Insider Information - Reviews of Hawaiian Dive Sites

[justleesa]

The question often pops up - "I'm coming to Hawaii. What dive sites would you suggest?"

So, let's drop a bit of insider information. What are your dive sites of choice here on our Islands? How do you get there? What do you typically see there? What is the max depth? and so on.....

If you have suggestions for this thread PM them to me and they will be added.

This is a reference list, if you have any questions or comments about anything that is written here please start a new thread.

To all readers! PLEASE NOTE! These are just site reviews. The dive site might or might not be within your skill level - please keep that in mind!

 

[justleesa]

East Side
The Corsair
This is a boat dive
The only "real" wreck, crashed in 1946. It lays at about 108'.
What you might see: Garden eels, eels, leaf scorpion fish, various tropical fish

Sea Cave
This is a boat dive
I only have done this one once - about a year ago, before I started taking pictures - but it was a nice dive. It was a drift dive. There is a cave on the coast line that you swim into (careful of the fishing lines!). There were starfish every where and when you get to the back and look up you see the light entering the cave and the water crashing at the surface...just beautiful. For obvious reasons not always do-able
Average Depth about 45'
Just out side of the cave there is a cold water layer that is brought in from the Molokini current. Is about a 10 degree difference. If you look closely you can see the two different water layers "waving" (like when you look into the distance at a hot road) as they mix.

South Side (Waikiki)
The Sea Tiger
This is a boat dive
This ship was used to smuggle illegal immigrants into the US. It was auctioned off 3 times. The last company that bought it sunk it in 1998 as a submarine tourist attraction. The company went broke so it's just for us divers now . Lays at about 110-120'
What you might see: sharks, eagle rays, manta rays, frogfish, leaf scorpion fish, octopus, eels, turtles

YO-257 at 100 some feet/San Pedro at 86'
This is a boat dive
Two wrecks within swim distance of each other. The YO was a military oil tanker from WWII. Don't know too much history on these two but they were also sunk in the 90's (not at the same time) by a submarine company as a tourist attraction. They still go thru and you can wave to the tourists inside.
What you might see: sharks, eagle rays, frogfish, leaf scorpion fish, octopus, eels, turtles

Kewalo pipe/ 40- about 60'
This is a boat dive
A storm drain (no longer in use) that has lots of coral and fish. Haven't gotten to see it yet, but they say there is a dragon moray there. Off to the one side the UH has fish habitats...also interesting to see.
Out this way you can also dive turtle canyon, Kehi pipe - people are not too thrilled about Kaisers reef.
What you might see: sharks, eels, frogfish, octopus, pipe fish, starfish, unique urchins...I've even seen dolphins at the pipe

West Side
MS Mahi
This is a boat dive
Oahus' first artificial reef (max depth 92') was a WWII mine layer known as the USS Scrimmage. Changed hands a coupl'a times before it was sunk in 1982. Over the years that I have been diving it I have been watching it fall apart. It is no longer safe to swim thru and if the current is strong you can see the top cabin, better said what's left of it, move back and forth, but it still is a great dive as groups of up to 18 (from what we have seen) eagle rays love to hang around.
What else you might see: Sharks, frog fish, octopus, slipper lobster, eels, pillow star fish

Makaha Caverns
This is a boat dive
Also known as "The Lava tubes" (max depth about 45')- Lots of swim thrus, arches and caverns. You can see lots of turtles there! Really fun and it would be wise to bring a flash light along.

Also out that way is A-Frames, Stars, 5" reef (lots of live ammo laying around), turtle canyons, black rock

You might also see: sharks, eels, titan scorpion fish, devils scorpion fish, star fish, pillow star fish

THE CORSAIR - recently there has been a dragon eel holed up by the engine and 2 resident octopus that are fairly large.

SPITTING CAVE - a good site to see white tip reef sharks. they like to hide under the ledges in the back of the cave during the day.

here's a tip i learned on the north shore last sunday: if you go up to shark's cove and its a zoo just move down to the parking lot at three table. there's usually a smaller crowd and the dive site's are very similar. you can go into the water behind the firestation or at three tables.

