Hawaii Dives 2024
Manta Night Dive
Pelagic Magic Dive
Way back in 2019, I had a trip to Hawaii planned and booked. Then COVID struck. It would be 5 years before I would resurrect that trip, and I would visit the five-oh on my five-oh (at least the same year anyway, not my actual birthday).
This trip was a surf-and-turf vacation with two primary goals: see the manta rays and visit Pearl Harbor.
Kailua-Kona on Hawaii (The Big Island): 7-14
This was the dive portion of my trip. Basically my only plan was to dive. I would be on the Big Island for a week, and pretty much diving every day I could. On my non-diving day (to de-gas), I'd see what else I could get up to.
Sadly, like many of my recent trips, the non-dive time was poorly planned, and once again (like in Ecuador) I forgot that with altitude comes cold. I kind of wanted to go see the summit and telescopes on Maunakea, but the only real shot would have been going on a full-day tour that could outfit me with the gear. So that didn't happen. My "day off" I basically drove around and relaxed. Not that I minded that much.
The diving was a bit of a mixed bag: some were fantastic, and others a little underwhelming. Anything that like a "pure" reef was meh: nice finger corals, but not much color, but anything that was near the rocky, wall-like shores was much more fun. The Pelagic Magic (black water) dive was great. Then the manta night dive was fantastic!
Honolulu on Oahu: 14-18
So with the "surf" part of this trip over, it was time for the "turf". Mostly I just wanted to see Waikiki and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.
I can see why Waikiki is a famous beach! It's about as picture perfect as you could imagine. I will also never stay there again. Too many people. Too close to the strip. It feels almost fake, or like a theme park. I'm glad I stayed there once, but I'm also glad it was also only a couple days.
Pearl Harbor National Memorial is exactly what you expect, and what you get out of that experience is mostly about how you feel. The memorial grounds are well kept. The Arizona Memorial is striking.
