Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation - Introduction to Kona Diving

We were greeted to our first day on the Big Island with a wonderful breakfast at the B&B, consisting of a frittata and a fresh fruit platter made from fruits picked fresh from the farm. The passion fruit (Lilikoi), guava, papaya, rambutan and Jaboticaba platter reminded me of the twisted fruit portraiture of Giuseppe Archimboldo. Breakfast was served at the communal kitchen table with other guests. 

Exotic fruit breakfast platter

But we couldn't linger long at the kitchen table before it was soon time to go diving with Wanna Dive. Steve, the owner of Wanna Dive, was very curious about our dive experiences in Maui, and seemed defensive of how Kona diving compared. Also, Steve's Hawaiian fish species expertise, gained from a lifetime as an aquarist, as well as a divemaster, soon became apparent. True to Steve's word, everyone on the boat were experienced divers. Three of our fellow divers were family members who scuba dived in Hawaii every year (lucky them). Shirley, another diver who loves nudibranchs, and who is an Aggressor Liveaboard veteran, capped the total on the boat at 6 divers. Wanna Dive was great about letting divers dive as long as they wanted. Cathy, our divemaster, chaperoned divers to the boat each time a diver ran low on air, while letting the rest of the group continue. However, everyone stayed down for longer than an hour.

At High Rock, our first dive, we encountered a voracious 4' long sea turtle who was using all 4 flippers to grip the coral he was demolishing. If sea turtles were more self-aware, they would realize how silly they look while eating underwater. But fortunately they are not, which makes for more entertaining viewing for us. So consumed was the turtle by its food, that he didn't even notice me as I picked algae off his shell while he ate.


Our second dive consisted of a series of lava tube swimthroughs.  This was where we were ushered through Suck 'Em Up Cavern, Skull Cave, and Aquarium.  Suck 'Em Up is an interesting dive where periodic suction occurs at the exit of the lava tube. This suction makes it difficult to exit, unless you time your escape properly. In more challenging conditions, we were told that divers were sucked out of the hole in the ceiling, so we were told to avoid the champagne bubbles underneath the sky lights. In the following video, I time my exit properly, but still have a difficult time swimming completely out of the tube's pull.

Later on, we spotted 5 spotted eagle rays in a flying formation out in the deep. Cathy, our divemaster, led us out into the deep bottomless blue to get a closer look.  Despite monitoring my depth, I still ended up at 85 feet deep, and got close to running low on no-decompression time.  But it was awesome. Any dive where you see a small school of spotted eagle rays counts as a great dive in my book.

For dinner, we ate on Ali'i drive in Kailua Kona: a salad and a mai-tai rounded out my evening:

Dive Details:
Dive #201: High Rock
Depth/Time/Temp: 59'/1:22 minutes/76 deg F
Sightings:
-Big sea turtle biting off chunks of coral.
-wire coral goby
-shrimp on basket starfish
-white margin nudibranchs
-juvenile dragon wrasses

Dive #202: Suck Em Up, Skull Cave, and Aquarium
Depth/Time/Temp: 86'/1:17 minutes/77 deg F
-5 spotted eagle rays in the distance, we all swam deep off the wall to take a look. Got as deep as 85 feet.
-had 51 minutes of NDL left when DM had 7.

Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation - Landing on Big Island

Today, we flew from Maui to Big Island. During the plane ride, we got amazing views of Molokini crater, and Wailea, Maui:

Molokini Crater from above (M. Goodnow)

Multi-billion Dollar Wailea Coastline of Maui
(M. Leung)

The views of Big Island as we got ready to land were much more foreboding: this relatively young volcanic island is made up entirely of relatively new, black lava flows.

Upon landing on Big Island, we booked dive operators. At first, I was in favor of Jack's Diving Locker. But after comparing operations, we decided to book with Wanna Dive instead due to their smaller boat size, slightly cheaper prices. Also, Wanna Dive claimed that the other customers booking with us were fairly advanced divers as well, which meant greater freedom in choosing dive sites. With the exception of Catalina Scuba Luv, Mark and I favor smaller dive operators and dive boats.

