Trip Report: North Shore Oahu 6/5-6/8

[txgoose]

Executive Version: Did five dives over three days with Hawaiian Eco Divers. Dive Master Ryan. Intern and DMC Joanna. Water temperature ranged from 78 down to 73. Visibility ranged from 90+ down to 25-ish. Dove Shark's Cove twice, M/V Mahi (USS Scrimmage), Makaha Caverns, Three Tables @ night. We had a very nice experience with H.E.D. And all of the dive sites were simply jaw dropping for some kids from Texas. My only issue with having a DM with us is that Ryan and Joanna wanted to show us stuff. Which I understand. And what they showed us was beautiful and fun. That said, I would love to go back and just cruise very very slowly. In addition to the amazing stuff we saw, we had to have gone past a ton of amazing stuff as well. Also of note, the watered down baby shampoo on the dive boat was by far the best no-fog that the family has ever used. We were all raving about it. Now have our own spray bottle.

Longer Version:
I worked with Joanna during multiple phone calls and emails because of luggage issues and reservation changes on my end. She was able to make adjustments and accommodate my family's requests. She is also working towards being a great instructor.

Ryan was our dive master. Completely competent. He helped work my nephew through his AOW certification. He knew how to teach, very skilled diver, easy disposition but firm in checking over the boys' kit and helping where needed. A great mix. His knowledge of the area and sea life was very evident and if you had a question about information he covered or something you were wondering about he was always open to questions.

We had a limited interaction with owner Ricardo, but he did check in with us several times to make sure that we were being taken care of and having a good experience. He was personable and I would have enjoyed more time just talking but as it was, I didn't need anything else from an owner with a good staff.

Day one (6/5) - Dive one - Shore Entry: Shark's Cove; 82F air; 74F water; 33fsw max, 19 ave; Vis 50ft
The hike down to the water carrying all of your gear is not unbearable, but it is also not trivial. A good footing and caution are needed. The wildlife here was just amazing. We saw our first honu, a bucket list item. The wife was a tad light when we entered the water. We had never done full wetsuits in salt water. Ryan added a weight to her tank band. At first she was flailing and struggling to maintain any sort of trim. Once we got her BCD waist belt tightened up, she dove like a champ.

Day one - Dive two - Shore Entry: Shark's Cove; 82F air; 74F water; 31fsw max, 16 ave; Vis 50ft
The surge appeared to be growing during this dive. A person needed to pay attention and not work too hard against the surge, and then surf it forward when it was going your way. It was a fun roller coaster holding trim and buoyancy and feeling the power of the ocean moving you around. We like to think that we're the ones in control but that water can move is without hardly trying. Saw a million fish and two more honu.

Day two (6/7) - Dive one - Boat Entry, South Sea II: M/V Mahi - USS Scrimmage; 85F air; 75F water; 84fsw max, 62 ave; Vis 90+ft
We got moored to the buoy. The water was the most beautiful color of blue. I accused them of importing fake water. The boat Captain said they got it from Tidy Bowl. This was our first boat dive where they actually had a bar and regulator, long hosed from the boat, at the safety stop. That was nice but un-used. The wreck is almost gone. This was apparently an amazing site back in the day. We saw plenty of fun things to look at but the deterioration is pretty bad. At the end of the dive, the wife and I got a compliment when the DM did his final air check of everyone. She and I had enough air left that he sent the teenagers up with the DMC for their safety stop and then took us for another half lap around the bow section. A neat wreck for us but probably well past its better days.

Day two - Dive one - Boat Entry, South Sea II: Makaha Cavers; 85F air; 75F water; 38fsw max, 23 ave; Vis 25ft
We got moored to the bouy again. This time we were sharing the area with two other boats. And the visibility suffered for it. But even our bad visibility was 25 feet or so. I almost got run over by a nice sized honu. Since seeing one was a bucket list item, being so close and working to get out of its way was special. Video below.

