The first time I planned a dive trip to Hawaii, I had divers saying things like, “Well, the diving’s not that great in Hawaii,” or “Hawaii doesn’t compare to the Bahamas,” or some such criticism. So, my expectations really weren’t that high. Turns out, these divers either know about places I can only imagine, or they are out of their minds.
Scuba diving in Hawaii is spectacular! I’ll post more video clips that show it, but in a single day of diving, I had encounters with a manta ray (daytime, not the now world-famous manta ray night dive, which is awesome, BTW), several dolphins, a pod of pilot whales, an oceanic white tip shark and the usual dozen or so green sea turtles. I mean, seriously… what does it take to impress some people?!
For those of us on the West coast (U.S.), Hawaii is relatively easy to get to, and actually can be pretty cheap if you book it right. Boat dives are a little overpriced compared to some places, but not that bad, and there’s good access to shore dives in Hawaii, so you can mix it up and do a lot of diving really cheap if you want.
Hawaii also has the added benefit of there being lot’s to do besides diving, so non-diving friends and family can count on a great time as well.