Slay Ride Headed for Hawaii

[Slay Ride]

In an unbeleivable series of events I am headed to your wonderful neck of the woods. I'm sure someone at American Airlines got fired as I got round trip tickets to Honolulu for $117 each (this lasted all of 22 minutes before the fare was ammended to $1,117). Will be coming the first week of April.

Now Stodelle and all......what should I do?

Touristy- just a little- (thinking Dole and Pearl Harbor before heading to the big island -any other suggestions appreciated)
Volcanoes- Definitely - need suggestions
Diving/Spearfishing- cough cough, hint hint...need advise :D

All invitations and knowledge will be reciprocated in the US in South Carolina if you guys ever make it this way.

Thanks in advance for suggestions, hints, invitations or general Aloha's.

Les Orr
Mt Pleasant, SC

[gumshoe]

In an unbeleivable series of events I am headed to your wonderful neck of the woods. I'm sure someone at American Airlines got fired as I got round trip tickets to Honolulu for $117 each (this lasted all of 22 minutes before the fare was ammended to $1,117). Will be coming the first week of April.

Now Stodelle and all......what should I do?

Touristy- just a little- (thinking Dole and Pearl Harbor before heading to the big island -any other suggestions appreciated)
Volcanoes- Definitely - need suggestions
Diving/Spearfishing- cough cough, hint hint...need advise :D

All invitations and knowledge will be reciprocated in the US in South Carolina if you guys ever make it this way.

Thanks in advance for suggestions, hints, invitations or general Aloha's.

Les Orr
Mt Pleasant, SC

You lucky bastid!

They yanked the price about 2 minutes before I got booked.

[jbrady2852]

What website or fare watch were you watching to catch such a sweat deal. You gotta tell.

[chasintail]

You gotta hold your breath in Hawaii brother.

[Slay Ride]

Wife is a travel agent. Here whole office got tickets for various weeks in April and May. Amazing 22 minutes! Someone, somewhere got fired. I'm sure of it. But it was in their system so it has to be honored. Now..Don't let me tell you about the free first class upgrades......oh my!!!!

But that wasn't the point to the thread. Let's get me on to doing some really fun stuff in HI. Very excited.

Breath Hold? Yeah right. 2 Year old with asthma . I guess I'll hope the fish come and impale themselves on my shaft. I could take video I guess.

[hilodiver]

Slay Ride, drop me an email if you want to hook up for a dive on the Big Island. I only work every other day, and the weather should be good! robmad87@yahoo.com

[RichT]

Congratulations Les, you lucky bastage!
My friends and I were recently in Oahu for Nationals and the things I would reccomend from a tourist point of view are definitely Pearl.
Get there very early as there is a lot to see.
You may want to upgrade your ticket for the Missouri battleship.
I wished I had.
The Dole tour can be skipped. You wont see anything inside that you wont see from the road.
Might want to stop in the gift shop and look around though.

Hana Pa spearfishing shop is a fishing and spearfishing megastore with lots of cool t-shirts and everything else you can think of.
VERY COOL place that you WILL spend lots of money at.
Diamond head is pretty nice but its a good hike that will wear you out. great picture opportunitys.
Just jump in the car in the morning and go for a tour around the island. its amazing how different it is in different areas.
As far as spearfishing... if you cant hold your breath, forget it! The fish over there have Phd's in spearfishing.
The fish get chased around all day and all night by the locals.
There are several marine parks that are great opportunitys to see most all the fish up close and personal though.
If you like turtles, stop at the beach just north of the Haleiwa sign. you will always see a bunch of people standing there. Freaking turtles all over the place. In the water and all over the beach.
We stayed in Haleiwa when we were there. Its a cool little surf town with lots of surf shops.
The people there were absolutely fantastic. Ive never been anywhere where people were so nice.
Anyway, these were some of the thing that the wife and I both enjoyed.
Have fun!

[thecrab87]

You gotta hold your breath in Hawaii brother.

Nope. You are allowed to spearfish on scuba in Hawaii, although most spearos do it free.

This should help you. http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/fish_regs/index.htm

Also, for weather, check out my weather page http://www.geocities.com/haolecrab/weatherlinks.html

That price stinks. It cost $148 to fly inter-island right now.

[Slay Ride]

Sweet! Email sent. Ya'll have got to let me in on some of the "things" that I REALLY can't miss. Not all the touristy crap. I'm up for a little adventure as well.

Rich-Thanks for the tips!

