The main reason we selected the island of Hawaii for our side excursion is that its Kona Coast has a reputation for world class diving. What little diving we did in Oahu was relatively disappointing compared to the spectacular underwater scenery we had enjoyed on past visits to Fiji and Tonga. However we did have a nice dive on Oahu last week at a site named Two Cathedrals, adjacent to Shark’s Cove (although Mike tries to avoid any underwater dive site that has the word “shark” in the name).
Mike and I accompanied two friends from Alsumar for a fun day trip to Oahu’s north shore, a much more laid-back and funky part of the island quite unlike fast paced Waikiki and its environs. We had a picnic lunch at a beach known to be a turtle basking beach, and sure enough there were easily a dozen or more turtles cruising through the shallow water and sloshing about in the gentle surf, sometimes only a foot or so from the shore. By the way, the word “green” in the name Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle is not due to the appearance of their algae-covered shells, but refers to the color of their meat! One hauled himself out on the sand and enjoyed a nice snooze in the warm sun, eyes closed, surrounded by some thirty tourists with cameras in hand. We snorkeled in the bay, and the turtles paddled nonchalantly by us, only inches away in some cases, giving us a true appreciation of their size (up to 400 pounds).
After lunch our group headed off to join a professional dive guide for Mike’s and my first shore dive in decades. Obviously the definition of a shore dive is one where entry into the water is made from the land, rather than from a boat. We sat on the tailgate of our rental SUV in a public parking lot in order to gear up, donning wetsuits, weight belts and all equipment including tanks. Then, carrying mask and fins in our hands, we hiked (staggered) down a hillside path to the water’s edge over sand and sharp lava rock. The equipment on our backs weighed in at 50 to 60 pounds, minimum, and was extremely awkward out of water. And a full wetsuit in the hot sun is the equivalent of your own personal portable sauna. The only thing worse than descending to the water’s edge was the return when we had to hike upwards back to the parking lot.
The dive itself was entertaining, with a variety of fish and interesting topography, noteworthy for good coral growth and scenic arches. My favorite sighting of the day was a dwarf moray eel, only about 10 inches long and butter yellow from head to tail. He swam past me and hid himself in a crevice with only his head poking out.
An interesting fact about Hawaiian reef fish is that about 30 percent are endemic here and found nowhere else in the world. The reason is that the Hawaiian Islands are located further away from all large land masses than any other place in the world. The population of fish here came from fish and larvae that either swam or floated here eons ago, and then reproduced in isolation from the rest of the world, eventually evolving into unique variations of their species. Hawaii has no clownfish (as seen in the movie Finding Nemo). The reason – the hatching period of clownfish eggs is too short to survive the length of time it would take to float on the ocean’s currents for thousands of miles to arrive in Hawaiian waters.
More about diving later – all I can say for now is that the Kona Coast lived up to its “World Class” reputation.