choiahoy
Contributor
My wife and I had a fantastic two week trip to the Big Island (5 nights), Maui (6 nights), and Kauai (3 nights) in July. The islands are quite different from one another, but each has a lovely and unique vibe.
I have family on the Big Island, so we visit relatively frequently and have fallen in love with Hawaiian shore diving, especially as my wife gets seasick very easily. Last year we did the Manta dive and a few other boat dives. This year we kept it all from shore.
DIVING
- The Big Island—We only managed 1 dive (Place of Refuge) as we spent most of our time snorkeling with my mother. Place of Refuge is a great site; it’s easy to navigate with healthy coral. Highlights were the schools of tangs, turtles, and a bright yellow frogfish. We hoped to see the resident dolphins, but were there too late. In my opinion, the best shore diving in Hawaii is definitely on the Big Island. Hopefully, next time we’ll have more time to visit more sites.
- Maui—We chose to stay on the west side of the island near our favorite two sites on the island—Mala Pier and Honolulu Bay. We saw sharks on every dive at Mala, and the turtle cleaning station is always a blast. Frogfish and big schools of fish as well. We dived both sites multiple times, as well as Slaughterhouse, Black Rock, and Airport Beach (which unlike most sites on Maui has ample parking and an easy beach entry).
- Kauai—We were very excited to dive Koloa Landing on Kauai as it sounded right up our alley: a slow and shallow critter dive. Unfortunately, we had a swell and bad visibility. It was still dive-able, but we saw very little sea life compared to our dives on the other islands. Perhaps we’ll have better luck next time. But in general, Kauai is the least shore diving friendly with Koloa Landing being the only real shore dive; you can dive Tunnels on the north shore in the summer, but the parking is a quarter mile away from the beach entrance which is a couple hundred yards from the water. When we dove it last year, a dude from Brooklyn used a cart to lug our gear from the entrance to the water. To do it independently would be difficult.
- We rented tanks and weights from Jake’s Dive Locker on the Big Island, Maui Diving Scuba and Snorkel Center on Maui (they have a pre-paid 10 tank card for $40), and from Seaport Divers on Kauai. All of the shops were professional.
Water temperature on our dives were between 77-79 degrees.
FOOD
Big Island
- Da Poke Shack had fantastic poke.
- The Coffee Shack has the best Reuben sandwich I’ve ever eaten.
Maui -
- Joey’s Kitchen in Napali has amazing garlic chicken.
Kauai -
- Tip Top in Lihue had the best Hawaiian oxtail soup I’ve tried. It’s part of a motel and looks like a run-down diner, but it’s been open for a hundred years. The lines can get long.
- The Right Slice in Kalaheo has awesome pie, both savory and sweet. We had the Blueberry, Macadamia nut (like pecan), and the Mango Lilikoi.
Enjoy the video and happy diving!
