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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / June 2005Hawaii in December?
Starting to look at a small ship cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti and might add some extra days onto the trip...probably on the trip's front end. Tentatively, we're looking at the Honolulu/ Waikiki beach area, so any advice for good/bad dive op's in this area would also be appreciated. However, if the water's below around 72F, I'm disinclined to drag along the full kit. TIA, -hh > Starting to look at a small ship cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti and might > add some extra days onto the trip...probably on the trip's front end. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > However, if the water's below around 72F, I'm disinclined to drag along > the full kit. Not that I don't love Waikiki Beach, as I'm one of the few who actually do, but why not spend the extra days in Tahiti instead? Specifically, you can take a 30 minute ferry over to Moorea and dive in much warmer water (it's summer over there) with big fat chicken-fed lemon sharks and a horde of blacktips, take in some topless women, and dine on the best seafood buffet I've ever experienced and I hate buffets (Wednesday nights at the Moorea Intercontinental). Otherwise, I suggest e-mailing suds if he hasn't been lurking and gets to you first. Are you cruising with Bob? > Not that I don't love Waikiki Beach, as I'm one of the few who actually do, > but why not spend the extra days in Tahiti instead? Part of it had been predicated on schedule, but its also on the availability at a Waikiki hotel at a quite reasonable $106/night. > Specifically, you can take a 30 minute ferry over to Moorea and > dive in much warmer water (it's summer over there)... Hmm. Interesting. We did look briefly at Papeete for what's around, but we weren't in the mood to just go "cruise ship outlet shopping", didn't pick up on this ferry to Moorea; thanks. > Otherwise, I suggest e-mailing suds if he hasn't been lurking and > gets to you first. Suds is apparently enjoying himself this weekend with things clearly more entertaining than USENET :-) > Are you cruising with Bob? Bob Beard, from the Oahu Dive Center? :-) Overall, it should be an interesting cruise...a 295ft ship with only 114 guests max, which is a far cry from behemoth Princess cruise ship types where the crew alone will be three times that size. Until we get down near Tahiti, its mostly going to have a wilderness/wildlife focus, with ports of call at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and several islands in the Republic of Kiribati ("Line Islands"): http://www.fws.gov/pacific/pacificislands/wnwr/palmyranwr.html http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_line/christmas_island.htm http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_line/vostok.htm http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_line/starbuck.htm http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_line/flint.htm Suffice to say, "a tad off the beaten path". -hh > Part of it had been predicated on schedule, but its also on the > availability at a Waikiki hotel at a quite reasonable $106/night. Tahiti would probably set you back a bit more, though you should be able to negotiate a decent rate given that it's the off-season and the Euro is down against the dollar (which I assume affects the Polynesian Franc). Unfortunately, moderate-priced accomodations in Tahiti often lack A/C, something that the odiferous French apparently don't mind since they can't smell the sweat over the pervasive cigarette smoke. > Hmm. Interesting. We did look briefly at Papeete for what's around, > but we weren't in the mood to just go "cruise ship outlet shopping", > didn't pick up on this ferry to Moorea; thanks. Air Tahiti will ream you with ridiculous luggage restrictions when traveling to the other islands. The ferry is a nice way to get around this and Moorea is quite pleasant. Papeete is a third-world shithole, more like Guayaquil than Waikiki, though there certainly are nicer places on the island especially toward the south where Gauguin lived. I admit to not spending much time in the city. We just spent a night at the Intercontinental before flying out to Rangiroa the next morning. But Moorea makes for a scenic circle island drive. You can see the beautiful bay where they filmed the various Bounty movies and there's a distillery up in the hills where you can sample some pretty strong and tasty vanilla and coconut liquors. As it's a decaying volcano, like Kauai, the green-covered mountains are very rugged and dramatic. And the Tahitians tend to serve their sashimi with a sweet soy-based dipping sauce, rather than the Japanese-style soy sauce and wasabi ball that you get in Hawaii. Great prices on French wines, but the rest of the booze will set you back far more even than expensive Waikiki. > Suds is apparently enjoying himself this weekend with things clearly > more entertaining than USENET :-) Children? Entertaining, perhaps. But they begin to smell after a while. Usenet has no odor. > Bob Beard, from the Oahu Dive Center? :-) Uh, sure. That's who I mean. I mean average. > Overall, it should be an interesting cruise...a 295ft ship with only 114 > guests max, which is a far cry from behemoth Princess cruise ship types > where the crew alone will be three times that size. Until we get down > near Tahiti, its mostly going to have a wilderness/wildlife focus, with > ports of call at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and several > islands in the Republic of Kiribati ("Line Islands"): > http://www.fws.gov/pacific/pacificislands/wnwr/palmyranwr.html > http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_line/christmas_island.htm [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Suffice to say, "a tad off the beaten path". A