Hawaii: Multi Island Adventure

Hawaii Island Tour
October 18th-26th 2018
Buddy: Derek B.
8 dives, 7 hours 16 minutes

Hawaiʻi “The Big Island”

Flew into the Kona airport, and then drove along Route 19 on the northern edge of the island to Hilo. Spent the night in Hilo, woke up early the next morning and drove to the Hilo airport to do a helicopter tour of the island with Paradise Helicopters. Pilot Dan took us up around Volcano, the macadamia nut farms, and the rainforests and waterfalls around Hilo. After our tour we drove back to Kona, stopping at the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. That evening we did two dives with Big Island Dives, which is a very nice dive shop. We were on Honu Iki with Captain Justin and dive guide Josh. The Manta Ray night dive and the Black Water dive were both very interesting and different dives than any of the other dives I’ve done. Derek even made friends with a sea urchin.

35’ for 48 minutes, 81°

47’ for 60 minutes, 81°

The next morning, we drove to Kula-Kai to do the 2-hour (3 hour) walking tour. Our guide for it was Gary, who is very enthusiastic about the caves and the tour. The tour was informative and different than the limestone cave tours that I’ve done in the past. As we drove back to the Kona airport to head to Oʻahu, we stopped to get a tour of the Kona-Joe Coffee Farm and sample their coffee.

Oʻahu “The Gathering Place”

From the Big Island we flew to O’ahu, and stayed at the DoubleTree. Dove with Island Divers, the shop and boat were smaller, and was a crowded boat. That being said, Captain Shelia and Divemaster Joe were both top notch. The dives were alright, visibility wasn’t the greatest, Joe said that that was partially due to weather. Did see LOTS of turtles, scorpion fish and smaller coral heads.

Coco Crater
41’ for 57 minutes, 81°

Turtle Canyon
39’ for 60 minutes, 81°

While Derek had meetings, I hiked along the Aiea Loop trail. Lots of mud, rocks, and downed trees. It was great, next time if had more time would do the Aiea Ridge trail which went out on the edge of the mountain versus within the trees. That evening we drove to the west side for a Luau.

We finished our respective adventures then came back and visited the Pearl Harbor memorial of the USS Arizona, and toured the USS Bowfin Submarine.

Maui “The Valley Isle”

Flew into Maui early and then drove to the Extended Horizons for some dives. Extended has a much smaller shop of the three but the most well put together. Divemasters Frank and Johnny were both entertaining and very thorough with their briefings. We were only able to do shore dives, and due to weather we were only able to go to Airport Beach. The dives were nice, but not that exciting of dives. Between the morning dives and the night dives, I drove to Lahaina and spent the afternoon exploring that area. After the dives, drove back to the BnB Kihei. The next day we drove the Road to Hana, starting off going along the Northern route, which was much curvier than the Southern route. The drive was very pretty, with waterfalls, forest, and small single lane bridges but not as bad as it was described prior to the drive. (I also wasn’t driving so that very well could have influenced it). The Southern route was a lot more open, overlooking the beaches and hills of southern Maui. Drove back got dinner at Leoda’s before heading to the airport back to Oʻahu.

Airport Beach

24’ for 52 minutes, 81° - 45’ for 53 minutes, 81°
26’ for 53 minutes, 81° - 26’ for 53 minutes, 81°