Bored with Magic Island

[mjcoussens]

My friends and I have been out there the last 4 or 5 weekends and while it's a great site with some really nice bottom structure, we're looking for some new scenery and my girlfriend won't stop complaining about the swim back in... Can anyone reccommend some new dive sites? we've checked shorediving.com, but it seems that the majority of shorediving sites are a bit inaccessible right now with the swells on the North and West shores. Are there any other sites we're missing?

Half of our group is fairly new to diving with less than 50 dives, so the easier to get in and out of sites would be more our style. If someone would like to possibly meet up with us at a site to show us the sights, maybe act as an unofficial tour guide, we'd be more than willing to treat you to lunch afterwards. If we could afford it we'd be hitting up boat dives and hiring guides, but alas we're all poor graduate students choosing to buy air instead of food

Thanks in advance for your input,

Matt

 

[bluemagoo]

You should try browsing through Carvalho's little book "Oahu Snorkeler's and Shore Diver's Guide". It's good, fairly up-to-date, and carried by most bookstores in the Hawaii outdoors section.

Excluding the west coast cuts out a lot of possibilities. Usually, Kahe is diveable even though Makaha may be reporting up to 4ft or a touch more surf. It's worth a shot; snorkel the spot first to get a feel for it -- it's still diveable even if the local kids are bodyboarding, but if you're really beginners, take the hint and stay out; even if you get past the surf, the surge may be unpleasant. Don't get past the cooling tube outflow and definitely don't get caught in its current (even though you may see others launching themselves into it). If surf permits, try Zablan Beach Park which adjoins to Nanakuli Beach Park; Zablan is also known as "Formacs" beach because of the nearby Navy tower. The left side of Zablan has some nice finger coral formations and there's a very large boulder worth exploring (my buddy once found an empty cypraea tessellata, quite rare and valuable) within 100yds offshore (I've forgotten the azimuths and they're in a long lost logbook). The entry would be from the beach or, better, a giant stride off the rocky shelf fronting the homes on the left side. The exit is the beach. If the surf is really down, there's also a couple of spots up near Makua Cave. One is detailed in Carvalho's book. Another one to the left of it is less known but used by several clubs for night dives during lobster season; it features a sand bottom with isolated small outcroppings hiding lobsters and juvenile pennant fish.

Otherwise, you might consider Portlock. Again, Carvalho's book has directions. My cautions are to stay out if there's breaking waves of any size, plan on entering from the upper park (Koko Kai?) and exiting at the lower park (Kokee?); climbing back out at the original entry can be a bear. Snorkel the spot first, be very cautious of currents (think several times before venturing out toward the point although that's where the cool dropoffs and stuff are), and be wary of man'o'war which frequently drift in with southerly (kona) weather patterns.

You could also try the area fronting the Kaimana Beach Hotel/Waikiki Aquarium/Natatorium. There used to be a boat ramp/pier on the Diamond Head side of the Natatorium and you'd generally follow the remnants outward.

 

[Tom Winters]

I thought the UH Aquanauts had access to some boats? Also, you might want to hit up the local dive ops for local student rates. If someone running with 4 empty seats can plunk 4 skinny impoverished student carcasses in them for $20 each, they might go for it. Won't cost anything to inquire. And maybe throw the shop a little business if you can.
Also, try advertising for boat space out there. A cheap ad in the Pennysaver - who knows?
Portlock Point is an iffy shore dive. I rescued a rescue fireman who was rescuing a shore diver there years ago. I've even been rescued at sea off there in the Molokai Express. Makua Cave is fun, but it always felt different after the kid boogie boarding off the beach park there was killed by a tiger.
Kaimana Beach is the starting point for the Waikiki Roughwater Swim. Worth one dive maybe.
Electric Beach is fun - we used to deliberately swim into the discharge to get blown all over the place. Oh man, you want to be exhaling like a steam locomotive though.
Have fun. Be careful.

 

[bluemagoo]

Others might flame me for this but I also thought of trying Hanauma Bay after 6pm on a Saturday. After 6pm, the parking is free and there's no entrance fee. But you will have to watch the intro movie if you haven't already done so AND also registered your name (to prove that you did watch the thing; registration good for a year). Humping gear down and up that hill will be no fun. Also, I guess that this would qualify as a night dive (the sky may be light enough but the bay is in shadow) and may be beyond your certification level. If you have the cert, then for the first time, I'd recommend staying within the reef (the Sandpatch area adjacent to the cables) and having a shore watch to guide you back in. There won't be a whole lot to see while inside and it's awfully shallow, but it's good for the experience. The lifeguards will be there until closing time (10pm?) which is somewhat comforting but not an excuse to get sloppy and take chances.

Hanauma was a good deal when it was free. If you're willing to put up the coin and hassle now, it's still a good dive. A problem will be that they've fenced off the fringing shelf area and so you'll have to swim all the out and in; no more walking out and jumping in.

 

[mjcoussens]

Thanks, for the suggestions. I will be picking Carvalho's book up this weekend. We may decide to dive Hanauma Bay saturday morning, but it all depends on the weather and other divers in our group.
UH aquanauts? I've searched all over campus for a dive club, but have been unable to find anything. While cleaning mud out of my office that is. Any additional information you could provide me on this group would be excellent.

Once again, thank you for the great suggestions

Matt

 

[Tom Winters]

I guess the UH Aquanauts finally became history. They were pretty big in the 80's and at least into the early 90's. It was all students as far as I could tell, but none of them ever seemed to graduate.
So reorganize and recharter it, be nice to the people over at the Research Pier, and use their boats.

 

[chepar]

Others might flame me for this but I also thought of trying Hanauma Bay after 6pm on a Saturday.

My dive buddies and I have been discussing this also - main reason is the parking becoming available in the late afternoon. Although for me, it's more the space being available than the parking being free.

Anyway, one of my buddies snorkels there on Saturday evenings quite often - apparently the tram runs until 6:30 or so. Possibly enough time to get your gear down - but you would have to hump it back up the hill, which doesn't sound too appealing.

I would also say to keep an eye out at Electric Beach (Kahe) - as has been said, even if the surf is reported to be 3-4 at Makaha, Electric Beach could still be diveable. Good suggestion to snorkel it first if you're unsure - sometimes there's a strong current moving parallel to shore if the surf is kicked up a bit.

 

[bluemagoo]

Because I nearly drowned from the mistake, a hopefully needless warning about Hanauma Bay: Although it's a pain to come back in through the "Slot" when the rip's outgoing, it's probably the safest route in -- just save enough air and wear gloves to pull along the bottom and the cables. I don't recommend trying to avoid the Slot's rip by picking your way over the shelf. For one thing, the lifeguards and Friends of Haunama Bay deeply frown at anyone crunching over the shelf (although it's a myth that the shelf's coral was destroyed by trampling feet). The real problem with trying to hand-over-hand/belly scrape back over the shelf is the following surf. My mistake was to snorkel back in over the shallow shelf in the area known as "Backdoor". I got caught from behind by a surf set and although the foamy whitewater was miniscule, it was enough to keep my snorkel flooded, destroy my BC's bouyancy, and hold my head down just enough to be unable to clear my mouth. My arms were pinned out in front (to avoid getting faceplanted into any rocks) so that I couldn't push up and my regulator was pinned down by my chest. I must've held my breath for well over a minute until the set stopped and I could roll to the side enough to unpin my arms and stuff the regulator in my mouth. I basically nearly drowned in about 10-12 inches of water (actually less because of the wave action) and I was cursing myself all the way over the beach, through the shower, up the hill, through the parking lot, and into the car. The poor tourists probably thought I was some psycho schizoid....