[thecrab87]

If you do make it to the Big Island and are looking to get into bluewater, I would recommend Tad out of the Bluewater Hunter.
http://www.bluewaterhunter.com/charters_captaintad.html
You won't beat his price for any charter anywhere in Hawaii. You'll have a good chance of getting into an ono or mahi.

[thecrab87]

Sweet! Email sent. Ya'll have got to let me in on some of the "things" that I REALLY can't miss.

The center stage at Femme Nu in Waikiki. At least that's what I hear.........

[PV_Spearo]

The center stage at Femme Nu in Waikiki. At least that's what I hear.........


I second that suggestion!!!!! Top notch!!!


Brandon

[ScottZeagle]

Man, Les, that is awesome!!!!

It would have been nice if you would have posted it to spearboard - that way we could ALL have gotten tickets in that 22 minute stretch!!! ;)

Scott

[Stodelle]

Post on the hawaii Skin Diver board (www.hawaiiskindiver.net) as there are alot of Oahu spearos there. I don't have any Oahu experience or recommendations, but if you come to Maui, shoot me an email.

[uluapoundr]

After spearfishing on Oahu the last 3 years, I moved back home to Hilo (Big Island), and let me tell you this, if the Oahu fish have Phd degrees, the fish here barely have GED ; ). If you get this way, maybe you, me, and Hilodiver can hit the water. Rob, I still got your number somewhere.

As for the things to see, North Shore on Oahu is cool, especially if the surf is up. The wife may want to do some shopping at Alamoana shopping center or the Waikele outlet. On the Big Island, the Volcano is cool. Mauna Kea has snow right now, but I'm sure you're not flying to Hawaii to see snow. In Kona you can charter to dive or to do some deep sea fishing. Hapuna Beach is a nice place to relax in the sun. You can even do some snorkling or spearfising. Maui has a ocean center, but I've never been there. Perhaps Stodelle can tell you more. The sunrise from Haleakala on Maui is beautiful, but getting up early in the AM while on vacation is not my thing.

Let us know how we can hook you up.

[Slay Ride]

Awesome Uluapoundr!! Thanks for the advise. I sent Rob an email and we're going to put something together. Let's all get together. You guys just tell me when and where and I'm there. This is sweet.

Will want to check out N Shore. We don't have snow in SC and that's good with me. Don't really plan to bring too much winter weather clothes. Hapuna Beach sounds good. Is it a resort type of place or just a public beach?

Haleakala- I saw a thing on the tube the other day. Too many people crowded on the top of that mountain in the dark. I like my sleep way too much. Looks nice though.

Man I love Spearboard. You guys are awesome.

PS. Must amend post. Was off by exactly one month. Dates are April 30- May 8.

[uluapoundr]

The Hapuna Prince Hotel is on one side of the beach and is a nice place if you can afford it. I think locals pay like $160 or so a night, so out of towners would be more. The other half of the beach has public parking.

Diving with you and Rob sounds like a plan. Keep me updated and I'll keep an eye on the weather and surf. If this side is pumping or raining, we may have to dive Kona side. Let me know what kind of gear you are bringing and if you need to borrow anything. Also, let me know the depths your comfortable in and length of dive, that should give us a good game plan.

Do you fish too? My roomate has a 21 foot boat and we try to go out every weekend to troll or bottom fish. The water is rougher on this side though, so you need a tough stomach.

Keep in touch.

[Slay Ride]

Ulu I am a big fisherman as well. I've got a 36' Bertram here in SC. I typically fish for Yellowfin, Mahi, Wahoo, Marlin and such. Would not rule out anything. Have not got sea sick for decades, but will never say never. I have a rock hard "inner stomach". My diving has been limited to 193'! HA! No worries there. 100-130 is typical for me around here.

I am actually not planning on bringing a huge amount of gear. Am hooking up with Daryl Wong on my first day (Oahu)there and will probably borrow a gun to try out. Am looking at some new guns as of late. I can easily pack my set of regs and such in my luggage if necessary. Haven't really thought too much about what to bring, but I guess I should start thinking about it. Diving or freediving, I'm cool with all of it. Just don't expect too much out of my freediving abilities! :D

[chasintail]

Man, Les, that is awesome!!!!

It would have been nice if you would have posted it to spearboard - that way we could ALL have gotten tickets in that 22 minute stretch!!! ;)

Scott


Spearboard does Hawaii!!!That would be awesome.We could get Dive4Blood
some true Maui Powey and get him stoned enough to cut that fu##ed up dew of his.