We checked into the Pomaika'i Lucky B&B Farms, which is a working coffee farm, in addition to being a bed and breakfast. We had read about this rustic B&B in an article on affordable Hawaii in the New York Times. Situated in Captain Cook on the Kona coast, this B&B is situated in the famous Kona coffee region, and it is also near world class shore dive sites, such as the Place of Refuge, and Kealakekua Bay. When choosing Pomaika'i Lucky Farms, I thought to myself: "Kona coffee and scuba diving, what more can I ask for?"

After quickly checking in, we bumbled upon Place of Refuge, or Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park. Lucky for us, we caught it at sunset, which is the most spectacular time to visit this park. To say this park is a special, spiritual place may sound cliched, but it is true. In olden times, this spot was literally a place of refuge for people who broke the rigid "Kapu" (taboo) system. If they can manage to swim to this spot, they escaped death. As I watched the sun setting, I stilled my mind, and felt a sense of sacredness and gratitude wash over me. The spirituality inherent in this place is indisputable.  

Sunset at Place of Refuge (M. Goodnow)

Soaking in the Sunset at Place of Refuge
Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (M. Goodnow)

Place of Refuge (M. Goodnow)

Ki'i (or Tiki in Marquesan) statues
at Place of Refuge (M. Goodnow)

Ki'i statues at Place of Refuge

For dinner we at Manago Restaurant, a third generation family business where they serve Japanese home cooking. Mark didn't agree, but I thought the food was inexpensive and delicious. The patina and history in this establishment was undeniable.

Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation-Haleakala Crater

On our last day in Maui, and our 6th day in Hawaii, we visited the Haleakala Crater National Park. 

Frankly, I was unimpressed with the scenery at the park.  Mark appreciated the powerful scenery, but I thought the crater looked rather small, even though it was 27 miles across. We ventured off the hiking paths, against park rules, and found some Hawaiian offerings underneath a bush. We were told by the park ranger, that although native Hawaiians are Christian, they do feel a spiritual afinity to the land and towards their ancestors.

Private offerings--
Haleakala Crater (M. Leung)

As the fog was rolling in, we decided to leave the park early. I didn't enjoy Haleakala crater as much as I thought I would. Perhaps I was visiting the park at the wrong time, though --the views are supposed to be spectacular at sunrise, however we were too lazy to get up at 3AM, and got there at 9AM instead.

Haleakala Crater (M. Leung)

Silverwood Plant-
Haleakala Crater (M. Goodnow)

Afternoon

We spent the afternoon napping, relaxing at the beach, and watching Spike TV. Who knew "Repo Games" could be so entertaining?  Repo Games is a game show where people get their car repossessed, but have a chance of winning their car back if they can answer some general knowledge questions. Needless to say, the questions aren't exactly difficult ("What were 2 of the original 4 flavors of Jello?"), but the contestants still couldn't answer them right. I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.

"Repo Games"

For dinner, we ate at Sansei in Kihei, known for their innovative Japanese cuisine.

Hamachi Tartare-
Sansei Restaurant, Kihei, Maui, HI 

Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation - Road to Hana

"It's not about the destination, it's about the journey."  That couldn't be more true than on the Road to Hana.

With our flight to the Big Island of Hawaii just a couple of days away, our diving schedule needed to taper so that we wouldn't get decompression sickness when flying to altitude. We took this opportunity to visit some must-see sites in Maui. On our 5th day in Hawaii, we decided to take the "Road to Hana".

The Road to Hana is considered to be one of the most beautiful stretches of road in the U.S. Full of rainforests, beaches, waterfalls, and quaint food stands, there were so many things to see, we didn't even bother to cover it all.  However, based on my superficial visit, here is what I learned about maximizing one's experience on the Road to Hana. 

Beautiful Black Sand Beach at Wai'anapanapa State Park-

Road to Hana (M. Leung)

(1) Do NOT take a tour bus

I completely respect that some people may want to hire a tour bus to avoid driving the windy roads, however, I think that the best sights on the Road to Hana are off the beaten path. While most tourists gathered around the first, obvious waterfall at Pua'a Ka'a State Park, we had read from Lonely Planet there was a better waterfall just beyond the bend. We were not told, however, that "beyond the bend" meant getting completely muddy, and shuffling across a functioning aqueduct 30 feet up in the air (below left). At the end of the hike, however, we were rewarded to a spectacular waterfall, which most importantly, was all to ourselves (below right).

