Long: Wonderful Hawaii trip, did AOW with great diving

[Middleager]

We just came back from a wonderfull Hawaii NCL Wind cruise trip Aug. 24-Sept. 3. We got to Oahu two days before cruise. I took the combined PADI Advanced OW and Nitrox courses and had some great diving in west Oahu. Still unpacking but wanted to write this up.

 

I booked with Capt. Bruce and did 4 dives in the first day and 2 dives in the afternoon of the second day. I felt fortunate that I got to dive Mahi, Makaha cavern, night dive, drift dive, etc. I used nitrox 3 times one of them a 100' tank nitrox, and the other 3 with 100' air tanks (good thing I requested those 100' tanks early and got them.)

 

On the first day (Tue. Aug. 23), the instructor Kevin picked me up from the hotel right on time 7am. On the way to west Oahu picked up another diver and we had good conversation and saw the moutains where there was fire. If I was 2 days earlier the fire forced road closure and I would have missed the dives.

 

We dove the Mahi wreck first. It was a good refresher and I found the water in Hawaii slightly colder than in the Caribbeans. There was a fair current so everyone needed to hang on the rope till some ways down. There was some fish, not a lot, but Kevin pointed out a frog fish. It had the same rusty color as the rest of the wreck and there is no way I would have found that myself.

 

The second dive was Makaha Cavern. That was a really unique dive site. Never seen anything like it. It would be easy to get lost. After that dive I know to always take my own dive light. We saw more marine life with several big turtles.

 

For that night, I had requested to dive near Waikiki, so that won't have to travel all the way to west Oahu that night. Randy originally booked me on Enzo, but called me 2 days before (while I was packing getting ready to leave Toronto in a few hours) to said Enzo cancelled. Randy indicated he will call around but if nobody near Waikiki is going out for night dive, he will offer it even if it's just me and the instructor on his boat. When I got to Oahu, that's what we ended up with (going all the way back to West Oahu for night dive). I think this was quite good in Randy's part and I later found out not everyone in Oahu would do that because Randy wouldn't make money on one diver. It turned out one more person (a boat captain from Kona Jack's Lockers) came for the night dive.

 

Anyway, both of us really enjoyed the night dive at Turtle Canyon with Kevin leading. We saw many fishes, including a puffer fish which really puffed up when Keven hang on to its tail for a little while. I (and Kevin) got a few sea urchin stings. But it was quite an experience doing my first night dive. A couple times we all turned off the lights and just saw the sparkles around us. Quite amazing.

 

The next day Aug. 24, we went for afternoon dives. My wife and 2 other couples joined as snorklers. Randy had all the gears in everyone's sizes packed for everyone (which showed his efficiency compared to anther boat we later went to at another island). Randy was also attentative to them, helping/advising with the gears especially when some people had masks too tight (my wife had "rackoon face") It was their first boat snorkeling experience and some got sea sick, but still was a good experience.

 

Kevin and I did the first dive at LCU, but spent most of the time doing the navigation course requirements. Fortunately we still had some time left (I was on 100' nitrox that time) and went around the ship. Kevin pointed out another frog fish (they're ugly, but so unique).

 

The last dive was a drift dive (which I requested). The snorkelers and the other group of divers stayed with the boat. I forgot where we started, but ended up just past Makaha Cavern. I am an air hog, but that dive we were down for 46 min. We again swam through a series of caverns, and saw one huge turtle resting. Kevin told me not to shine light to turtle's eyes as that would blind them and they become shark food. I guess we (I) still made enough noise to wake him up. This was one big turtle. Anyway, it was good to learn what a sausage was at the end of the dive that Kevin held up above water.

 

Kevin indicated most boats don't like to do drift dives as they have to look for people afterwards. It helped that it was only Kevin and I, Kevin knows the area really well, and the boat still has to pass by us on the way back to the marina.

 

All in all, I had really good experience doing those dives in Oahu. Capt. Randy and Kevin of Capt. Bruce were both very professional and knowledgeable. Randy being able to do the drift dive and was originally going to night dive with just me (later joined by one more person), showed a lot of class on his part.

 

Another trip we had was in Kona on another boat. The dive sites in Kona were great, but the operator did not pay much attention to us (in fact I thought they were rude to practically ignore us most of the time) After that, we all come to appreciate how Randy and Kevin really took care of their customers. In addition to recommending Hawaii (who wouldn't) to my friends, I'd give a big thumbs up to Randy and Kevin of Capt. Bruce. It was a wonderful diving trip.