Slay Ride,rigdva and myself just started a cool freedive pool training program.If your intrested PM me with you eamil and I'll send it to you.If you follow it you might be able to breath longer than a two year old. :D

[bigaaron]

I think I gotta a hell of a deal on a trip to Maui I got: 2 round trip tickets, a car for the whole week and 5 nights at the Islander hotel. After taxes and all that stuff it was $1200 even for 2 people. Going March 5-10 so if anybody has been to maui let me know what there is to do / visit.

[spider]

I'm going to be in Maui on Feb 16-21.Stodelle,are you going to be able to hook a homie up on some dive spots?

[Stodelle]

We'll have to play the dive spot game. The rpoblem is we been having some junk weather. One day can be small, then the next has big waves. We also been getting some odd rainstorms as well which produces runoff which makes the water vis crap. The good thing about Maui is that a spot can ALMOST always be found to dive in. Anyone up for a night dive? I've scoped 2 sweet lobster spots along the North shore and the surf is starting to drop as well.

[uluapoundr]

Slay Ride,
I don't do tanks, never tried. You do have 2 months to work on breathold, that's a lot of training time. 20-30ft diving should give you shots at some game. If that's too deep, then 15 feet with a 130cm gun :D . Checkout the pics at Hawaiiskindiver.net gallery, this will give you an idea of what to shoot.

As for the fishing, we fish for yellowfin (ahi), wahoo (ono), dorado (mahimahi), as well as reef fish. Right now, the smaller ahi also known as shibi are biting 10-40 pounders. Nothing like hooking up to one of those on a spinner with a diamond jig down at 40 fathoms.

[LSUBigL]

I just booked 8 nights at the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua, Maui. I had to use Marriott points and everybody was saying that this is a sweet hotel. I've never been to Hawaii and was curious if some of the locals could tell me what they have there in the way of snorkeling, scuba diving, spearing, beaches, and surfing. I know that they have some sweet golf courses there, but that's about it. If you have a few seconds to drop some wisdom on a brutha then send me a PM! :)

[Stodelle]

Kapalua has some decent diving. Kapalua Bay (2 bays down from you) is really nice and listed as a top 10 Hawaiian beach. Honolua bay (about 3 bays up form you) is a preserve with some HUGE fish in it. Flemings (where your at) has some great diving, but you gotta hit it on a small day.

there's alot of good diving and on maui, you can pretty much always find a spot to dive. Give me a call when you get here, or PM me before for any additional info. Maybe we can hook up and dive.

[Slay Ride]

Ula:

I booked 5 nights at the Hapuna Prince after a couple days in Honolulu. Thanks for the suggestion. The research shows it's an Ultimate Luxury Hotel. That's sweet. The nights I'll be on the Big Island will be May 2-6. Whatever you guys want to plan, just let me know. I'll have a couple days of touristy stuff and a couple days of diving. I'm looking forward to coming over. I appreciate the invites to go spearfishing.

Les

[uluapoundr]

SlayRide,
Man, you must of paid some scripts for the Hapuna Prince. The meals there are quite costly, like most nice hotels. You can drive up to Waimea for better deals on some grinds. There is a breakfast place called Hawaiian Style Cafe which serves some manly breakfast. Waimea is Paniolo (Cowboy) town, the closest we can get to the old West here in Hawaii. The Supermarket, KTA, is a place you can go to buy groceries if you want to keep some food in your room to save some $$$. There is also a Pizza place, Korean plate lunch place, a Thai restaurant, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc, etc, etc.

While at the hotel, you can swim in the ocean at night. Or if the ocean is too adventurous, then the hotel pool and warm jacuzzi is nice too.

There are a few dive spots behind the hotels on that end of the island that I've been too. Gotta keep an eye on the West and North Shore surf. Hilo is about 1 1/2 hours away, which is far for us island folks, but probably a nice drive for you if the weather is good. By May, the weather and water should be nice. Bring a lot of suntan lotion, you'll get burnt from the tropical sun. The locals get a kick out of tourist turning red as lobsters. Putting on a wetsuit would be fun.

See if you can subscribe to HawaiiSkindiver Magazine prior to your trip. The past articles have tips on hunting some of the local fish. The local video, Epic, also has good tips and footage of local reef diving.

Keep in touch or check out Stodelle and myself at Hawaiiskindiver.net.