Getting to the 2nd waterfall at the Pua'a Ka'a State Park

is treacherous, but rewarding

(2) Do NOT wear heels

We saw several tourists wearing heels so they could look beautiful against the beautiful backdrop of the Road to Hana. I was wearing functional Tevas, but wished I was wearing Kevlar from head to toe. We heard there was a spectacular red sand beach in Hana, but that the path to it was rather treacherous. We were told there was a sheer wall that you had to climb. I thought Mark and I were tough enough to handle it. But the wall was really difficult to climb, not because it was so steep, but because there was no traction. I had to climb on all fours at top speed to make progress, otherwise I would have slid back down the hill. But the red sand beach at the end of the hike was totally worth it:

The Red sand beach at Hana is difficult to get to,

but well worth the climb-

Road to Hana (M. Goodnow)

(3) DO be careful how you interact with the locals but don't be afraid to mix with them either

The Road to Hana is populated with many locals, some of whose feelings are mixed towards tourists visiting their domain. However, don't be afraid to mix with the locals either. We saw some native Hawaiians swimming in their local swimming spot off the Keanae peninsula (see below left).  The water looked so great, I couldn't resist joining them. I was well rewarded for some adventurous snorkeling (see below right).

Left: local swimming hole on Keanae peninsula, including dog on boogie board
Right: Snorkeling there was wild and adventurous

(4) DO support local business

The fruits and products you'll find along the way are fun and delicious.

These avocados are almost as large as my head-

Twin Falls, Road to Hana

(5) DO take lots of pictures.
When you feel on the fence about taking a picture, take it anyway. The pictures are some of the most beautiful you'll take on your vacation.

Local swimming spot on the rugged Keanae Peninsula-
Road to Hana

The Keanae peninusla has been
farmed for centuries

Tomorrow, we'll be visiting Haleakala Crater National Park... Stay tuned.

Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation: 4th Day in Maui

Ornate reef structure typifies Ulua Beach-

Wailea, Maui (M. Leung)

It was our 4th day in Hawaii, and we were feeling lazy. Diving, and breathing compressed nitrogen, makes you tired.

I managed to persuade Mark to do another couple of shore dives with me, even though diving conditions were crappy the day before, and even though it was Mark's birthday.

We rented a couple of tanks from Maui Dreams Dive Company. We enjoyed meeting Teri, who is the store manager and course director there. She proposed that we dive Ulua Beach that day.

Shrimp-

Ulua Beach, Wailea, Maui

(M. Goodnow)

At the beach, we tripled up with Wade whose girlfriend doesn't dive. Wade had the courage to introduce himself to us at the beach, so of course we had to accept and dive with him.

Ulua Beach was an amazing shore dive, in spite of the 20-30' visibility. There were towering, ornate structures of coral. We saw the largest (2.5' long) pufferfish and the largest (1' long) frog fish I've ever seen. I managed to film the gigantic frog fish swimming several yards (see below). I learned later that frog fish like to stay in the same area their entire lives, so I felt enormously guilty that we disturbed it and caused it to swim such a long distance.

Video of Frog fish swimming-

Ulua Beach, Wailea, Maui (M. Leung)

Flat worm -

Ulua Beach, Wailea, Maui

(M. Goodnow)

Ulua Beach was definitely my favorite shore dive in Maui due to its interesting coral structures and the fact that I successfully navigated to the deeper second reef, and back, in poor visibility. During the dive, Mark almost got us lost and lead us to the adjacent beach, but I was constantly monitoring where we were and managed to get us back to our proper exit point.

Afternoon
It was Mark's birthday, so he got to do whatever he wanted. He elected to eat chips in bed while watching Star Wars. I really enjoyed pigging out next to him. Ah, simple pleasures.

In the evening, we walked around the beach outside of our hotel (see below). I highly recommend staying at Days Inn Maui in Kihei, Maui.  For a fraction of the cost as elsewhere, you can stay on the beach, be close to the dive operators' boat ramp, and be close to world class shore diving.

The beach outside of Days Inn Maui -
Kihei, Maui

Dinner was at Coconuts Fish House, which ironically is a restaurant named after a cat.

