What's special about diving in Hawaii?

[myshadeofred]

I live here on Oahu and there are great dives to do but conditions are probably the one thing you take into considerations for the "great places". One of the best boat dives is the Tug Boat...lots of critters with a chance of rays, sharks and turtles. On the westside, I always see lots of stuff big and small. The other islands are great too, don't underestimate Hawaii. Just Sunday found a beautiful harlequin shrimp on a shore dive. If you go with a dive company I recommend island divers or Aarons. If you want to see some of my photos just check out #ruthiesdive on instagram. I'm not great but I do enjoy it.

 

[covediver]

Did a two tank manta late afternoon night dive last week on Kona. During the preparatory afternoon dive we observed several manta rays. This observation was interupted by a pod of bottle nose dolphins that came by and lingered. They were high on pufferfish venom and behaving badly, which explains the perturbed pufferfish I spotted earlier in the dive. Two dolphins appeared to be mating, another laid on its dorsal in the sand staring into the blue and still others rutted in the sand in search of sea cucumbers to harass. In four decades of diving I had not seen this behavior. The 14 mantas that showed up to feed in the lights at night, usually awe-inspiring, was nearly an anticlimax. That's whats special about diving in Hawaii

 

[DiveMaven]

Please note that both Ed Robinsons and Mike Severns are no longer in business. ProDiver bought Ed’s boat and Island style Diving bout Severns boat. I will recommend Island Style highly, but would discourage diving with ProDiver.

Also there are no whales in June.

 

[okrunner]

I have very little experience but did 4 tanks one day on O'ahu. Two dives off Honolulu were very bland and in fact, due to the surge, the second dive sucked. That afternoon we went to North Shore, at the right time of year, and it was awesome even though these were shore dives in less than 40 feet of water. Beautiful with lots of turtles, awesome topography, etc.

 

[spoolin01]

The fish are exceptionally cute! Can't compare them to other Pacific spots, but definitely cuter than in the Caribbean IMO. Quite a lot of different species as well. Visibility on the Big Island west side is notable, as are the many easy shore diving sites. Most are right off, or nearly off, lava benches so you don't get dragged by surf, and you don't have to swim a hundred yards to get deeper than 10 ft (like Maui).

Honolua Bay/Two-Step, Ke'e, and Kona Paradise down by Kealekekua, Puako up north in Kohala, far end of Old Airport in Kailua Town, and end of the road to NELHA/Energy Lab up by the airport, are all great shore diving spots. Any boat dives out of Honokohau Harbor will also be outstanding. There are many almost-as-good shore spots along Ali'i Dr. as well, though the clarity is often not as good as elsewhere.

On Maui I'd definitely recommend Honolua Bay up north as the best of the shore diving/snorkeling bunch. Makena Landing/5 Caves down south, and spots to either side, are also relatively decent for Maui shore diving.

 

[Arbu]

OK, thanks for all the advice. I think the plan is:

4 June. Arrive Maui. Head to Lahaina, dive Mala Wharf, Hammerheads and Molokini.
9 June. Meet my friend and see the landside attractions.
11 June. Fly to Big Island. Fit in some diving if there's time, but combining that with flying and maybe going up one of the volcanoes is going to be hard.
16 June. Fly to Kauai. Should have time to do some diving.
23 June. Fly to Oahu. Not sure I'll do any diving there.
26 June. Fly back to continental USA.

I think I'm doing pretty well to manage 22 days there. People say I should go for a month, but it's not a cheap destination!

 

[scottitheduck]

Our team got a whale shark last week! I think they are pretty "special"

 

[ChrisM]

The diving in Hawaii is not anything like Philippines or Indonesia. Hawaii looks very different, with more drab rocky volcanic reefs with mostly encrusting or smaller hard corals. Lots of unique topography. Not colorful coral reefs with soft corals. The water is actually on the cooler side. But it is very isolated, and has many critters only found there. Lots more color in the fish. Depending when&where you are diving good opportunities to see big stuff like whales, sharks, dolphins, mantas, huge turtles.

How many days are you going for?

Certified in Maui 30 years ago so it has a place in my heart, but last time we were there (2021) the boat dives were pretty awful given they were several hundred dollars

Go to the shop near Mala wharf, get a couple tanks, and dive there (don’t forget a flag). Much better diving

Oh and *nothing* like indo

 

[Rick Brant]

Diving off of Niihau island (from Kaua'i) is fantastic. I've had more than one person tell me it was the best diving they have experienced in the islands. Unlike Kaua'i, Niihau has almost no rain and therefore no runoff or particulate in the water. You must book that in advance though, in fact I would book everything you want to do in advance. On Kaua'i proper, Tunnels on the north shore and boat dives on the south shore are both popular. Koloa Landing is an amazing shore dive -- I have about 200 dives in there and still enjoy it every dive. I would recommend a specific dive shop except that every one I have encountered is great.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Please note that both Ed Robinsons and Mike Severns are no longer in business. ProDiver bought Ed’s boat and Island style Diving bout Severns boat. I will recommend Island Style highly, but would discourage diving with ProDiver.

Also there are no whales in June.

Beat me to pointing out they no longer exist or no longer own a boat.

I'm really curious why you don't recommend ProDiver. I dove with Ed Robinson one year, then ProDiver post-COVID when I found out ER had sold the boat. I had a really positive experience, with the guide giving me a lot of leeway as an experienced diver. Ordinarily, I'd recommend them and dive with them again. But it's been almost 2 years, so I imagine things might be different? What's up?

(I should add that I strongly prefer smaller boats. I respect the folks at Lahaina Divers, but wouldn't dive with them again just because it's really a cattle boat scenario.)