Sharks Cove

Location: North Shore, North of Waimea Bay
Depth: 15-60 ft (5-15m)
Visibility: 50-100 ft
Level: Beginner – Advanced

Despite the name, it is not inhabited by sharks. It is named so because it looks as if a shark took a bite out of the rocks, and is one of the most popular dive sites on the North Shore.

Shark’s Cove is located within the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District, so there is no fishing allowed, resulting in an abundance of wildlife for visitors to enjoy viewing.

Shark’s Cove has on-site facilities & parking, nearby amenities, and easy access from shore, making it a great spot for all ages, whether snorkeling or scuba diving.

During the winter months high surf conditions make this and other North Shore dive sites inaccessible. During the calm summer months this is a great site for divers from beginners to advanced.

Advanced divers will enjoy the interesting system of caverns and swim-throughs just on the right outside edge of the cove. Although fascinating these structures can be potentially dangerous even in mild current conditions and should not be attempted without an experienced guide that knows them well.

3 Tables (Kaulua Mau)

Location: Between Shark’s Cove and Waimea Bay
Depth: 10-40 ft
Features: Lava tubes, swim thru’s, rock formations, abundance of sea life
Level: Beginner – Advanced and beyond

Located between Sharks Cove and Waimea Bay, 3 Tables is recognized by the 3 flat rocks about 25 yards off the beach. Parking is limited between 2 small parking areas, but the sandy beach entry is preferred by some over the more rocky sharks cove entry.

Sea Tiger

Location: South Side of Oahu, 10 minutes from Kewalo Basin Boat Harbor
Depth: 80-120 ft
Features: Shipwreck, Large Sea Turtles, Eels, Sharks and other Pelagic sea life.
Level: Intermediate to advanced.

Located just outside Kewalo Basin Boat harbor, The Sea Tiger is a 168ft Korean fishing trawler that was caught attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants into Hawaii and was confiscated by local authorities and subsequently sunk as an artificial reef in 1999.

YO-257/San Pedro

Location: 1.5 miles off Waikiki Beach
Features: Eagle Rays, Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, Eels and more
Depth: 70-100 ft
Level: Intermediate to advanced

Located about 20 minutes from Kewalo Basin Harbor,just off the Waikiki Shoreline, the 180 foot YO-257 wreck sits in 100ft of water and provides an excellent habitat for a variety of marine life from reef fish, sea turtles and white tip sharks.

The YO-257 (a decommissioned Navy Yard Oiler) was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef in 1989.

70ft north of the YO-257 lays the San Pedro shipwreck. This 125ft fishing trawler, intentionally sunk shortly after the YO, provides ideal hiding spots for turtles, sharks and reef fish.

Strong rapidly changing currents can occur on this site, often making it a serious advanced level dive.

Do not penetrate these wrecks unless properly trained.

Electric Beach (Kahe Pt)

Location: West Side of Oahu: North of Ko’olina resorts close to an electrical power plant hence the name
Depth: 10-30 ft
Features: Finger reefs, Abuntant sealife in and around the outflow pipes.
Level: Beginner – Advanced and beyond

Located a few miles past Ko’olina, Electric beach is another shore dive for divers of all levels. Shallow depths, Easy Beach entry, Convienient parking and facilities, make Kahe Point an idea site for beginners.

However this site has an highlighted feature that can make this an advanced level dive. Approximately 225 yards off shore are two 8ft diameter hot water outflow pipes that release the seawater used to cool the nearby HECO electric plant. It is easy for divers to get pulled into the outflow and subsequently shot out seaward.

Please use caution around these pipes.

SURF N’ SEA – PADI Dive Certification Courses

Open Water Diver – 3 full days
The course is divided into three sections:

Academic training – reading the manual, watching the videos, listening to the lectures and taking quizzes.

Confined water training – practicing skills for the course in safe, shallow water.

Open water training – applying what was learned in the confined water and academic sessions at an actual dive site.

The Open Water PADI course teaches the knowledge and skills necessary to safely dive the underwater world. Upon successful completion of the PADI Open Water Diver course, the PADI Open Water Diver certification card is awarded. Certification means a diver is qualified to: have air tank fills, rent SCUBA equipment and sign up for certified dive tours, and to dive without supervision.

Advanced Open Water Diver – 2 full days
The Advanced Open Water Diver course is designed to increase your dive skills and experience. It includes a two tank boat dive,a deep dive and a required navigation dive. There are no classes or exams so you can focus on learning new skils and have some fun. Choose from the following Adventure dive options to meet the requirements:

AWARE-fish identification, boat diving, deep diving, drift diving, multilevel and computer diving, night diving, peak performance buoyancy, underwater naturalist, underwater navigation, underwater photography, underwater videography and wreck diving

Rescue Diver – 2 days
This course is designed to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for individuals to effectively perform diver rescues and assists, manage diving-accident situations, render proper first aid and qualify for PADI Divemaster training. To be certified as a Rescue Diver, the student must have a current CPR and first-aid certification, be certified as an Advanced Open Water diver and have 20 logged dives by the end of the class. The rescue course involves 5 academic sessions and 15 open water exercises that can usually be completed in two days. Some of the skills you will learn during this course include:

Diving First Aid
Emergency Management
Missing-Diver Procedures
Diving-Accident Scenarios

DiveMaster
The Divemaster course is designed to train qualified individuals as supervisory personnel. The Divemaster may oversee diving activities or act as an underwater guide. The goals of Divemaster training are:

Enable the candidate to organize, conduct and supervise diving activities

To act as an assistant to Open Water Scuba Instructors

To develop theoretical diving knowledge to a level sufficient to become an instructor
Divemaster training consists of three phases that include Watermanship and Skills Assessment, Knowledge Development and Practical Application. The DiveMaster course is probably the most time consuming course and your training can proceed according to your pace and schedule.

Referral Dives – 2 days
A little crunched for time? Want to get certified but don’t want to dive in ‘freezing’ water where you live? Then the referral dive is for you.

You simply take a certification course at your local dive shop and do the academics portion as well as the confined water skills. Then when you come to Hawaii you can do your exciting open water dives with Surf N Sea.
The four dives required to get your certification can be done usually in 2 days.

Nitrox Diver – 1 day diving and 1/2 day instruction
All you need is your open water diver certification. (You must be 15 years of age or older).
What will I do? You will learn preparation and diving procedures involved with enriched air diving.

Includes your PADI Enriched Air Crew-Pak, which includes an Enriched Air 32 percent Table, Enriched Air 36 percent Table and Equivalent Air Depth/Oxygen Exposure Table.
and a two tank boat dive

Stay under water longer and get back in the water sooner, Nitrox is the the way to go for live-aboards or anyone that does more than twenty dives a year.