Day three (6/8) - Night Dive - Shore Entry: Three Tables 82F air; 74F water; 33fsw max, 19 ave; Vis as far as your light would reach. We dove with our new Sea Dragon mini 900s. Having no other experience and only able to compare them to the lights of the DMs, we were very pleased. And the DMs were probably not carrying their biggest lights. Only to say that in comparison to lights that the DMs felt were adequate, ours held their own and then some. This was everyone's first night dive. With the wife dealing with anxieties in the past I was curious about how it would go. She was a lights out champ. At one point she basically had a juvenile honu sitting on her head that she wouldn't look at. When I asked her about it, she said that she knew it was there but she had a coral under her and she didn't want to damage it. How cool is that? And yes, she got to see several other turtles so life is good. We also saw a sleeping turtle that was massive! All we could see was it's back half but it was impressive. The limited viability was definitely a learning experience. But a fun one. heading back in to the tables to surface, my youngest tried to head butt Table 1. I am fairly certain that it didn't move. He, however, had a nice cut that we commenced to make up fake stories about. I was also impressed with him in that we were about ten feet from the surface, and despite a massive headache, he did not bolt for the surface. He picked up the pace a bit to nudge the DM's fin, communicated the issue and we all made an easy controlled ascent. Just a proud papa.

All in all an amazing trip and a very good experience with H.E.D.

Quick video of the turtle encouraging me to move, at Makaha Caverns.

 

[drrich2]

Sounds like a fine trip and memories. Never been to Hawaii. Got a few follow up questions:

1.) Was it a dive trip, or a trip where you worked in some diving?
2.) What was your longest continuous flight getting there?
3.) Where did you stay, and how did that suit you guys?
4.) Was overall trip cost decent, or painfully high?
5.) You did guided diving, mostly shore but some boat? Would you feel comfortable on a return trip hitting some of those shore sites unguided? Did you get enough added benefit from boat diving to justify it, or on a return would you mainly shore dive?
6.) What did you think of your topside time? Any particular activities you'd recommend?

Richard.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Sounds like a fine trip and memories. Never been to Hawaii. Got a few follow up questions:

1.) Was it a dive trip, or a trip where you worked in some diving?
2.) What was your longest continuous flight getting there?
3.) Where did you stay, and how did that suit you guys?
4.) Was overall trip cost decent, or painfully high?
5.) You did guided diving, mostly shore but some boat? Would you feel comfortable on a return trip hitting some of those shore sites unguided? Did you get enough added benefit from boat diving to justify it, or on a return would you mainly shore dive?
6.) What did you think of your topside time? Any particular activities you'd recommend?

Richard.

More importantly, the only reliable civilian emergency recompression chamber 2500 miles away from mainland Los Angeles reopened again:

Mānoa: Hyperbaric Treatment Center reopens | University of Hawaii News

HTC REOPENS WITH DR. SUSAN STEINEMANN APPOINTED AS INTERIM MEDICAL DIRECTOR |

 

[txgoose]

Sounds like a fine trip and memories. Never been to Hawaii. Got a few follow up questions:

1.) Was it a dive trip, or a trip where you worked in some diving?
2.) What was your longest continuous flight getting there?
3.) Where did you stay, and how did that suit you guys?
4.) Was overall trip cost decent, or painfully high?
5.) You did guided diving, mostly shore but some boat? Would you feel comfortable on a return trip hitting some of those shore sites unguided? Did you get enough added benefit from boat diving to justify it, or on a return would you mainly shore dive?
6.) What did you think of your topside time? Any particular activities you'd recommend?

Richard.

