Ni'ihau, the Forbidden Island
Trips to Ni'ihau I have learned consist of a very early start to a very long day. The reward is a great day of diving and memories to last. As crew our day officially starts at 5:30 am. Our customers are expected to check in by 6:00 am. By 6:45 am we are pulling away from the dock loaded up for a full day of diving (3 tanks each), breakfast and lunch for customers and crew, plus fishing gear.
The trip out took almost 2.5 hours. Its a long way across the channel. Everyone settled in nicely for the long ride. As we finished our channel crossing Capt Andrew got a bite on one of the fishing lines he had set out. We had managed to hook a huge marlin, estimated at around 500 pounds. He was a beauty there is some brief footage of the catch in the video below. Being aware of overfishing in our oceans, Ryan cut the fish loose but managed to save Capt Andrew's prized lure.
After all the excitement we decided on the best spot for the first dive as Keyhole based on wind conditions and ocean currents. The Captain expertly backed in to the cove. Divers started dropping off and gathering at the surface for a group descent. The water was crystal clear, the current was minimal, and everyone was very excited to start the first dive of the Ni'ihau season. Once everyone was in we started the descent. We saw a few sharks and 6 different spotted eagle rays swim around us. Incredible visibility and beautiful geological formations surrounded us.
I touched down to around 122 feet and the bottom was still a very long way off. The remainder of the dive we remained in the 80 foot range. It is very tempting and easy to just keep descending. But we play by the recreational rules.
After a nice long surface interval we dropped it at Vertical Awareness. The site consists of various plateaus. The tops of the plateaus are around 40 feet and the sides dropped down to what seems infinity, likely around the 300ft plus range.
After our second dive of the day we paused for a long surface interval and lunch. Apparently lunch had been lovingly prepared by Marvin's own hands according to Christina. Everyone enjoyed the sandwiches, salad, chips and cookies very much. We also were lucky enough to see a humpback whale swim by and splash a few times. And there was a monk seal just sunning itself on a rocky ledge and showed absolutely no interest in us. Magnificent views of the rock coast as we dined. After a long relaxing break and off gassing everyone was ready for the third dive of the day.
Our third and final dive of the day was at Ni'ihau Arches. Beautiful dives with abundant swim thrus. It was like swimming through geological Swiss cheese. It was a matter of deciding which hole to go through. Some swim thrus were very deceptive. At a distant they looked like just a crack on a huge stone face but once you entered there was light coming in from all the holes that permeated the rocks, hence Swiss cheese. And one of our customers received quite a surprise on the dive. her boyfriend proposed and presented her with quite a rock. She was all smiles on the long ride back across the channel to Kauai.
All in all the trip was incredible. The diving was amazing , and the visibility was what all divers dream of having. I can't wait to do it all over again this coming Friday.
Trips to Ni'ihau I have learned consist of a very early start to a very long day. The reward is a great day of diving and memories to last. As crew our day officially starts at 5:30 am. Our customers are expected to check in by 6:00 am. By 6:45 am we are pulling away from the dock loaded up for a full day of diving (3 tanks each), breakfast and lunch for customers and crew, plus fishing gear.
The trip out took almost 2.5 hours. Its a long way across the channel. Everyone settled in nicely for the long ride. As we finished our channel crossing Capt Andrew got a bite on one of the fishing lines he had set out. We had managed to hook a huge marlin, estimated at around 500 pounds. He was a beauty there is some brief footage of the catch in the video below. Being aware of overfishing in our oceans, Ryan cut the fish loose but managed to save Capt Andrew's prized lure.
After all the excitement we decided on the best spot for the first dive as Keyhole based on wind conditions and ocean currents. The Captain expertly backed in to the cove. Divers started dropping off and gathering at the surface for a group descent. The water was crystal clear, the current was minimal, and everyone was very excited to start the first dive of the Ni'ihau season. Once everyone was in we started the descent. We saw a few sharks and 6 different spotted eagle rays swim around us. Incredible visibility and beautiful geological formations surrounded us.I touched down to around 122 feet and the bottom was still a very long way off. The remainder of the dive we remained in the 80 foot range. It is very tempting and easy to just keep descending. But we play by the recreational rules.
After a nice long surface interval we dropped it at Vertical Awareness. The site consists of various plateaus. The tops of the plateaus are around 40 feet and the sides dropped down to what seems infinity, likely around the 300ft plus range.
After our second dive of the day we paused for a long surface interval and lunch. Apparently lunch had been lovingly prepared by Marvin's own hands according to Christina. Everyone enjoyed the sandwiches, salad, chips and cookies very much. We also were lucky enough to see a humpback whale swim by and splash a few times. And there was a monk seal just sunning itself on a rocky ledge and showed absolutely no interest in us. Magnificent views of the rock coast as we dined. After a long relaxing break and off gassing everyone was ready for the third dive of the day.Our third and final dive of the day was at Ni'ihau Arches. Beautiful dives with abundant swim thrus. It was like swimming through geological Swiss cheese. It was a matter of deciding which hole to go through. Some swim thrus were very deceptive. At a distant they looked like just a crack on a huge stone face but once you entered there was light coming in from all the holes that permeated the rocks, hence Swiss cheese. And one of our customers received quite a surprise on the dive. her boyfriend proposed and presented her with quite a rock. She was all smiles on the long ride back across the channel to Kauai.
All in all the trip was incredible. The diving was amazing , and the visibility was what all divers dream of having. I can't wait to do it all over again this coming Friday.
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