Executive Version: Did five dives over three days with Hawaiian Eco Divers. Dive Master Ryan. Intern and DMC Joanna. Water temperature ranged from 78 down to 73. Visibility ranged from 90+ down to 25-ish. Dove Shark's Cove twice, M/V Mahi (USS Scrimmage), Makaha Caverns, Three Tables @ night. We had a very nice experience with H.E.D. And all of the dive sites were simply jaw dropping for some kids from Texas. My only issue with having a DM with us is that Ryan and Joanna wanted to show us stuff. Which I understand. And what they showed us was beautiful and fun. That said, I would love to go back and just cruise very very slowly. In addition to the amazing stuff we saw, we had to have gone past a ton of amazing stuff as well. Also of note, the watered down baby shampoo on the dive boat was by far the best no-fog that the family has ever used. We were all raving about it. Now have our own spray bottle.
Longer Version:
I worked with Joanna during multiple phone calls and emails because of luggage issues and reservation changes on my end. She was able to make adjustments and accommodate my family's requests. She is also working towards being a great instructor.
Ryan was our dive master. Completely competent. He helped work my nephew through his AOW certification. He knew how to teach, very skilled diver, easy disposition but firm in checking over the boys' kit and helping where needed. A great mix. His knowledge of the area and sea life was very evident and if you had a question about information he covered or something you were wondering about he was always open to questions.
We had a limited interaction with owner Ricardo, but he did check in with us several times to make sure that we were being taken care of and having a good experience. He was personable and I would have enjoyed more time just talking but as it was, I didn't need anything else from an owner with a good staff.
Day one (6/5) - Dive one - Shore Entry: Shark's Cove; 82F air; 74F water; 33fsw max, 19 ave; Vis 50ft
The hike down to the water carrying all of your gear is not unbearable, but it is also not trivial. A good footing and caution are needed. The wildlife here was just amazing. We saw our first honu, a bucket list item. The wife was a tad light when we entered the water. We had never done full wetsuits in salt water. Ryan added a weight to her tank band. At first she was flailing and struggling to maintain any sort of trim. Once we got her BCD waist belt tightened up, she dove like a champ.
Day one - Dive two - Shore Entry: Shark's Cove; 82F air; 74F water; 31fsw max, 16 ave; Vis 50ft
The surge appeared to be growing during this dive. A person needed to pay attention and not work too hard against the surge, and then surf it forward when it was going your way. It was a fun roller coaster holding trim and buoyancy and feeling the power of the ocean moving you around. We like to think that we're the ones in control but that water can move is without hardly trying. Saw a million fish and two more honu.
Day two (6/7) - Dive one - Boat Entry, South Sea II: M/V Mahi - USS Scrimmage; 85F air; 75F water; 84fsw max, 62 ave; Vis 90+ft
We got moored to the buoy. The water was the most beautiful color of blue. I accused them of importing fake water. The boat Captain said they got it from Tidy Bowl. This was our first boat dive where they actually had a bar and regulator, long hosed from the boat, at the safety stop. That was nice but un-used. The wreck is almost gone. This was apparently an amazing site back in the day. We saw plenty of fun things to look at but the deterioration is pretty bad. At the end of the dive, the wife and I got a compliment when the DM did his final air check of everyone. She and I had enough air left that he sent the teenagers up with the DMC for their safety stop and then took us for another half lap around the bow section. A neat wreck for us but probably well past its better days.
Day two - Dive one - Boat Entry, South Sea II: Makaha Cavers; 85F air; 75F water; 38fsw max, 23 ave; Vis 25ft
We got moored to the bouy again. This time we were sharing the area with two other boats. And the visibility suffered for it. But even our bad visibility was 25 feet or so. I almost got run over by a nice sized honu. Since seeing one was a bucket list item, being so close and working to get out of its way was special. Video below.
Day three (6/8) - Night Dive - Shore Entry: Three Tables 82F air; 74F water; 33fsw max, 19 ave; Vis as far as your light would reach. We dove with our new Sea Dragon mini 900s. Having no other experience and only able to compare them to the lights of the DMs, we were very pleased. And the DMs were probably not carrying their biggest lights. Only to say that in comparison to lights that the DMs felt were adequate, ours held their own and then some. This was everyone's first night dive. With the wife dealing with anxieties in the past I was curious about how it would go. She was a lights out champ. At one point she basically had a juvenile honu sitting on her head that she wouldn't look at. When I asked her about it, she said that she knew it was there but she had a coral under her and she didn't want to damage it. How cool is that? And yes, she got to see several other turtles so life is good. We also saw a sleeping turtle that was massive! All we could see was it's back half but it was impressive. The limited viability was definitely a learning experience. But a fun one. heading back in to the tables to surface, my youngest tried to head butt Table 1. I am fairly certain that it didn't move. He, however, had a nice cut that we commenced to make up fake stories about. I was also impressed with him in that we were about ten feet from the surface, and despite a massive headache, he did not bolt for the surface. He picked up the pace a bit to nudge the DM's fin, communicated the issue and we all made an easy controlled ascent. Just a proud papa.
