Is the Hawaii Dive Worth the trip?

[ppina]

In recent years I have been diving in Indonesia. I have also dived in the Red Sea, Bahamas, Portugal, Azores and Grand Cayman.

In April 2019 I have the possibility to visit and dive in Hawaii.

Is the Hawai Dive Worth the trip?

I live in Portugal.

If yes Kauai or Maui?

 

[outofofficebrb]

I think you will be very disappointed if you’ve dived Red Sea and especially Indonesia. For the price vs quality of diving, you’re better off going to the Philippines. It’s not as good as Indo but it’s very, very good. It’s the liveaboard season for Tubbataha. Puerto Galera is also nice.

 

[Diver Dave1]

Agree with the above. If you go to Hawaii, do not go for diving.
I would pick Kauai for sightseeing/visiting over the other islands.
If you are on the big island, the Manta night dive and Black Water dive can be great, can be less than great. I dive when there, but do not go there to dive.

 

[diversteve]

If you;re going to be there anyway - I;d certainly plan a couple dives.

It's a volcanic substrate so if you're expecting the soft corals of Indo you'll be very disappointed.

Near Kauai Sheraton Caverns is an entertaining morning if you like swimming thru collapsed lava tubes with huge sea turtles. Arguably the best dive there is a day trip to Ni'ihau - you might be joined by an endangered monk seal. Google Vertical Awareness for some videos.

Maui has average shore diving, decent boat diving out at Molokini - the back wall dives are good for sharks. Lana;i - especially the west side drifts are where we've encountered 4-5000 schooling Moorish Idols and Butterfy's with about a dozen reef sharks patrolling the edges - on one dive.

It's different diving -you have to learn how to look. Due to the substrate lots of things hide better. One dive off Maui we thought - oh just some old debris. The longer we stayed the more octo's we saw moving around among it.

Kauai is smaller/greener than Maui - near Ka'anapali on Maui there's actually traffic problems at times. Lots of resorts and condos. Kihei/Wailea is qioeter - ,many of the better shore dives are in that area. Ob Kauai stay around Poipu as two of the shops are nearby, The north side of Kauai shuts down for diving in winter - including Ni'ihau.

Of the places I've been to you listed,. the diving is better than the Bahamas but not as good as Grand Cayman.

 

[boulderjohn]

About a decade ago, I dived Maui and did a few dives with a couple from Seattle. They learned to dive in Seattle, and had gotten all their advanced training there as well. They then went on a vacation to Maui, their first ever trip outside of Seattle, and decided they had discovered diving Heaven. They had returned there every year since.

When we talked, they learned that I had dived in many different places around the world. They asked, "Are any of those places nearly as good as Maui?" I paused in sheer incredulity before telling them, as politely as possible, that if I were to rank the sites I had dived, Maui would be near the bottom of the list.

 

[Damselfish]

Hawaii is beautiful and worth visiting to see the sights. And if you're there anyway I'd do some diving. But I wouldn't plan a trip there specifically for diving. There is certainly some nice diving, and it's somewhat unique, though with much less color than you see many tropical places. There are specific dives scattered around the islands that are pretty special. Haven't dove there in years, but still remember more individual dives there than most places. Definitely way better than the Bahamas. But the average dives there I don't think compare well to many other places, especially Indonesia.

 

[Snoweman]

I've only done five dives in Hawaii, but I thought Maui was not great. The two dives on Molokini crater were not nearly as good as the Caribbean. The two dives I did on the big island were pretty good, but that was back in 2001. My dive buddy loved the big island dives on a recent visit.

As far as topside, Kauai is by far the prettiest island. To me, it's also the snobbiest. I much prefer Maui for things to do and friendly folks. I liked Oahu, but the traffic is hell. The big island has a lot to offer, but I just got a bad vibe from it. We took our rental jeep down to Waipio Valley. I remember seeing a sign saying "Unlocals nonwelcome". It was weird wording, but I got the drift.

Visits were 2001 - Maui, Big Island (two dives), Kauai; 2013 - Oahu, Maui (three dives).

 

[KathyV]

I'd love to go back to Hawaii, both for the beautiful things to see and do topside and also for the diving. We did a Kona Aggressor liveaboard trip more than a decade ago and it was an excellent trip.

You don't see beautiful soft corals and sponges in Hawaii, but there are healthy hard corals and lots of gorgeous sea creatures. We also watched whales from the deck and did the night dive with mantas - which was a very memorable experience - and we saw lava flowing and exploding in the water.

I have only dived the Big Island so I can't comment on other islands, but that was a great trip! But I don't know how good it would be to visit the Big Island right now because of the current volcanic activity.

@ppina if you are going to be in Hawaii and will have the opportunity to dive then I think you should go for it!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If diving is your main interest, I’d suggest another part of the Red Sea that you haven’t seen.

 

[Aloha Joe]

I’m on Taveuni in Fiji. The island has a lot of similarities to the less populated Hawaiian Islands, the locals are wonderful, and the diving alone is well worth the trip.

I’m looking forward to returning home to Hawaii but will be sad the diving isn’t nearly as good.