8 Pacific dive legends

TAHITI

Late in April of 1789, mutineers led by Fletcher Christian put Captain William Bligh and a little less than half the crew into the launch of the HMS Bounty, taking control of the Bounty herself, thus assuring — among other things — profitable film careers for Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson. The official reason for the uprising was harsh treatment of the crew, but an underlying element was that, having seen Tahiti, many members of the crew did not want to leave. In fact, once the Bounty was seized, the very first place it went was back to Tahiti.

Over the years, countless travelers — including the painter Paul Gauguin — have shared the crew’s sentiments. Once you’ve seen Tahiti and its people, it’s easy to think you’ve finally reached the last perfect place on earth. And the divers who travel here agree. In fact, it’s hard to tear yourself away from the waterfalls, rugged green terrain and myth-shrouded archaeological sites here. But once you do, the water waits with its own wonders.

First of all, visibility here averages just over 100 feet, year-round. Second, while soft corals tend to be the rule in some islands of the Pacific, Tahiti has a mixture of hard and soft corals, giving you twice as much to see. And third, well … did we mention the sharks?

Tahiti has been called the shark capital of the Pacific, and it lives up to the title. Grays, whitetip and blacktip reefs and hammerheads can all be found here in abundance. Their distant cousins, spotted eagle rays and manta rays, also show up, sometimes even venturing inside the lagoon. That’s why Tahiti is such a great destination for people who are normally skittish around large marine animals — not because you won’t see the big critters, but because you’ll see them on practically every dive. After a while, having a shark swimming next to you is like swimming next to coral — they become so ubiquitous that you get used to them. Turtles, dolphins and (if you are lucky and you come between July and October) humpback whales complete the big-animal review.

Ty Sawyer / Sport Diver At Muri Muri off the iconic island of Bora-Bora, a parade of gray reef sharks greets divers.

On the smaller scale, Tahiti’s electric-blue waters are also home to humphead wrasse, bigeye jacks and Napoleon wrasse — and, yes, you can find Nemo here; clownfish are virtually everywhere.

Tahiti and its neighboring islands are also the site of wrecks dating back to the second world war and earlier, including an intact Catalina flying boat just minutes from Papeete. Venture beyond the reef and you will find wall dives to satisfy even the most demanding drift-diving junkie.

MAUI, HAWAII

My California friends had just gotten back from Bonaire, and they were effusive about their trip: “It was so cool; we could visit the dive sites by boat and go back later and shore-dive on our own. It was like having twice the experience! Wouldn’t it be great if there were a Pacific destination where you could do that?”

Ty Sawyer / Sport Diver A green sea turtle appears to be approaching a state of Zen, relaxed in its protected status in Hawaii¹s waters.

“There is,” I told them. And that’s when they learned about Maui.

This figure-8-shaped Hawaiian island, dominated by Haleakala National Park, is actually a pair of volcanoes joined at the hip. The steep nature of lava flows means that water deep enough for great diving typically begins quite close to shore. And while you’ll want to work with a boat charter to get the most out of your trip here, it’s very easy to treat yourself to bonus dives out of the trunk of a rental car. Maui is probably the Hawaiian island most friendly to shore diving, and circum-island roads put about 90 percent of all Maui sites within reach of the driving diver.

The creatures you’ll meet during your drive-and-dive excursions range from lemon butterflyfish and sharks to — on almost every dive — sea turtles. Humpback whales cruise near shore during birthing season, and at night, Spanish dancer nudibranchs and octopi add their talents to the show.

You will need a dive boat to reach crescent-shaped Molokini Crater and the satellite island of Lanai, but these have elements that make them well worth the trip, from the teeming tropicals of the crater to the deep blue hush of light-streaked First and Second Cathedrals to the pyramid butterflyfish that lend their name to the seamount pinnacle known as Pyramids.

An added bonus is how much there is to see from behind the wheel during the shore-diving legs of your Maui trip. In addition to Haleakala National Park, Maui is home to three state parks, a beach park, a restored plantation and shore sites (such as a lighthouse and a wave-fed blowhole) galore. It’s exactly the sort of dive destination we all dream about: the kind where you feel you’ve gotten more than your money’s worth.

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