Mine was off the beach at Puako on the big island. We were staying at a rented beach house. I had previously done a quick check out dive with my wife on arrival just to make sure our equipment was OK before we did some boat diving, so the first dive was really quick, cursory and more devoted to equipemnt and camera checks and confirming warm water bouyancy.
So when I next dove the site to really check it out one morning I was really surprised by how beautiful and vibrant it was. The place is a turtle preserve and is crawling with lots of turtles who are very calm and comfortable with people being around. But the best part is, outside of the shallows, there are rarely any people there. There were the occasional snorklers who never went beyond the reef edge and only once did I see any scuba divers in the 10 days I was there (saw one dive boat at a mooring about a mile down the reef).
So when I swan out to the reef shelf I was all alone on a beautiful morning with awesome vis in the 80 plus foot range. I just happened to go right over a great lava tube that dropped through the shallow reef wall to the sloping outer reef below. It was a swin through that took you from about 6 feet to 30 feet and let out in a little "bite" out of the upper reef that was about 80 feet in diameter and wasa crawling with reef fish and healthy coral. I was immediately blown away. I swam out across the reef towards the deep water slope were it drops to great depth and looked out across the blue and saw large pelagics milling around or passing by. So I cruised along just below the drop for a while and saw big jacks, a nice big ray and none were the least bit concerned by my presence - in fact at one point I discovered I was being followed by a turtle who was joining me as if to introduce me to everyone.
After I had swam up the mild current for a while, I turned back onto the reef shelf to explore. I watched another turtle having it's morning munch at arm's distance (who seemed to look at me as if to say, "why aren't you digging in?"), I saw a few different types of morays in their respective lairs and a variety of small and medium sized reef fish all starting their day in the gloriously clear water brightened by the suns first rays of the day.
As I made my way back to my lava tube drop-in spot, I dsicovered the edge of the reef was a series of similar "bites" and recesses, each with it's own little community. It was a like a series of coral fingers that stuck out towards the seperating each little are. Most of these fingers were perforated with swim throughs or small caves. And each little cave had collection of shrimp and other critters sequestered away. One of the bigger ones had 2 turtles napping in it.
At first I was kicking myself for not bringing a camera. I hadn't expected much and was doing the dive more to spend some time before breakfast and see what the place was like. But then I was glad I didn't bring it because I therefore really just slowed down and drank it all in.
I realized the spot was far better than the 4 spots we had already done on boat dives and was a bit disappointed that I had several more boat dives already booked because I wondered if they would be as nice and I knew they wouldn't be as personal or priavte.
It was truly spectacular and was made more so with the feeling that it was purely my personal adventure and was almost spiritual in how being there solo made me feel part of the goings on that never happens with a boat full of otrher divers.
I dove that spot and the surrounding area solo several times over the rest of that trip and was always thrilled with what I found and how beautiful, peaceful and untouched it was. It was hard to believe it was in area of the Island that was surrounded by highend resorts and tourist beaches.
My wife and I are pining for a chance to rent that beach house again and return to what we have come to view as our own little piece of diving heaven.