Makapu beach park - in my opinion the dive isn't worth the hassle getting to the entry point across the beach.

Hanauma Bay- the park is open until 10:00 p.m. on saturday's, so its a safe place for a night dive. the lifeguards stay on the beach until closing and the trolly is available for use until 8:00 p.m. for a small fee (worth it).

Kaka'ako Waterfront park- there is a pipe leading out to the reef system from the breakwater. you just walk down some steps and find the pipe. i usually submerge at the breakwater and follow the pipe for about 5-10 minutes until the pipe breaks up in about 25 feet of water. its an easy dive for after work if your in town. for more detailed info on finding the entry point just pm me.

For more info on shore dives all around the island of oahu there's a great book available. the book is called "the oahu snorkeler's and shore diver's guide" by francisco de carvalho. i got my copy at the wyland store at the navy exchange. they are probably available at any wyland store. it is awesome with good descriptions and detailed maps with reef topography and entry\exit points.

A rather good book for Oahu shore diving has been authored by Francisco B. deCarvalho. The title is "The Oahu Snorkeler's and Shore Diver's Guide". It's available from Amazon.

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[justleesa]

Continued

Not sure when you're going but Sharks Cove (North Shore) is outstand, but can only dive during summer and when north shore is calm. 55' Lots of caverns and caves.

Another site that is often overlooked is Electric Beach on the West Side.

You can spend about 10-20 minutes and see a lot of great marine life right at the end of the pipe. The best place though is as follows.

Make a normal entry off the beach by the pavillion and follow the pipe to the second set of inspection tubes (you'll see the pairs of 2' diameter tubes that stick up about 2-3' from the bottom. These are only in about 10-15' of water so you don't have to descend to find them. Now at the second set of pipes shoot a bearing of 300 degrees and follow that for about 10 minutes. This is where I dive when I go to electric beach and the best place there. Me and three buddies dove this just 1 1/2 weeks ago and had 100+ viz, saw about 7-9 different turtles eating and just hanging around and also saw 2 white-tips in the caves there (really a large overhang that is about 4 feet high at the tallest, about 50-80 feet wide and 20-30 feet back).

The whole time we saw no other divers and it is only about 25-30' deep so you can easily spend an and hour or more out there.

My favorite dive on Oahu is Lanai Lookout. It is an amazing dive, very rough to get to and even rougher to get out, not recommended for the novice or intermediate diver. You need to be an experienced diver and have someone who knows the area fairly well. I would post more information on how to get in and out of the water there, but I don't think people should be going in unless they know what they are doing.

Here is a link to some pictures from a dive I did in the area.

oahu shore dives
Halona Blowhole -- depth 60ft, viz 100ft, entry/exit right of the parking lot, down the cliff at "eternity beach". giant rock slabs left of the cove, 60-foot wall and wide open canyon to the right. awesome views! schools of large fish.

Lanai Lookout -- depth 70ft, viz 100ft, entry to the left of the parking lot, through the tunnel under the road, giant-stride off the left-side of the lava flats, then swim thru the large tunnel at 30ft deep. exit to the right of the parking lot, in the "J-cove" (warning: before entering, visually check the exit first, and only dive it if you're positive you can exit safely given the wave conditions... my rule of thumb is if the water is clear within the J-cove and the waves are not crashing on the boulders... it might be doable =) this dive by far, has the most scenic views, kinda like an underwater bryce-canyon, and is my favorite dive too! enormous school of pennant butterflies, eels, tako, and giant frogfish.

