A diver’s paradise

By Ty Sawyer

updated 2:04 p.m. ET Feb. 2, 2007

Hawaii is everywhere. It’s in our clothing design, on television, part of our culture ... but mostly it’s in our dreams. When the idea of a tropical paradise comes up, the first place that comes to the world’s collective imagination of island perfection is Hawaii.

Waterfalls here seem to seek out only the loveliest cliffs and hillsides to cascade down. The rainforests are lush with greens, unique flora and fauna and everything that exudes exotic-ness but always seems inviting — like the kind of place you could take a family stroll.

There are impenetrable red-rock canyons, silk-sand beaches that stretch off to the horizon, steaming volcanos that flow hot and red into the sea and fields of freshly-hardened, black lava that look like a sunburnt moonscape. There’s also something inspiring about a culture where flip-fl ops, T-shirts and shorts are daily attire. Hawaii offers a vast realm of discovery and exploration. And then there is the sea …

The ocean defines Hawaii for most visitors, especially divers. It’s a place where the chaos of evolution has taken bold steps to enthrall and surprise even the most well-traveled bubbleblower. A place where massive schools of spinner dolphins, green sea turtles, manta rays, reef sharks and whales share space with tiger morays, rockmovers and endemic fish whose one imperative while evolving seems to have been to become the most colorfully and interestingly designed species in the sea. And it’s common to see most of these distinctive creatures on a single dive.

Slide show   The Heart of Hawaii Her warm friendly people, inspiring natural beauty and unique culture draw people to the immaculate shores of Oahu. more photos

Off these shores are a lifetime of deep-blue adventures. What’s even more remarkable about Hawaii is that although it’s such an integral part of our tropical island consciousness, it’s the most remote chain of islands on earth. Its closest neighbors

are more than 1,000 miles from Hawaii’s idyllic shores. It’s literally in the middle of nowhere, an accidental sprinkle of volcanic treasure smack in the center of the vast field of the Pacific Ocean.

The islands of Hawaii exist in that rare realm of Polynesian perfection that will always leave you yearning for more.

Gathering place
Scarcely a person alive cannot conjure an image of Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, hula or the famous waves of the North Shore. Oahu has made a deep impression on the world. It has a little bit of everything. For divers, though, Oahu means wrecks. The most famous of these is the legendary Mahi, which resides at 95 feet on a sandy seafloor off the Waianae coast. This one-time cable-layer has become the gathering place for the area’s marine life.

Ty Sawyer / Sport Diver

Spotted eagle rays school around the mast, large aggregations of blue-striped snapper come so thick they literally block the view of the wreck, and pennant butterfly fish flit and flow among the shadows. There’s a resident moray that lives in the cable spooling mechanism at the bow. And all kinds of passing pelagics visit the wreck, including tiger sharks and green sea turtles. Closer to the cosmopolitan shores of Waikiki, you’ll find two intriguing wrecks, the YO-257 and a WWII Corsair.

The transformation of the YO-257 from machine of war to reef has been startling. It has become inundated with soft corals and marine life. The Corsair, a result of pilot error (he ran out of gas on the way back to the airstrip), makes a unique experience for the logbook. It still makes for a great photo op, with the hordes of butterfly fish that pour over the wreck. It should not be missed while in Oahu. Wrecks aren’t the only undersea attraction off Oahu. If you’re interested in seeing Hawaii’s singular variety of endemic species (almost 30 percent of everything you see is unique to Hawaii!) there’s only one place to go: Hanauma Bay.

It is perhaps the world’s most famous snorkeling beach. This lovely caldera is strikingly beautiful and literally packed with marine life (the result of food pellets offered by the tourists). There’s also a spectacular collection of volcanic caverns, home to stonefish, sharks and turtles. For a funky addition to your logbook, head off to the sharky site called the Electric Plant. For something that will cause your thrill vein to tingle, head to the surfer’s enclave of Haleiwa on the North Shore.

Here, you’ll head out into open water, jump in a cage and be surrounded by dozens of sharks – Galapagos, bull, oceanic whitetip and dusky, all vying for your attention. At the end of the day, head down to Waikiki for a beachside Mai Tai. The tiki torches light up the busy waterfront and the sound of the waves, whose lives began thousands of miles away, will lull you into a dream state.

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