We've just recently returned from a much needed and earned short holiday to Waikiki Beach on Oahu. We went to Oahu just to get out of Kauai and experiencing another of the Hawaiian islands. Oahu was a very pleasant surprise. It was so nice to drive on an real multi-lane highway again. What a pleasure to be able to pass the slow driver and to have more than a single way to get to any destination. The crowds of people on Waikiki were also nice. There were many more Japanese tourist on Oahu than we ever see on Kauai. It made for a unique cultural experience. Of course the highlight of the trip was the nightlife. It was so comforting to see all types of bars (Irish, strip, hotel, beach, chain, etc). And get this, at one local Irish bar they actually allow people to smoke. Oh, it's still illegal but they figure that if you wish to risk the fine, you can go ahead and smoke. Personally I don't smoke, never have, but it is so refreshing to see a bar that bucks the current system. Being on Waikiki further brought to light the fact that I really miss the diversity you have in a larger metropolitan area. Diversity is the spice of life. Now on to the diving. One of our reasons for visiting Oahu was the opportunity to do some wreck diving. We really had our sites set on doing some world class wreck diving. Having come from the Florida Keys we were expecting the same class of wrecks. We were somewhat disappointed with the wreck diving. We were actually only able to dive the wreck of the Mahi so I don't want to speculate on other Oahu wrecks. The Mahi was believed to have been built as a minesweeper, however it was refitted by the Navy and used in the Bahamas for laying cable. Later on it was used as a research vessel by the University of Hawaii. It was sunk in 1986 and now lies in 95 fsw.
The site was very crowded with divers from various boats. It reminded me of being on the Benwood Wreck in Largo with 4 boats moored up and crowds of divers below. The Mahi did have a resident group of spotted eagle rays that seemed to keep circling the wreck. They would come in close and the head back into the sandy areas surrounding the wreck. The other noteworthy residents were the school of porcupine fish surrounding the flagged mast of the ship. Conditions were calm and visibility was 100 ft+ making the dive and overall pleasant experience but none of the WOW factor we were craving.
Our next site was Makaha Caverns. They are a series of interlaced lava tubes with some great swim throughs. Since it is in shallow water (25 fsw) there is plenty of light. There were some turtles around looking for napping spots. We did spot two very nice sized white tips in one swim through cave. They did not seem very pleased at being disturbed by divers, but I did get some good footage. The other great find, seen only by Brownie and myself, was the big moray being harassed by a very eager bunch of cleaner shrimp. We also encountered a school of milletseed butterfly fish as were ascending. Otherwise the site was somewhat devoid of life.
I will not judge all of Oahu's diving based on the tow sites we did visit. I do hope to return and dive some of Oahu's other wrecks.
And of course we had to visit Pearl Harbor. I had not really expected much but I have to admit it was quite a bit emotional. Many people lost there lives on that spot. It was nice to see that the Memorial was in itself patriotic but not the pseudo political patriotism you see surrounding our country and it's current involvement in Mr. Bush's illegal conflict.
I know it's expensive to get to Hawaii from the US Mainland but it's certainly a trip worth taking. I live on the islands and I am still in awe of their beauty every single day.
More pictures from the trip are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scubadreamtime.
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