from the Makena resort (was the Maui Prince) Anywhere there is a turtle cleaning station could be turtle town.

There are lots of places the uninformed might refer to as turtle towns, and there are lots of uninformed &/or unscrupulous activity sales goons (or perhaps absentee vacation rental owners) who might use turtle town in a sales pitch, without actually having a clue about historical snorkel/dive site naming.

I first worked on 2 Molokini snorkel boats in '93 (Leilani and Lahaina Princess) and the Turtle Town site listed on Franko's Maui Dive Map had already been "the" Maui Turtle Town for decades.

TURTLE TOWN (aka: MAKENA LANDING, 5 CAVES or 5 GRAVES) 20' - 50' (6 - 15m) Beg. - Adv.
Rocky entry at Nahuna Point (below gravesite) for experienced divers. Beginnners & snorkelers enter at Makena Bay (by restrooms). Great snorkeling at Makena. Caves at point. Coral heads. Green sea turtles. Tropical reef fish. Lobsters. Octopuses. One of best dives on Island. Caution: Stay out of caves

As you can see, this site actually sort of goes by 5 different names (or even 6 'cause I often call it Makena Caverns?), but in truth when a knowledgeable person speaks of Maui's Turtle Town this is the only site they are talking about.

:kiss2:

 

[StuartT]

There are lots of places the uninformed might refer to as turtle towns, and there are lots of uninformed &/or unscrupulous activity sales goons (or perhaps absentee vacation rental owners) who might use turtle town in a sales pitch, without actually having a clue about historical snorkel/dive site naming.

I first worked on 2 Molokini snorkel boats in '93 (Leilani and Lahaina Princess) and the Turtle Town site listed on Franko's Maui Dive Map had already been "the" Maui Turtle Town for decades.



As you can see, this site actually sort of goes by 5 different names (or even 6 'cause I often call it Makena Caverns?), but in truth when a knowledgeable person speaks of Maui's Turtle Town this is the only site they are talking about.

:kiss2:

I was only repeating what I've been told by locals on dive & snorkel boats. The question was whether you could dive turtle town from shore. So if 5 graves is the official "turtle town" then the answer is still the same.