Hanauma Bay -- depth 60ft, viz 50-100ft, entry/exit in front of the second life-guard-tower.
if you go in the morning, plan on getting there early [before 9am]
[they'll close the parking lot if it gets full
and don't re-open it for a couple hours until a bunch of cars have left]
park you car and just lock your gear in it for now.
go to the ticket booth and pay your $5 admission.
[tourists only, residents of Hawaii are free =]
watch the "mandatory" 10 minute "don't touch the reef/fish" video.
[get the stamp on your hand after the movie]
walk down to the tram-shuttle loading area and buy an "all-day-tram-pass" for $2
[ensure to get the wrist-band]
also, purchase round-trip tickets for each tank you plan to use that day.
[it's $1 per tank, per trip... so $2 round-trip per tank]
[or... don't pay for the tram and just lug the stuff 150 yards
down AND up the 50% grade]
now, walk back to your car and gear up.
go back to the tram and ride it down.
walk past the showers, to the second life-guard-tower.
spot the orange-buoys ["basket-balls"] and enter the water.
swim to the "basket-balls" and find the gap in the rocks just past there.
surface swim past the inner reef break and pick-up the Trans-Pacific-Telephone-Cable
[you'll see two cables side-by-side on the bottom beginning at the rock-gap]
submerge around the mooring-buoy (for your dive flag?) or in about 15-20 feet of water.
follow the cable out until half-a-tank
[usually coincident with reaching 60 feet in depth]
in mid Mar, 'swam into a huge school of 2-3 foot jacks.
there's always plenty of turtles, eels, all of the colorful aquarium fish Hanauma is known for.
return following the cable back thru the reef-break.
if you have enough air, try to stay submerged until you're back at the orange-buoys
[sometimes there's a slight current and it's easier to crawl your way through that gap
rather than surface-swim]
shower-off, then get on the tram and ride it up.
at the top, buy a $10 cheese-burger from their captive-audience-cafe =P
repeat as necessary.

Portlock aka China Wall/Spitting Caves -- depth 40ft, viz 30-70ft, entry/exit to the rear of the cul-de-sac, at the rope toward the left of the lava flats. entry is a giant-stride. to exit, grab the rope, and wait for a swell high enough so you can just sit on the first "step" of the lava flow. [i've also used the alternate exit, approx 200 feet up the coast, just past "finger-rock"] lots of tako, monk-seals, eels, and shark caves.

Electric Beach aka Kahe Point -- depth 30ft, viz 30-100ft, entry/exit at the beach.
a shallow dive to 30 ft [40 ft if you try] so your bottom time can be over an hour.
tons of fish [including the scrawled-filefish (one of my favs right now)] plus large schools of snapper, soldiers, and porcupine fish,
numerous giant turtles [some really old ones 5-feet long] and the largest eagle-ray i've seen (6+foot wingspan and giant head)
multiple pods of dolphins. in Feb, we saw 3 pods [approx 24+] while we were underwater... and of course during the surface-interval they were all doing their sea-world show, jumpin' up out of the water performing spinners, etc.
and if you kick a bit [heading 300° from the 2nd set of pots] you can go see the white-tip reef sharks in the "the shark-cave". one morning we saw 2 of them circling around us (a 6 and 5-footer), needless to say, we melded with and became one with the reef =\
just dive it on saturdays or sundays when there's an OW class going on. some of the outfits actually post a "sentry" ["diver-joe-volunteer"] by the cars to baby-sit, while their divers are in the water.

Makaha Caverns -- depth 30ft, viz 30-70ft, entry/exit at the center of the beach cove (waves seldom break there). spot the orange-buoy (basket ball) then surface swim just past it and anchor your dive-flag (the life-guards always remind you, "it's a hawaii law to have a dive flag"). to the right of the buoy, starts a reef wall 20 feet high (so, sand to the left and coral to the right) then 100 feet past the orange-buoy is a large coral-head that sticks up from the reef, this is the tcs. i've seen 12 turtles on top of this tcs at the same time, with another dozen hangin' around it. follow the reef wall around to the right until you see the white boat-mooring-buoy. at that point, turn directly back toward shore, and you should run into the caverns. make your way back along the same reef-wall to the orange buoy and exit (note: if you decide to go direct from the caverns to the beach, you'll end up underneath the surfers and the surf... don't do that)

Haleiwa Trench aka Haleiwa Alii Beach Park -- depth 90ft, viz <30ft, entry/exit to the left of the rocks. surface swim seaward until you see the wall drop-off. face the wall on descent. check all the small caves for giant turtles, but keep watching your depth. the reef along the top-edge of the wall (at 20ft) has better viz and more life, large parrots, and other game fish, plus eagle-rays flying in formation.

