Mooring balls on Oahu

[jmish]

I am staying near Waikiki and would like to find a good dive site with mooring ball to moor my boat to and do a couple dives. Is there a website that lists dive mooring balls, or other local knowledge?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[txgoose]

Caveat, I have done two boat dives this past June. _Very_ limited experience.

What I saw was that the mooring balls for the common dive sites on the West side hide about 15 feet underwater. The dive boat pulls up to the location that they know has mooring points. The DM is on the bow, the captain idles around to find the actual mooring ball, and when they get close enough the DM dives in with a line and connects the boat to the ball. I don't know if this is to preserve the aesthetics of the sites or to try and keep privateers off mooring balls set by commercial dive groups, or maybe simply trying to keep mooring balls from being navigational hazards? I dunno.

 

[IslandDiversHI]

http://files.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dobor/dum/guides/oahu2012.pdf

The submerged mooring balls is a state of HI standard, so as txgoose says, you'll need a diver to hook up the boat. The state had a budget for putting in mooring balls about 5 years ago, but no budget (or inclination) to maintain them, so some are now missing. However, the ones that are still around are pretty good.

If I were you I think this is your best best. Go out with your buddy and follow any one of the dive boats and wait. Commerical dive boat won't usually spend more than an hour at any one site. When it looks like they are leaving, put your diver in the water and just grab it when they unhook. Finding these suckers can be tricky, and that method while it might take a little longer, will get you on a mooring.