All in all an amazing trip and a very good experience with H.E.D.
Quick video of the turtle encouraging me to move, at Makaha Caverns.
Longer Version:
I worked with Joanna during multiple phone calls and emails because of luggage issues and reservation changes on my end. She was able to make adjustments and accommodate my family's requests. She is also working towards being a great instructor.
Ryan was our dive master. Completely competent. He helped work my nephew through his AOW certification. He knew how to teach, very skilled diver, easy disposition but firm in checking over the boys' kit and helping where needed. A great mix. His knowledge of the area and sea life was very evident and if you had a question about information he covered or something you were wondering about he was always open to questions.
We had a limited interaction with owner Ricardo, but he did check in with us several times to make sure that we were being taken care of and having a good experience. He was personable and I would have enjoyed more time just talking but as it was, I didn't need anything else from an owner with a good staff.
Day one (6/5) - Dive one - Shore Entry: Shark's Cove; 82F air; 74F water; 33fsw max, 19 ave; Vis 50ft
The hike down to the water carrying all of your gear is not unbearable, but it is also not trivial. A good footing and caution are needed. The wildlife here was just amazing. We saw our first honu, a bucket list item. The wife was a tad light when we entered the water. We had never done full wetsuits in salt water. Ryan added a weight to her tank band. At first she was flailing and struggling to maintain any sort of trim. Once we got her BCD waist belt tightened up, she dove like a champ.
Day one - Dive two - Shore Entry: Shark's Cove; 82F air; 74F water; 31fsw max, 16 ave; Vis 50ft
The surge appeared to be growing during this dive. A person needed to pay attention and not work too hard against the surge, and then surf it forward when it was going your way. It was a fun roller coaster holding trim and buoyancy and feeling the power of the ocean moving you around. We like to think that we're the ones in control but that water can move is without hardly trying. Saw a million fish and two more honu.
Day two (6/7) - Dive one - Boat Entry, South Sea II: M/V Mahi - USS Scrimmage; 85F air; 75F water; 84fsw max, 62 ave; Vis 90+ft
We got moored to the buoy. The water was the most beautiful color of blue. I accused them of importing fake water. The boat Captain said they got it from Tidy Bowl. This was our first boat dive where they actually had a bar and regulator, long hosed from the boat, at the safety stop. That was nice but un-used. The wreck is almost gone. This was apparently an amazing site back in the day. We saw plenty of fun things to look at but the deterioration is pretty bad. At the end of the dive, the wife and I got a compliment when the DM did his final air check of everyone. She and I had enough air left that he sent the teenagers up with the DMC for their safety stop and then took us for another half lap around the bow section. A neat wreck for us but probably well past its better days.
Day two - Dive one - Boat Entry, South Sea II: Makaha Cavers; 85F air; 75F water; 38fsw max, 23 ave; Vis 25ft
We got moored to the bouy again. This time we were sharing the area with two other boats. And the visibility suffered for it. But even our bad visibility was 25 feet or so. I almost got run over by a nice sized honu. Since seeing one was a bucket list item, being so close and working to get out of its way was special. Video below.
Day three (6/8) - Night Dive - Shore Entry: Three Tables 82F air; 74F water; 33fsw max, 19 ave; Vis as far as your light would reach. We dove with our new Sea Dragon mini 900s. Having no other experience and only able to compare them to the lights of the DMs, we were very pleased. And the DMs were probably not carrying their biggest lights. Only to say that in comparison to lights that the DMs felt were adequate, ours held their own and then some. This was everyone's first night dive. With the wife dealing with anxieties in the past I was curious about how it would go. She was a lights out champ. At one point she basically had a juvenile honu sitting on her head that she wouldn't look at. When I asked her about it, she said that she knew it was there but she had a coral under her and she didn't want to damage it. How cool is that? And yes, she got to see several other turtles so life is good. We also saw a sleeping turtle that was massive! All we could see was it's back half but it was impressive. The limited viability was definitely a learning experience. But a fun one. heading back in to the tables to surface, my youngest tried to head butt Table 1. I am fairly certain that it didn't move. He, however, had a nice cut that we commenced to make up fake stories about. I was also impressed with him in that we were about ten feet from the surface, and despite a massive headache, he did not bolt for the surface. He picked up the pace a bit to nudge the DM's fin, communicated the issue and we all made an easy controlled ascent. Just a proud papa.
All in all an amazing trip and a very good experience with H.E.D.
Quick video of the turtle encouraging me to move, at Makaha Caverns.