Three Tables -- depth 40ft, viz 50-100ft, entry/exit on the left side of the beach, shooting the gap left of the biggest-table. lots of giant boulders and tons-o-fish. (my very first shore-dive =)

Fire House -- depth 40ft, viz 50-100ft, entry behind the fire-station, wading out a small rocky cove. explore left of shark's cove along a line toward waimea bay. numerous spacious caverns and schools of large fish. exit at three-tables.

Shark's Cove -- depth 40ft, viz 50-100ft, entry/exit on the left side of the cove where there's mostly sand. surface swim to the the mouth of the cove. if you head seaward it gets to a depth of 50 feet with many large pinnacles. to the right of the cove are lots of caverns, many directly under the rocky shoreline. numerous turtles, schools and schools of different fish, sting-rays, and monk-seals.

These folks have been compiling sites for quite awhile

http://www.sealancers.org/

They list shore and gps sites

Notice on Spitting Cave
Diver Dies Near Spitting Caves, Honolulu Advertser

In the past 25 years, as a boat captain, dive master and scuba instructor, I have seen my share of police, fire department, DNLR, and coast guard risking their lives to save others in the Spitting Cave, China Wall - Portlock area.

I would like to throw out a few pointers to the swimmers, non-swimmers, surfers, free divers, commercial and non-commercial scuba divers.

First of all, Portlock/ Spitting Caves can be a beautiful experience if the ocean conditions are as follows:

Little to no south swell, light NE or N trade winds, incoming tide (low to high) when the current direction runs towards Diamond Head.
So, when the surf is 4' plus and the trade winds are blowing strong (20 mph plus and the current (tide) is high to low, towards Makapu'u --- go see a movie.

When in doubt, don't go out.

Aloha,
Captain Joey
Joe Zbin

 

[justleesa]

Pinnacle Point, though apparently rarely divable (it's on the south side of the island, past La Perouse) is an amazing place. On a day where it was divable, the only groups there were the two boats from Ed Robinson's Diving Adventures.

Molokini... what's to be said? It sells itself!

This question frequently comes up:
"Should I go to Maui to Scuba Dive?"
I offer my opinion on this question based on my residing and diving on Maui for the past eleven years and having dove in other areas of the world.

A friend suggested this book, he says its the best shore dive guide for Maui, it can be ordered online and goes on to say that its very inexpensive.
Hope it helps you find your way around on Maui!

I've put a lot of info about diving in Maui and the Big Island into these pages. They include information about dives, shops, operators, books, weather etc. My favourite dive was the Night Manta Ray dive off Kona on the Big Island - the night the Mantas showed up, not the other time...

Maui - Pali area on the way to Lahaina. There is a spot boats like to take snorkelers to called the "Coral Gardens" only about 10fsw, but if you don't mind a long surface swim, or have access to kyaks heading straight out from there is the most beautiful coral reef I have seen yet on Maui (though there may be even better ones yet). Directions - heading around the Pali area (Hwy 30) toward Lahaina. After going through the tunnel pull off at the first beach area (obviously on the water side) it is about 1-2 miles after the tunnel. You can either walk 200 yards up the highway (there is actually a small pull off where you can park) and follow a small footpath down the slope and across the rocks or you can swim out from that beach about 400-500 yards at a 45* angle heading SE. The vis by shore is frequently only 5-10ft but it starts clearing up about 200 yards off shore and by the time you get to the descent point (about 20fsw) it's about 50 ft vis. The reef slopes quickly down to more than 100fsw with visability in the 100ft range by that point as well - lots of variety of coral including some beautiful plate coral. Lots of grouper (sea bass) including some very large 30-40 pounders as well as the usual eels, and other reef fish. If not entering at the sandy beach be careful as the surf can pick up making the exit along the rocky area dangerous (so be ready for a long surface swim to the sandy beachhead either way)

Aloha, Tim

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[justleesa]

The Big Island

Down South:
Au Au Point : Deep dive, when we got in the water along came an eagle ray stayed for a little while, down deep - black coral and long nose hawk fish, Tinker Butterflies,
and a flame wrasse

Arch Of The Pirimids : Another deep dive - Spoted an octopus, numerous Dragon Wrasses, Pennant Butterfly

Pinacle Of Illusion : A little shallower - Found a leaf fish, razor wrasse, viper moray and other moray in hole with some cleaner shrimp

I concur on Au Au -- it's a very dramatic site. It's a long boat ride from Kailua Kona. I need to sit
down when I have a bit more time (heading out diving this morning) and compile a list of my
favorite boat dive sites.