Mark had a craving for fish tacos-
Coconuts Fish House, Kihei, Maui

Dive Details

Dive #199: Ulua beach

Depth/Time/Temp: 43'/1:07 min/76 deg. F

Buddies: Mark and Wade

Sighted:

-biggest puffer I've ever seen: 2.5 feet long.

-huge tan frog fish bigger than my head, was told it was a female. Harassed it and it swam fast.

-turtle

-sea star legs (cut by harlequin crab)

-mark almost took us to the next beach over.

Dive #200: Ulua Beach

Depth/Time/Temp: 25'/0:54 min/77 deg. F

Buddy: Mark

Sighted:

-fuschia flat worm

-nudibranchs

-brittle star

-puffer resting (to stay out of the sandy water)

-octopus hiding in a crack

-turtle sleeping in a hole-Mina scared it and she killed some coral

Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation - 3rd day in Maui

Shore diving is one of the most affordable activities you can do in Hawaii. Drive to any public beach, put on your scuba gear and walk into the ocean. 

A dive float is required
when shore diving in Hawaii-
Black Rock (M. Leung)

Shore diving is what we decided to do on our 3rd day in Hawaii and our 3rd day in Maui. We decided to dive at Black Rock and Old Airport Beach (Kahelili). These are two of the easiest and most popular snorkeling and dive sites in Maui.

Underwater visibility was around 50'-60' that day, which is below average. It was certainly a lot worse than the boat dives we had done the previous day, where visibility was closer to 100'. Mark was somewhat disappointed. I, on the other hand, was so enamored by how easy it was to dive in Hawaii, that I didn't care. We got to see some cool stuff, like a baby spotted eagle ray, and a voracious green sea turtle getting knocked about by the surge:

Eel--
Old Airport Beach (M. Goodnow)

Baby Spotted Eagle Ray-
Black Rock (M. Goodnow)

Crab of some sort-
Black Rock (M. Goodnow)

Afternoon

Sporting my handmade 

Plumeria flower hair piece

and nursing a Mai Tai-

Old Lahaina Luau

To help celebrate Mark's birthday, we decided to attend the Old Lahaina Luau, which is considered to be the best luau in Maui, and possibly all of Hawaii. There was a sumptuous dinner buffet, cocktails galore, and many hula dance performances. There were also crafts on site.  I learned how to make a flower hair piece, which I put behind my left ear because I'm a married woman (right ear placement symbolizes singleness). There were so many things to see and do that I didn't get to see the kalua pig get dug up from its imu pit.

At our table were a couple of girls who were staying in Paia. They told us what to see and do.  I felt sorry for them because they spent money to do expensive activities like zip-lining, when all they had to do was walk into the ocean for free, and have a more immersed and more poignant adventure. To each their own, I guess.

I was completely enraptured by the hula performances. I got the sense that this is an important art form to the native Hawaiians and is used to convey their history and their lore (in absence of having writing). When done properly, hula can transcend the hokey hip swaying the rest of the world thinks as hula dancing. When done properly, hula is dignified, and even solemn and is very beautiful to watch. Most people soaked in the performances and respected the cultural heritage behind it, with the exception of one man, who wolf-whistled the scantily clad hula dancers.

Enjoying the scenery-
Old Lahaina Luau

Kalua Pork, 2 Poke Varieties, Lomi, Taro leaf salad
and blue drink (background)-
Old Lahaina Luau

I would highly recommend attending the Old Lahaina Luau to anyone visiting Maui. There was a great respect given to Hawaiian art forms, and an attempt to really convey the history and heritage of Hawaii in song and dance. The food and cocktails can't be beat either.

We planned on doing some more shore dives the following day...

Dive Details

Dive #197: Black Rock

Depth/Time/Temperature: 34'/1:17 minutes/75 degrees F

Buddy: Mark

Weights: 6 lbs with a 3 mm wet suit shortie

Sighted:

-large turtle

-spotted eagle ray (small)

-cornetfish and trumpetfish

Dive #198: Old Airport Beach (Kahekili Beach)

Depth/Time/Temperature: 32'/1:26 minutes/75 degree F

-small ravenous turtle

-nudibranchs

-cleaner shrimp

-rainbow cleaner wrasse

-juvenile yellowtail wrasse

-white spotted damsel

-longnose, threadfin, raccoon butterfly fish

-bird wrasse

-yellow tang

-bigger tangs

-goatfish (all kinds)

-some sort of unicorn fish

-baby blue boxfish

-Humuhumu fish

Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation - 2nd day in Maui

Mark prepares to dive
(M. Leung)

This was our 2nd day on our affordable Hawaiian Vacation, and our 2nd day in Maui. We were doing three dives with Ed Robinson's Diving Adventures.