tad. Do you get to dive any of these islands? > Papeete is a third-world shithole, more like Guayaquil > than Waikiki, though there certainly are nicer places on the island > especially toward the south where Gauguin lived. I admit to not spending > much time in the city. We just spent a night at the Intercontinental before > flying out to Rangiroa the next morning. This was similar to the conclusion we came to...when we did some internet research on a destination and what floated to the top was a shopping map of town, the idea of taking the dayroom and resting before hitting the airport floated to our top. > > ... its mostly going to have a wilderness/wildlife focus, with > > ports of call at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and several [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Do you get to dive any of these islands? If snorkeling counts, yes. Otherwise, since its not a diving liveaboard, and because IIRC 4 of these 5 are completely uninhabited, I'd have to "BYO" from Hawaii...which sounds like too much work. In any event, I expect the birding to be equal to the Galapagos, so I'll be expecting to be spending shore time doing land photography too. -hh > This was similar to the conclusion we came to...when we did some > internet research on a destination and what floated to the top was a > shopping map of town, the idea of taking the dayroom and resting before > hitting the airport floated to our top. Did you say airport? Don't get me started on the Papeete airport. No A/C, hordes of people mobbing the boarding gates with no semblance of order, it really makes you long for the calm, albeit bland, oasis of Honolulu International. I mentioned Guayaquil in the last post? At least Guayaquil has a beautiful modern airport. > If snorkeling counts, yes. Otherwise, since its not a diving > liveaboard, and because IIRC 4 of these 5 are completely uninhabited, > I'd have to "BYO" from Hawaii...which sounds like too much work. In any > event, I expect the birding to be equal to the Galapagos, so I'll be > expecting to be spending shore time doing land photography too. Then I guess snorkeling will have to count. You can still tell people you dove in those exotic locales, just mumble the word "free". Anyway, not having to deal with dive and U/W photo gear makes it much more of a vacation IMO. Diving can be a real hassle sometimes. I didn't spend much time looking at birds in Tahiti, but I've always been impressed by the birds of Hawaii, enough so to buy a field guide. And I certainly took more pictures of birds than fish in the Galapagos, savoring the ease of topside photography over the PITA of shooting underwater. I'll look forward to seeing some pictures when you get back. > Did you say airport? Don't get me started on the Papeete airport. No A/C, > hordes of people mobbing the boarding gates with no semblance of order, it > really makes you long for the calm, albeit bland, oasis of Honolulu > International. I mentioned Guayaquil in the last post? At least Guayaquil > has a beautiful modern airport. C'mon Greg...tell us how you really feel :-) We've been through Guayaquil...as well as CDG...so I can expect the worst elements of both. > > If snorkeling counts, yes. Otherwise, since its not a diving > > liveaboard, and because IIRC 4 of these 5 are completely uninhabited, [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > having to deal with dive and U/W photo gear makes it much more of a vacation > IMO. Diving can be a real hassle sometimes. It will also depend on the weather upon arrival...it can be hit-or-miss, since a couple of these have no natural harbors. > I didn't spend much time looking at birds in Tahiti, but I've always been > impressed by the birds of Hawaii, enough so to buy a field guide. And I > certainly took more pictures of birds than fish in the Galapagos, savoring > the ease of topside photography over the PITA of shooting underwater. On the Galapagos, I'm really glad that I did 2 cruises there, for the non-diving liveaboard saw significantly more topside critter life than the diving liveaboard. Considering the 'hard to get to' factor (including airports), it IMO really is a waste to only spend but one week there. -hh > On the Galapagos, I'm really glad that I did 2 cruises there, for the > non-diving liveaboard saw significantly more topside critter life than > the diving liveaboard. Considering the 'hard to get to' factor > (including airports), it IMO really is a waste to only spend but one > week there. I'll go back for another diving itinerary, but probably with a different company so as to hopefully see different stuff topside. That means Peter Hughes rather than one of the Aggressors, but I do have to say that our boat (# II) was one of the best liveaboards I've been on to date. The crew worked their butts off to keep the boat in flawless condition. Nothing broke down. Everything was delivered as promised (except for the E-6 processing which did piss off the two film photogs aboard and allowed me to gloat over my digital system). And clean, clean, clean. But Peter does longer itineraries, up to ten days I believe. I've taken to traveling with a couple of guys that charter the longer trips and while it's hell getting away for so long, it is nice to end up with more than five diving days once you've flown and cruised halfway around the world. Some non-diving trips sound intriguing, like yours, but that would mean giving up on diving. I almost look forward to the day when I'm feeble and can no longer dive and then I won't have worry about giving anything up to travel to all these other places in the world where diving is difficult or non-existent. I am finally making my way over to landlocked Europe this year (Switzerland) before Bush decides to nuke the place, but it's gonna feel weird hiking around the Alps without a tank on my bank. >>On the Galapagos, I'm really glad