Only able to dive in Oahu for one day - suggestions?

[whitenoise]

I’m off to Las Vegas and Hawaii in a couple of weeks (woohoo!), and I’m looking to do one days diving whilst I’m on Oahu.

Being able to only do one day (a Monday), hopefully I can do three dives. From a quick look around I’m thinking the Sea Tiger, YO-257 & San Pedro and the Mahi? Problem is since I’m only doing the one day, I don’t want to waste time and money doing a site I’m not interested in doing. Similarly I don’t really want to be amongst a group where it’s a ‘one up all up’ policy or it’s a cattle boat.

What suggestions (sites, centres etc) do you have based on the above?

Thanks for your help

 

[smellzlikefish]

As more of a reality check, I have a few points. First is that the YO, San Pedro, and Sea Tiger are on the south shore while the Mahi is on the West. Thus organizing these three dives in a day would be quite difficult and require at least an hour of travel time between harbors. Point two is that most people toting dive gear to Oahu want to do the YO, San Pedro, Sea Tiger and Mahi (you can throw the Corsair in there as well). This means that dive ops tend to do whichever is open and/or within decent conditions. They also tend to dive one wreck and one shallower reef per trip out, so you might end up doing one site you might not be interested in. You might get lucky and find a dive op who is advertising a double wreck day or something but these tend to be kind of rare.

 

[whitenoise]

Thanks for the information, always good to get local knowledge

I'll email a few dive centres and see what they say.

 

[rgbmatt]

The trick is, diving on Oahu usually depends on the conditions. Each side of the island is exposed to different types of weather, which is probably the most important factor in your enjoyment of the trip. This changes from day to day.

So, your best bet is, when you come, to ask the dive shop what the conditions will be (wind, surf, and current) and make your decision based on that.

I have very little experience with dive boats personally, but from what I understand 2 tanks is the norm. If want to do more dives than that (and don't mind doing a bit of extra work), you might want to try shore diving - Shark's Cove/Pupukea on the North Shore is usually good this time of year; it's easy to access and has 2 good dive shops conveniently nearby. Just watch out for surf from the North, which wipes out the area pretty good.

 

[scottitheduck]

Agreed with the above......

2 Tank AM charter followed by a choose your own adventure on North Shore (Shark's Cove/3 Tables). You will certainly want a guide to get the most out of your time in either of those last two places mentioned and please, look at the surf report and talk to other (dripping wet) divers in the parking lot if you will be rolling solo. Once more, I would NOT suggest the solo option.

G