Oahu Diving in January?

[calhockey]

I just got some time off and are thinking of going to HI to do some diving in January (12/30 - 1/8). We've dove in Belize, Cozumel, and Jordan. By the way, Blue Hole in Belize is pretty unique and amazing experience. I lived in Oahu before starting to dive, so I now nothing about HI diving. Would you please help us get a perspective on the following:

* How is Oahu diving in January? How does that relate to other times of the year due to change in winds and North Shore waves? Are we going to miss out, or get to see something special doing January dive vs. other times of the year? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this time of the year the North shore is very rough, so is all the diving on the South side?

* What type of dives are in Oahu - caves, walls, shallow, sharks, wrecks, lots of tropical fish, ????? I heard there are bunch of wrecks... are these available to dive in January?

* What are the typical price range to do a multi tank/multi day dives? Shore vs. boat? Extra for wreck dives? What are some of the better deals? We dove at about $25/tank in Belize this summer!!!

* We would be staying with a friend near Waikiki... what dive ops would make most sense to us? Do they pick up or we have to travel to their shops?

* Can you compare Maui to Oahu for the above questions.

Like I said, we know very little and I am reading this board to catch up. So any help you can offer would be great.

 

[VBlueV]

oahu diving in january is outstanding off the south and west shores!
the only thing you're missing out on is north-shore diving due to 10+ foot waves..
(north is divable in the summer when the surf is flat up there)
but the same underwater topography off the north can be found off the west and south shores.

What type of dives are in Oahu - caves, walls, shallow, sharks, wrecks, lots of tropical fish, ????? I heard there are bunch of wrecks... are these available to dive in January?

all of the above.. and yes lots of wrecks, yes they're on the south and west sides, and yes conditions are great to dive in january.. plus you'll see/hear lots o'whales!

a 2 tank boat dive is about $99. (wreck dives are not any extra)

if you have your own equipment..
shore dives should only cost you the price of tank rentals.. approx $5 per tank.

IDH picks up from downtown hotels.. (do your buds live near a hotel?)

 

[SexSea!]

Hope this isnt too much info. Have fun!

* North shore is mainly all shore diving. You are right about the winter waves, they make the north shore diving pretty much out of the question. Diving on the West/East/South shores is usually always okay in the winter months. I think all of the wrecks are on the n/e/s shores..not totally sure though.

*You will find everything you mentioned. Caves, sharks, shallow and deep, lots of endemic fish, reef sharks, turtles, eagle rays, etc. A whole bunch of wrecks. You can see all of this in jan dives.

*Prices may vary. I think most visitors pay between 75-120 for a 2 tank boat dive. Price would vary if you had to rent all gear, some gear, or no gear, nitrox or air..etc Its the same for any boat dive whether its a wreck, deep, cave...etc. You may be able to find a package deal through some ops..

*Most dive shops will pick you up in the van and take you to the docks. There is a dock very close to Waikiki which handles all the south shore diving. And there is a dock way out in Hawaii Kai which handles most the east shore diving. I personally have only gone out with 1 dive op because of their club diving and discounts.

1)Island Divers ( http://www.oahuscubadiving.com/index.php?) they have 2 locations. 1 is on the base at Hickam and the other is in hawaii kai right on the docks. They are a super super professional op, always friendly, always aware, and they know the waters and the dive sites inside and out. Dive masters are very informative about each site and if you are lucky you get to go out with Capt. Joe.

*Haven't been diving on Maui yet.

*If you guys are looking to do some shore dives, there are for sure some that you can do. I would also recommend night diving on the south side...that is always fun!

Here are a few lists of dive sites:
http://www.oahuscubadiving.com/index.php?/guide/
http://www.pacificparadisedivers.com/sites-maunaloa.html
http://www.hawaiiscubadiving.com/oahu/dive-sites.html

 

[Wildcard]

What is a tiger ray?
Boat diving the "wrecks" is about it here in the winter. Maui offers more shore diving as well as Molokini crater. The crater is OK but the back wall is world class. Check out AAA diving, they offer three tanks dives on SUndays too.

 

[calhockey]

Got a chance to do some more research... the wreck dives sounds exciting.. we sure want to do a couple. Any walls in Oahu? I love the ~10 foot magnificent coral formations on the walls I've seen in Mexico and Belize.

I guess I should have offered more info about us. We have gear, so only need tanks. Do you wear wetsuits (full or shorty?) in Oahu in January? I dove Belize in August without a suite - even the Blue Hole to 141 ft withou a suite.

How do you find out about kaimaiana (spelling???) rates? Or in general what's a discount of the posted price? I've looked at the recommended dive ops and it appears that regular rates are about $50/tank for a 2 tank boat dive. What are the local rates?

mahalo.

 

[SexSea!]

Oops meant Eagle Ray. But for reference a pic of tiger ray is below.

Wow you found 50 dollar boat dives, non local discount? Where? Most i know wear 2-3mm full suites or spring suites. The water temp is usually like 70+ degrees, I usually wear boardshorts and thermal top.

If you are looking for a local discount chances are you have to provide verification that you live here (state id, drivers lic, etc). Some places dont check though...its a toss up. I pay 40 buks for 2 tank boat dives and thats part of a local dive club. Most ops have kamaaina discount usually 15-25 percent off the normal price, sometimes more.

 

[calhockey]

Sorry, $50 per tank on 2-tank boat dive... so that's $100 total. And yes, we still have our state id's. Got proof baby.

There is am airfare special of $380 round trip from Oakland to Oahu. How does that compare to other great deals you have seen? The only catch is that I got to bee in the next 2 hours...

 

[SexSea!]

380 round trip is not bad, through what airline? Or are you using a travel thing like orbitz? I have gotten the cheapest airfaire from ATA. Cheapest I have paid was 290 tax included to fly from Honolulu to Ontario, CA. OAK is 300 miles further, so maybe you wont find it that cheap. Is it cheaper if you fly from SFO and not OAK? May want to check. I checked ATA website for those dates from OAK, and it looked like about 340inc tax round trip leaving at 10am or 440pm. Check it out if you want: www.ata.com

100 sounds about right for the 2 tank. If you have your state ID then you should be set! You should be able to get the 2tank for about 70-75 with the kamaaina rate (its usually 15-25 percent discount depending on the place).

 

[calhockey]

ATA was the one.... cheapest on the web.. now off to plan everything else.

 

[calhockey]

So we stayed and dove on the west side with Captian Bruce... aka Captain Randy. We wanted to do the East and South, but the weather and TRAFFIC just told us NOOOO. So we did 3 days with CB. We had a great time.. Cameron (our DM) was great fun and showed us all the cool stuff. Too bad the weather was pretty bad early in the week... 20 foot viz!!!! Yes, 20!! But our last two dives to ULC and Oz were incredible. I highly recommend these sites and to go with Captain Bruce... got to try their "fresh of the catch of the day" between dives...

PS.. another reason to dive the west side during this time of the year is WHALE WATCHING!! Tis the season and we saw a couple of them on 2 of the 3 days. Just think how much whale watching tours cost by themselves... CB includes them for free