1) Family trip where we worked in some diving. We had an eight year plan to have the family visit all fifty states. Was the 50th. Woot. Otherwise we probably would have done another boat dive in there somewhere. My parents are not divers and we didn't want to leave them any additional time.
2) 7:15 from DFW to Honolulu.
3) A VRBO just north of Haleiwa and just south of Waimea Bay. A house was awesome for lounging and talking and relaxing. We had seven folks (two parents and a nephew added in) to split costs and it was IMO, pretty cost effective and so much better than two separate hotel rooms. Our single issue with it was that it was on Hwy 83 and the beach. A narrow strip, so car noise was fairly prevalent in the house. Almost no noise made it to the back yard, however. By day two it almost became white noise. Almost.
4) We had saved for it. But in the end I would still probably call it painfully high. I'll have to change my income significantly to go back. (or kick a couple of chicks out of the nest. ) Mom cooked breakfast 5 or our 8 mornings. We also cooked three suppers at the house. Helped immensely. As a measure of expense, Burger King combos were usually $12 or more.
5) I would definitely go back and dive unguided. Not sure HED does that but I assume they would. The boat dive ended up being a must dive for us simply because we had never ever never seen water like that. The clarity was astounding. For someone that has seen crystal water, there or elsewhere, I am not sure that the boat was worth it. The shore diving is simply amazing. And every charter I read up on does one wreck and one reef per boat ride. So the extra money is really just for one wreck. If we ever go back, I suspect the wife and I would shore dive five or six days straight.
6) We tried to be light on tourist stuff and heavy on diving/lounging. I will say that 95% of this place is jaw dropping. Either jaw droppingly beautiful or jaw droppingly awkward with the homeless and automobile carcasses on the side of the road. If I ever become a trust fund baby, I would go back quite a bit. That said, I don't know that I would actually want to live there.
# We did the Valor in the Pacific (USS Arizona).
# We did the Polynesian Center. I have mixed emotions about it. High dollar to watch re-enactments. That said, we all enjoyed it. (If you want to skip the high dollar food plans inside, you have to eat at Pounders out front. For a sit down restaurant it was $20 a head (w/drink) instead of $35-40 at most. And for $20 we had three different fish orders and they were all awesome.) If you eat inside, be sure to select the Luau option.
# We did the Dole plantation. Again, high dollar considering. Didn't do much for me but the family enjoyed it. I will say that the Dole Whip was awesome. Basically pineapple gelatto.
# We did the Waimea Valley. Parts of it were just jaw dropping. I couldn't decide if I was on the set for the Avatar, Jurassic Park or King Kong.
# Ate at L&L in Haleiwa. Hawaii's greasy spoon. Good (for what it is) and dirt cheap. We did it twice.
# Ate at the shrimp trucks. They were good. Maybe if I were a foodie I could tell you which one had three more grams of garlic. But I can't. They were good.
# We did Mermaid Cave. It takes 5-6 feet of climbing but a very unique cave. At lower tide you can swim in and out of it. At high tide (us) it would be a cheese grater that I suspect could kill you fairly readily. We were able to climb down into it and feel/see the power but we did not swim around. Of note, the Leeward/West side of Oahu was noticeably the rougher part of the island that we visited. The homeless camps were impressive in places. Our boat dive was over here as well.
# We did Pali Lookout Hwy 61. Amazing views towards Mokapu. The mountain peeks in this area were unreal.
# We did a three hour thunderstorm delay getting to DFW from Tulsa. Do not recommend.
# We did a three hour maintenance delay getting to DFW from Honolulu. Do not recommend.

 

[drrich2]

Thanks for the added info. Trip reports serve a number of purposes; one I'm fond of is informing people who've never been there, selecting from amongst different potential destinations, on the pro.s and con.s of the one you hit, so they can decide how it stacks up against other choices for them.Whether a destination is the best choice for someone depends a lot on that someone.

A friend of mine went to Hawaii and did some diving with another friend of his, and brought home beautiful topside shots, and pics of large basking green sea turtles on the beach. Some things have kept it off my radar:

1.) Long flight.
2.) Expensive. Some destinations I can hit on solo dive trips to save money, but leaving my wife and our little girl home while I traipse off to Hawaii seems to border on selfish...plus, I might be subjected to the dreaded stink eye.

Interesting you mention the homeless camps. I was surprised to learn from my friend that homeless people live in such an expensive place. I wonder if they're homeless because they choose to live in such an expensive place, or homeless and poor so they're stuck there? Perhaps a mix?

Richard.

 

[txgoose]

Thanks for the added info. Trip reports serve a number of purposes; one I'm fond of is informing people who've never been there, selecting from amongst different potential destinations, on the pro.s and con.s of the one you hit, so they can decide how it stacks up against other choices for them.Whether a destination is the best choice for someone depends a lot on that someone. [/QUTOE]

Agreed. I have only done two dives away from home, but both times I came here first hoping to find information.

A friend of mine went to Hawaii and did some diving with another friend of his, and brought home beautiful topside shots, and pics of large basking green sea turtles on the beach. Some things have kept it off my radar:

1.) Long flight.
2.) Expensive. Some destinations I can hit on solo dive trips to save money, but leaving my wife and our little girl home while I traipse off to Hawaii seems to border on selfish...plus, I might be subjected to the dreaded stink eye.

Interesting you mention the homeless camps. I was surprised to learn from my friend that homeless people live in such an expensive place. I wonder if they're homeless because they choose to live in such an expensive place, or homeless and poor so they're stuck there? Perhaps a mix?

Richard.

I suspect a mix. I assume that the car carcasses laying about are due to a person having a failure and not having the resources at the time to get it fixed. Eventually it gets stripped? The perplexing part to me was the question of what the homeless do for income/food. Here in TX panhandlers are everywhere. Everywhere. In HI I did not see that once. They can't all be living off of collecting cans. I don't know the answer.

