The Polynesian adventure

PORTAL-JUMPING

Ocean Concepts, Oahu

There’s something surreal about traveling from Waikiki to Waianae on Oahu. My buddy Jeff and I had arrived in Honolulu and checked into our hotel about a block away from famous Waikiki Beach. The beach is just like everything you’ve seen on TV: surfers everywhere. We even saw a dog on a surfboard. Heck, there’s a sign on the street warning drivers to look out for surfers crossing the road. (As if you could miss some dude in a neon shorty carrying a longboard.) Boogieboarders take giant leaps off the end of the pier (much to the surprise of nearby tourists) to get to their favorite spots.

Sunbathers from around the world line the beach, too. There are Hawaiian outriggers and the bronze statue of Duke Kahanamoku with the ever-present fresh leis around his neck. Tourists, pro football players (here for the pro-bowl) and high-school marching-band members (here for the bowl-season parades) patrol the boardwalk with little silver digital cameras, and shoppers walk wide-eyed through the famous corridors of the International Marketplace. Every three steps you hear a different language. It’s almost like that bar scene from Star Wars — a place where all the aliens make themselves at home. That, in an odd sort of way, is why we’re here: to enjoy our favorite alien haunt, which currently stares blankly at us as we gaze past the surfers to the vast Pacific beyond. And that brings us back to the surreal …

Early the next morning, the van for PADI 5-star Career Development Center Ocean Concepts picks us up to takes us to Waianae Harbor. About 20 minutes away from the nonstop energy of Waikiki, we begin driving along a coast lined with long stretches of pristine and — amazingly — empty beaches. It’s mostly locals, hard-core surfers and scuba divers who find their way down this road, which eventually reaches a dead-end. Out here, Waikiki seems a million miles away. The volcanic seascape offshore is riddled with lava tubes, swim-throughs and one of Hawaii’s top wreck dives, the Mahi. Even though Jeff and I have been diving with Ocean Concepts before, it’s almost impossible to pass up on another dive on the Mahi. As it turns out, all the other divers on the boat feel exactly the same way.

The 176-foot Mahi sits alone on a sandy seafloor. Much has changed since the 1982 sinking of this onetime cable-layer. The center section has caved in and the ocean has knitted her a furry covering of hydroids, cup corals and encrusting sponges. But one thing hasn’t changed: The Mahi is a world-class fish attracter. There’s almost always a flock of spotted eagle rays hovering over the wreck. The collapsed center section is filled with snapper and Moorish idols. Green sea turtles sometimes stop by, and there are a few resident green morays. We’ve brought our dive lights, because there are lots of nooks and crannies to poke around in. Being in such an exposed spot makes this an oasis for almost anything that passes by. On our dive, it’s the eagle rays that steal the show.

After the Mahi, which, at 94 feet, is a deeper dive, divers usually head for the caverns. Makaha Caverns features two lava tubes that converge, Black Rock Arch has a massive overhang under which you’ll find a thick coat of cup corals, and Keaau Corners, which winds around like an underwater wander-world, follows an undersea ledge that parallels the coastline for about a mile. It’s full of stealth critters like octopus and the occasional frogfish, as well as a nice selection of nudibranchs. And it’s a favored place for green sea turtles to settle in for a nap.

At the end of the dive day, we drive back to the buzz and hum of Waikiki, where we just catch the end of the high-school marching-band parade as the sunset ignites the famous waves — and the hidden worlds beneath — with its golden fire.

As the official publication of the PADI Diving Society, Sport Diver is the magazine divers turn to each month to find out what’s going on in their world. Sport Diver is the ultimate source for up to date information on dive culture, equipment, travel, training and PADI Diving Society activities.

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