Trip Advice

[RICoder]

Greetings all...I'm heading to Hawaii on Nov. 5 for 14 days and I KNOW I'll get better information on here than anywhere else...so here goes.

WHAT I WANNA DO:
1) My PRIMARY desire is to do a cage dive w/ Great Whites. November should have them migrating through, and it'll save me a trip to South Africa.
2) Giant Mantas are desire #2.
3) Any dive that is a "must do" so I don't miss out.

WHERE I'LL BE:
Oahu - 7 Days
Maui - 7 Days

TIDBITS OF INFO:
Been diving for 6 years or so, for the past year + I've gotten heavily into shark diving and educating myself on sharks in general...to the point of getting involved in preservation groups. I've done shark dives, but not in a cage and with the exception of a couple of hammerheads and a weirdo bullshark hangin at 90 feet, haven't seen too many of the more aggressive sharks.

ANY help will be GREATLY appreciated. Local shops, who's the best, what to do, contact info, menial advice, whatever. Thanks in advance.

-RICoder

 

[diversteve]

[

Greetings all...I'm heading to Hawaii on Nov. 5 for 14 days and I KNOW I'll get better information on here than anywhere else...so here goes.

WHAT I WANNA DO:
1) My PRIMARY desire is to do a cage dive w/ Great Whites. November should have them migrating through, and it'll save me a trip to South Africa.
2) Giant Mantas are desire #2.
3) Any dive that is a "must do" so I don't miss out.

WHERE I'LL BE:
Oahu - 7 Days
Maui - 7 Days

ANY help will be GREATLY appreciated. Local shops, who's the best, what to do, contact info, menial advice, whatever. Thanks in advance.

-RICoder

I think you'll have to re-think the GWS expedition:

"From 1926 to 1985, there were only 8 confirmed great white shark encounters in Hawai‘ian waters. Since 1985, 3 sightings have been confirmed, all within the past three years." And 2 of the 3 were in 450' of water.
http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_whiteshark.html

Might want to try San Diego: http://www.sdsharkdiving.com/

Manta's are more likely, although Kona on the Big Island is probably the best spot. My brother-in-law just saw 3, 1 with a 12' wingspan at Molokini a couple weeks ago during a dusk/night dive with Ed Robinson - who he highly recommends.

Must do dives on Maui:

Molokini Backwall - especially Shark Condos(for obvious reasons)
One (or both) of the Cathedrals at Lanai

Never dove Oahu so I can't help there. I did read here somewhere about a cage diving outfit off Oahu, but I think it was snorkel only.

Steve

 

[DeputyDan]

The Manta Ray dives are on Kona.

Maui would be entirely an unexpected sighting.

 

[RICoder]

BAH! Well, I'll settle for a Mako.

Thanks for the input so far. That was a very interesting read at the noaa site...seeing a GW at 400+ ft in Hawaii seems odd. But, its such a mysterious beastie, which is probably why I am so facinated.

I'll hit the cathedral dives, those are always interesting.

Any more input is welcome.

 

[pearl4diving]

Aloha RIcoder!

There are shark dives on Oahu, not Great whites - but still cage dive with the sharks. Check it out:

http://sharktourshawaii.com/

I haven't done it, but I know some locals that love it and do it often.

Also, there is alot of great diving to be had on Oahu. We have great wrecks, reefs, lava rock formations, etc. Very often we see white and black tip reef sharks on our dives all around the island. Not too mention the green sea turtles...

As others have mentioned, the Manta Ray dives are on the Big Island - but hey, you gotta have something to come back to Hawaii for, right?

Enjoy your trip!

 

[RICoder]

THANKS PEARL! Hawaii was almost a pure accident for me as it was a wedding gift from my mother...I figured I'd get what I could while I was there. All the advice is great, and I appreciate it.

In the end all this does is put me back planning my trip tp South Africa. MU HA HA!

Aloha RIcoder!

There are shark dives on Oahu, not Great whites - but still cage dive with the sharks. Check it out:

http://sharktourshawaii.com/

I haven't done it, but I know some locals that love it and do it often.

Also, there is alot of great diving to be had on Oahu. We have great wrecks, reefs, lava rock formations, etc. Very often we see white and black tip reef sharks on our dives all around the island. Not too mention the green sea turtles...

As others have mentioned, the Manta Ray dives are on the Big Island - but hey, you gotta have something to come back to Hawaii for, right?

Enjoy your trip!

 

[justleesa]

The shark cage dives are on the North Shore - Lost of fun and interesting. They tie the cage off and go back to shore to get the divers. The cage floats on the surface and once you're in the cage they will start to chum the water. We had about 10 or 15 sharks circling us when we did it last September. I just think that the conditions will be pretty rough when you're there in November, be sure to ask when you sign up. OH, and sign up well in advance as they are always booked.
Good luck and have fun, Lisa

PS, are you coming on your honey moon or getting married here? If it is here you might want to try this : see Shark Weddings

 

[DiveMaven]

There are outfits near San Francisco that do Great White cage diving off of the Farallons. One is http://www.incredible-adventures.com. I know it's not Hawaii related, but thought I'd mention that you don't have to go to South Africa to cage dive with Great White's.

We saw a large Manta on a Molokini crater dive on Aug. 2 during a morning dive, but Kona would really be the place to go see Mantas.

 

[bluemagoo]

There are outfits near San Francisco that do Great White cage diving off of the Farallons. .....

By coincidence, I know Robert and Lani Pyle, the parents of deep rebreather-diving Richard at the Bishop Museum and Peter of the Pt. Reyes Bird Observatory up by SanFran. Peter was the guy who filmed the killer whale taking out the great white back in '97. Bob is PhD in botany and Lani is an educator/reservoir of Hawaiiana.