 

[KathyV]

Thanks for the added info. Trip reports serve a number of purposes; one I'm fond of is informing people who've never been there, selecting from amongst different potential destinations, on the pro.s and con.s of the one you hit, so they can decide how it stacks up against other choices for them.Whether a destination is the best choice for someone depends a lot on that someone.

A friend of mine went to Hawaii and did some diving with another friend of his, and brought home beautiful topside shots, and pics of large basking green sea turtles on the beach. Some things have kept it off my radar:

1.) Long flight.
2.) Expensive. Some destinations I can hit on solo dive trips to save money, but leaving my wife and our little girl home while I traipse off to Hawaii seems to border on selfish...plus, I might be subjected to the dreaded stink eye.

Interesting you mention the homeless camps. I was surprised to learn from my friend that homeless people live in such an expensive place. I wonder if they're homeless because they choose to live in such an expensive place, or homeless and poor so they're stuck there? Perhaps a mix?

Richard.

I was on Oahu for a week during January a year ago and I keep thinking about going back but the things that stop me are the same as some of your concerns, it's expensive and a long trip - plus the water is a little colder than I prefer but I could deal with it.

I was there on business and wasn't able to dive, but I did make a little time for myself. I visited the Arizona Memorial and the Valor in the Pacific Park and it was moving and amazing. I got to spend 2 afternoons on Waikiki beach splashing around, and I had a few evenings when I joined friends eating at some great restaurants and checking out the sights.

But I was also surprised by the homeless problem. My company was hosting a big meeting at the Honolulu Convention Center and everyone wanted to be in hotels close to the center so they could just run over easily and not get stuck taking shuttle buses. I was a bit annoyed when I didn't make the cut and couldn't get a room close to the convention center - but it turned out that I was lucky.

There were lots of homeless people and individuals asking for handouts near the convention center and it was very sad. People staying in nearby hotels were afraid to walk alone and had to coordinate their plans to walk with a group. The shuttle buses weren't so bad after all and I was staying in a lovely hotel on Waikiki Beach. I was right above the ocean and could see Diamond Head from my balcony - not too shabby for a Midwestern girl during January!

Hawaii is incredibly beautiful, but it is pricey and it is far away. I took a nonstop flight from Chicago and it took about 9 hours to get there. The trip home was a redeye and they are hours behind so there were jet lag issues. Some people preferred to break their trip and stopped on the West Coast and so it took them even longer to get there. The airfare wasn't terrible for such a long I think it was around $800 roundtrip for my flight.

I wish that I had taken more time for myself because Oahu is so beautiful and I wish that my husband could have joined me for at least part of the trip - and I'd like to go back.

The only other time we ever visited Hawaii was more than a decade ago when we did a trip on the Kona Aggressor, and if you can get a good price for the Aggressor I think that is a great option. You get to do a lot of diving and the price includes food and lodging. We didn't have any deep water crossings so I didn't get seasick, the boat stays close to the Big Island but it travels to more remote areas that are not usually dived by the day boats, and the night dive with Mantas remains one of my all time favorite dives.

The reefs were healthy, hard corals and not as lush or colorful as Caribbean reefs but there were a lot of beautiful and interesting sea life, including creatures that we had never seen before and lots of turtles and also octopus that are out during the day. We watched Pilot Whales from the deck of the boat as we were cruising on the Aggressor and it was a great trip.

I don't know what it's like right now on the Big Island because of all the recent volcanic activity. We did get close to the volcano and I saw lava flowing out into the sea and spouting steam and creating pillow lava, but the volcano was much less active when we were there then it is right now.

During that trip, we spent a day in Honolulu, a week on the Aggressor, and then about 5 days in a hotel on the Big Island.

I have never been to any of the other islands, and I would like to go back to Hawaii, but it is expensive and a long trip!

 

[KathyV]

@txgoose I forgot to say thanks for such a great trip report - it sounds like you really had a nice trip.

@drrich2 I definitely understand that you would want to travel with family when you go to Hawaii but here's a suggestion. If you could get 2 weeks off from work then travel with your family and spend the first week enjoying the sights and the amenities together. Then see your family off safely onto the plane home and head over to Kona to board the Aggressor for a week of diving. It would be an expensive 2 weeks, but you would only need one roundtrip airfare so that's a savings, and you wouldn't have to travel such a long roundtrip distance twice - just an idea.