Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep

Kohala After Dark
Not many divers get the chance to experience the Kohala Coast’s rich reefs just off the unmarked Ohiki and Kiholo Bays. It’s generally too far for dive boats from Kona. But these sites are legendary, and on the way back south we dived at places you’re unlikely to hear about in most dive circles.

There was one, though, that we’d all heard of and wanted to explore: Ulua Caverns. So when we anchored that night just offshore of the remote Pu’ukoholo Heiau, which overlooked the caverns, we were all ready to get in immediately.

While Paul fired up the barbecue (we’d caught a nice-sized wahoo along the way), Jimmy, who’d dived Ulua Caverns years before, pulled together a briefing from the cobwebs of his memory.

“From what I remember, there’s a massive lava tube that goes pretty far back into the shore. Lots of tiger cowries, octos, cool things like that. It’s best not to get lost. Everyone ready?”

We followed Jimmy to the opening of the cavern. With no run-off, the visibility along the Kohala Coast remains high, and we could see the entire cathedral-like opening. It easily accommodated all of us, and we ventured in pairs. In the beams of our lights, the tubastrea cup coral that covered the walls glowed a brilliant orange, punctuated by stoplight-red encrusting corals. Looking closely, the corals reached into the water like a thousand grasping orange hands, plucking plankton from the blue.

I wasn’t 10 feet into Ulua before I spotted a fist-size (think of Shaq’s fist) tiger cowrie, with its mantle fully exposed around its shell. Kendra and I explored the turns and twists of the caverns, then ventured out into the cove. Jimmy and Jeff had corralled a reef squid and were following its nocturnal hunt. They also  discovered several lobsters. Puffers passed, and as we swept our lights over the rocks, a thousand tiny eyes reflected back, exposing legions of shrimp out on their nightly forays. 

The dive was gratifyingly easy after the whip and shake of the pinnacles, and that night we toasted the Sunseeker, the quiet hush of the calm cove and Paul’s barbecue savior-faire. We toasted the idea that even a place as popular as the Big Island can still harbor secret blue kingdoms. And we toasted the fact that the exploratory portion of our trip was cut short by the caprice of the sea, for that only increased our resolve to return during that happy circumstance when the ocean would be more willing.

But there was still Kohala. The next day we’d ply more familiar waters, places where privacy-hungry Hollywood stars had dived.

More Legends
Early the next morning, we weighed anchor and motored down the coast to a site called Ledges, just off the Kona Village Resort. Watt had never dived this site, which, like Ulua, is legendary in Kona dive circles. Like the Pinnacles of Hamakua, Ledges is hit-or-miss. We got lucky and, according to Jimmy and Paul, got conditions they’d never seen.

Usually, the dive is done as a thrilling drift past ledges, overhangs and coral fingers, but we’d hit the site in a rare current-free time. We still had about 150 feet of viz, though, so we lazily finned along at about 60 feet. Whitetip sharks hung out in the overhangs, and the volcanic substrate was bejeweled with loads of hard coral bushes inhabited by black and white Hawaiian dascyllus, yellow tang and rainbow cleaner wrasse, all of which would rise curiously above the safety of their coral home during the quiet of our inhalations, then dash back into the folds of their coral fortress with the rush of bubbles when we’d noisily exhale.

On our last day, in an attempt to dive every site in the area, we ascended from Ledges and headed straight for the Kona Village signature site, the Arch. We actually had a plan of attack at this well-known site, which is fairly exclusive to Kona Village guests. First, we headed straight for the double arch. Almost a permanent fixture, in the shadows of the lower arch small whitetip reef sharks gather to rest. Just above the whitetip arch, a shallower arch teems with raccoon butterflyfish. Zebra morays and large reef octopuses reside in the outskirts, and back near the mooring there’s almost always a frogfish, which is nearly impossible to find without Jimmy’s eyes.

On this dive we interrupted a bit of frogfish hanky-panky, and the big female was none too pleased. She huffed and stomped her pectoral fins, and the male did what males do when a woman feels scorned: It retreated … quickly. Schools of black durgon and orange-band surgeonfish roamed the volcanic hillocks, nibbling algae along the way. The site also provides asylum for passing turtles, which rest under the ledges. The entire lot was in residence, and all of us beat the zigzag path from critter to critter until we were satiated.

For our final dive of the day, we went on the hunt for whitetip sharks. Paul and Jimmy motored the Sunseeker close to the point at Kona Village. If so inclined, we could’ve swum to shore in a few easy strokes. Watt and Kendra hit the whitetip bonanza here, finding several resting under the many overhangs — they even had an nice encounter with a sea turtle. The site was lush with hard corals and thick with the tiny critters whose entire lives are played out in the space of a small closet.

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