There are several popular shore dives here in Kona -- Place of Refuge, Old Airport,
Mile Marker 4 (La A Loa), Puako. These are covered in Dick Dresie's book
(available at many local dive shops) and also on line at:

Shore Diving the Kona Coast

Another good link for shore diving lots of places:

ShoreDiving.Com

Since this recommendation comes up often, I thought that it would be useful to
post this here:

The folks at Wizard Publications have put together some excellent guidebooks
for Kauai, The Big Island, Maui and Oahu.

Highly recommended for those visiting Hawaii on vacation (and even those of us
who live here!)

My top 3 on the Kona Coast:

Ule Pinnacle (specifically the canyon)
Twin Sisters
Hoover's

If you like the canyon at AuAu, you'll love the canyon at Ule Pinnacle.
Hoover's is also called Bandit Ledge by some operators, though I've never
seen Bandit Angelfish there. It's just a nice site with healthy hard corals
and interesting topography.

Big Isle
Kawaihae coast, The whole length of the coast maintains good vis except during heavy rain up country but even then there are clear spots. Great coral, losts of fish, no one else around usualy. Some beach access, boat ramp near by. Two dive boats out of Kawaihae.
This area usualy is in the lea so it's divable when elsewhere is too rough.

#1 - Au Au Canyon (South of Kona)
#2 - Pinacle Of Illusion (South of Kona)
#3 - Capt. Cook Monument (South of Kona)

Golden Arches: "Pine trees" area. Nice diving in 20 to 70 feet of water (of course you can go deeper if you like). Arches, small pinnacle, good place to look for eels, octopus, nudibranchs, nice variety of reef fish.

Pyramid Pinnacles: Also "Pine trees" area. 20 to 70 feet. Great underwater formations, very colorful lava tube, lobsters, nudibranchs, eels.

The Dome: Red Hill area. 20 to 70 feet. Large dome shaped lava tube. Lots of great reef to explore outside tube. Inside tube look for purple frilly nudibranchs, lobsters eels.

Driftwood: Red Hill area. 20 to 80 feet. Great topography with tons of stuff to see. A couple of tubes/arches

Blackwater night dive: 50 to 70 feet...but the bottom is about 6,000 feet deep. Head offshore about three miles in the dark...drop down on a tether to about 60 feet deep and watch all the crazy, lit up pelagic stuff drift by.

Also concur on Au Au.

If you can get to it, the Hive is one of my favorites. The conditions have to be pretty calm, though. There are some neat lava arches that extend above & below the water and could make some spectacluar wide-angle photo shots. The one time I went was my first attempt at underwater photography, so nothing came out. Weather & seas haven't cooperated on subsequent trips.

Mary Helen

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[justleesa]

Hawaii has fantastic Shore and Boat diving and the website www.shorediving.com
is great tool.. Local dive instructors like myself are always leading dives..
Aloha Mark.

call it self publicization, but this is a good resource for finding scuba dive sites in Hawaii. Just roll over the map for whichever Island you're thinking of going to.

While these aren't listings of my favorite dive sites, here is a hopefully helpful listing of dive sites on the Big Island , Oahu,
Kauai, and Maui. Feel free to contribute to the list.

Every Hawaiian diver who has ever dived the steep walls of Lehua Rock and Ni`ihau will agree that it is the most dramatic diving among the main Hawaiian Islands.

Best commercial write up is here:

Ni`ihau and Lehua Rock

It is rarely accessible consistently outside the summer months, though.

Want to go even further, charter a boat to Kaula Rock and Five Fathom Finger, where there are more sharks and big fish than you can shake a stick at.

Niiahu, Kaula, and Lehua Rock

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