We found it! Along with David (DabldoMaui) and Dan, we successfully navigated a couple hundred yards of extra shallow 0' viz water to find the gorgeous coral and SURPRISE the Kihei Hellcat!
What: Grumman F6F Hellcat circa 1943-1954
Position: N 20.74623, W 156.46385 (main wreck)
Depth: 32' (main wreck), 35' (engine)
Based on the GPS location and Google Earth, it is 650m (712 yds) from the shoreline, so it's a reasonable kick out there. The visibility and terrain becomes appealing at about the 250m mark.
Directions without GPS: head straight off Lipoa Street keeping the center of the yellow gate lined up with the first street light, drop down when water gets to about 15-20' deep, stay on same heading. You should find it relatively quickly -- on your left hand side (it's not EXACTLY off the end of Lipoa by the looks of things... you have to rely on a slight current pushing you south as well. To go from the main wreckage to the engine, follow the direction the plane is pointing (south-ish) and swim ~60'. You'll find half of a wing and the engine there.
While the attraction here was the wreck, there is also some very healthy coral extending from 10' deep (bottom depth beside bottom relief) out to 20-25'. The viz today wasn't incredible, but I could envision taking a great deal more time to check out the coral on future dives here.
In the interest of getting this post up sooner rather than later, I have NOT edited these photos. Look to have replacements at some point once that time presents itself.
underside of cockpit area:
wider angle on main wreck:
front view of engine:
view from where the engine would have been, back (main wreckage):
landing gear:
left wing:
one example of the awesome coral growth on the way to/from the wreck:
another example of the coral:
Full series available on flickr.
Now... if anyone wants to go there, I'd love to go back! Give me a call!
What: Grumman F6F Hellcat circa 1943-1954
Position: N 20.74623, W 156.46385 (main wreck)
Depth: 32' (main wreck), 35' (engine)
Based on the GPS location and Google Earth, it is 650m (712 yds) from the shoreline, so it's a reasonable kick out there. The visibility and terrain becomes appealing at about the 250m mark.
Directions without GPS: head straight off Lipoa Street keeping the center of the yellow gate lined up with the first street light, drop down when water gets to about 15-20' deep, stay on same heading. You should find it relatively quickly -- on your left hand side (it's not EXACTLY off the end of Lipoa by the looks of things... you have to rely on a slight current pushing you south as well. To go from the main wreckage to the engine, follow the direction the plane is pointing (south-ish) and swim ~60'. You'll find half of a wing and the engine there.
While the attraction here was the wreck, there is also some very healthy coral extending from 10' deep (bottom depth beside bottom relief) out to 20-25'. The viz today wasn't incredible, but I could envision taking a great deal more time to check out the coral on future dives here.
In the interest of getting this post up sooner rather than later, I have NOT edited these photos. Look to have replacements at some point once that time presents itself.
underside of cockpit area:
wider angle on main wreck:
front view of engine:
view from where the engine would have been, back (main wreckage):
landing gear:
left wing:
one example of the awesome coral growth on the way to/from the wreck:
another example of the coral:
Full series available on flickr.
Now... if anyone wants to go there, I'd love to go back! Give me a call!