that I did 2 cruises there, for the >>non-diving liveaboard saw significantly more topside critter life than [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > year (Switzerland) before Bush decides to nuke the place, but it's gonna > feel weird hiking around the Alps without a tank on my bank. There's some interesting river and lake diving in Switzerland...at altitude of course. > ...Some non-diving trips sound intriguing, like yours, but that > would mean giving up on diving. Diving's nice, but IMO, its not the only thing in life. > I almost look forward to the day when I'm feeble and can no longer > dive and then I won't have worry about giving anything up to travel > to all these other places in the world where diving is difficult or > non-existent. One of the more intriguing pieces of advice I got was to save the US National Parks until you're too old to go overseas, as they have much better handicapped access. Of course, what is "too old" can vary widely...my parents are going to Europe this summer, just a few months before Dad's 81st birthday...one of the things I need to do is to write up some "Flashcard" crib sheets for the Paris Metro for them. > I am finally making my way over to landlocked Europe this year > (Switzerland) before Bush decides to nuke the place, but it's gonna > feel weird hiking around the Alps without a tank on my bank. Just pack some 35mm camera gear in your daypack with your water, lunch & rain gear. After a few miles, it will feel heavy enough. BTW, did you get my offline note? Here's one interesting trail out of Lenk: http://www.suisse.com/en/navpage-Hike4-Mountain_Trail-30029.html Consider checking out Lenk's hike up to Sibe Brünne ("Seven Springs") & don't ever be shy about using any local TI for advice, hiking maps, etc. -hh > Diving's nice, but IMO, its not the only thing in life. That's true. There's also sex. > Just pack some 35mm camera gear in your daypack with your water, lunch & > rain gear. After a few miles, it will feel heavy enough. That's why God invented digital cameras. Even with the lamest camera, the shots will still come out better than my underwater pics. > BTW, did you get my offline note? I did, but then had to run off to Denver for a wedding. I just got back tonight and will duly pay it attention in a few days. I'm going to figure out our exact itinerary during the long ride to Cocos later this week. > Here's one interesting trail out of Lenk: > > http://www.suisse.com/en/navpage-Hike4-Mountain_Trail-30029.html > > Consider checking out Lenk's hike up to Sibe Brünne ("Seven Springs") & > don't ever be shy about using any local TI for advice, hiking maps, etc. Thanks for all the info. I'm looking forward to having the time to process it all. I also have a copy of Lonely Planet's "Walking in Switzerland", but that's mainly filled with multi-day hikes. Due to the extreme misfortune that I actually have to work on occasion, we're only able to stay six nights. Since we want to tour the cities a bit as well, that's not going to give us much hiking time. I'm probably going to have to settle for two or three half-day treks and save the rest for when I retire or if I ever get a hole in my lungs and have to stop taking long dive trips. I'll let you know what I've chosen after we get back on the 11th. The average water temperature here, on O'ahu, in December is 77 deg. f. I'm diving with Waikiki Dive Center this Monday. I'll let you know how they are. In the winter months here, I wear a shorty to depths of 45'. If the dive is deeper I use a 6-5-4 wet suit. But, I'm older and enjoy comfort. http://george001.proimageguide.com/ "H Huntzinger" <{NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba2005@huntzinger.com> wrote in message news:{NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba2005-4235C7.08113818062005@news.giganews.c om... > Starting to look at a small ship cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti and might > add some extra days onto the trip...probably on the trip's front end. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > -hh > The average water temperature here, on O'ahu, in December is 77 deg. f. I'm > diving with Waikiki Dive Center this Monday. I'll let you know how they are. > In the winter months here, I wear a shorty to depths of 45'. If the dive is > deeper I use a 6-5-4 wet suit. But, I'm older and enjoy comfort. Thanks, George. At 77F, its probably time to pick up a chicken vest to go with with my full 3mm :-) -hh > Starting to look at a small ship cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti and might > add some extra days onto the trip...probably on the trip's front end. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > However, if the water's below around 72F, I'm disinclined to drag along > the full kit. A cruise ship from Hawaii to Tahiti?! That would be news to me. Isn't that about 2500 miles? suds > A cruise ship from Hawaii to Tahiti?! That would be news to me. Its probably considered to be a "seasonal repositioning" of sorts. The ship is Cruise West's 295 foot 'Spirit of Oceanus', which is a far cry from the typical cruise line's "M/V Behemoth". Looking at its schedule after this Hawaii to Tahiti leg, the ship does three loops from Tahiti (Society, Marquesas, & Tuamotu Islands), then takes off for Fiji, hitting Western & American Samoa, Cook, & Society Islands en route. It then leaves for Guam, hitting Vanuatu, Solomons, & Yap en route. They all sound interesting :-). > Isn't that about 2500 miles? Close enough. If you want a longer route, come May, she follows the route of the 1899 Harriman expedition from Vancouver, BC to Nome...3600 miles over 25 days. -hh That's a lot of time just looking at water. If your happy, I'm happy for you. Personally, cruises never have interested me: all that water and nothing you can do with it. suds |
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