We chose Ed Robinson's because they cater to advanced divers. I really wanted to do the outer rim of the Molokini Crater, which is considered to be a "must-do" dive in Hawaii, and an "advanced" dive. I thought that if we dove with Ed Robinson's, we would have a better chance of diving it. I wasn't disappointed.

Divers hovering over the
bottomless blue -
Back wall of Molokini
(M. Leung)

Ed Robinson (of Ed Robinson's Diving Adventures), himself, came to say hello to us, even though he wasn't diving that day. I told him about my prospective dive related business, and he directed me to speak to his wife, the proprietor of Turtle Town gift shop, to see if she was interested in selling my offerings. I loved how supportive Ed was of his wife's new business venture!

Divemaster Joe
wrestling an octopus --
Back wall of
Molokini (M. Leung)

Diving with Ed Robinson
Our first dive was on the Molokini Back Wall. Molokini is a partially submerged volcanic "crater". The back wall is outside of the crater, where depths can plummet to more than 200 feet deep.

I immediately got a minor crush on our divemaster, Joe. He was sweet, charming, and dove with such elegance. He also went out of his way to entertain us divers, and even wrestled an octopus out of its cave (see right).  No harm was done to the octopus, or to its cave, so I feel OK about advertising that.

Mark holding Tiger Cowry --
Back wall of Molokini (M. Leung)

The fact that this was an advanced dive made itself abundantly clear. At one point, I was carried by the surge 20 feet up in the water column.  If we were at shallower depths, this could have been cause for a lung expansion injury or the "bends". As we were 130 feet deep, no harm was done but I was a little rattled over scraping the coral reef on my elevator ride up.

On our second dive, we dove "Hawaiian Reef", which is jam-packed with schools of grunts and goat fish. Mark took some great shots and video of a red frog fish (below). 

Commerson Frog Fish --
Hawaiian Reef (M. Goodnow)

On our third dive, we dove "Reef's End" at Molokini Crater (see below). This dive site has schools and schools of butterflyfish (I'm used to seeing individuals). We also saw a white tip reef shark and silver jacks hunting, which was behavior the divemasters alerted us to.

Reef's End supports
schools of butterfly fish--
Reef's End, Molokini (M. Leung)

Afternoon

Cliff diver lighting torches
at Black Rock (M. Leung)

In the afternoon, I conducted "business" in Lahaina.  Basically, I scoped out dive shops, and got names of the stores' retail buyers. Hawaii could potentially provide a lot of customers for my prospective business, considering the army of snorkelers, in addition to divers who frequent Maui. Everyone I spoke with seemed positive about the idea I had.

We also scoped out our next dive - a shore dive at Black Rock near Lahaina. It was here, we accidentally witnessed the daily sunset cliff dive at the Black Rock sponsored by the Maui Sheraton (see above). For dinner, we had a typical Hawaiian "plate".  The Kalua pork wasn't great, but it was cheap and plentiful. Besides, ketchup makes everything taste better (see below).

Plate dinner of Ono and Kalua pork
(M. Leung)

Diving Details

Dive #194: Molokini Crater Back Wall

Dive buddy: Mark

Depth/Time/Temp: 134'/0:43 min/74 deg. F

Weight: Mina-8 lbs, Mark-14 lbs. We both wore 5 mm wetsuit

Sightings:

-octopus wrestled out of its cave

-tiger cowry

-moray eels

-2 frog fish

-crab with decorative sponge "afro"

Dive #195: Hawaiian Reef

Dive buddy: Mark

Depth/Time/Temp: 84'/0:32 min/74 deg. F

Sightings:

-dense schools of grunts

-white tip reef shark

-red frog fish

Dive #196: Reef's end at Molokini crater

Depth/Time/Temp: 72'/0:59 min/76 deg. F

-Silver jacks scaring schools of pyramid butterflyfish

-surgeonfish

-big moray eel