Page 34 - AlertDiver_Spring2013

In March 2011 an earthquake off Japan’s coast with a
magnitude of 9.0 sent a tsunami raging away from its
epicenter in all directions. Japan, of course, got the worst
of it, but the 7-foot-high wall of water that pounded
the western coast of Hawaii Island was no laughing matter.
It caused millions of dollars in damage and even shut down
some businesses permanently. I arrived on the island just a few
hours after this devastating event, so I fully expected the diving
conditions to be grim. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Much like the island’s community, which has a long
history of rebounding from natural disasters with renewed
resilience, the rugged, volcanic western coastline of Hawaii’s
Big Island proved to be more than a match for the tsunami.
Without much coastal sand or soil to run off into the
ocean, it was typical for us to have visibility of more than
100 feet, even just a few hours after the massive waves
hit. The boulder-strewn underwater scenery is heavily
encrusted with hard corals and has a unique aesthetic
compared to any other Pacific destination I’ve encountered.
While Kona isn’t a go-to destination for massive schools
of fish, expansive fields of soft coral or pygmy seahorses,
it has its own signature set of underwater attractions that
make it well worth a trip.
Lava Tubes
When molten lava below the earth’s surface is forced out during
an eruption, it is typically either ejected violently or allowed
to slowly ooze out like blood from a wounded earth. When
conditions are just right, the outer surface of slow-moving lava
will harden while still allowing internal flow to continue. When
the source of the lava runs dry, the hard outer crust remains,
and a hollow, underground “lava tube” is formed, resulting in a
peculiar bathymetric feature for divers to explore.
Sometimes as wide as a truck and several hundred yards
long, lava tubes are not only beautiful geological formations
but also serve as sheltered habitat for encrusting sponges,
corals, flatworms and myriad other marine creatures.
Kona’s northernmost dive site, Kalokos Arches, has
several such formations, some of which are partially
collapsed, which makes for large, photogenic swim-throughs.
Turtle Cleaning Stations
If close encounters with sea turtles are your cup of tea,
then you should check out Turtle Pinnacle. Turtles
are constantly drawn to this site in the hope of getting
parasites and shell-algae removed by cleaner fish. They
typically swim past the cleaning station very slowly, making
32 | SPRING 2013
LOCAL DIVING
T e x t a n d P h o t o s b y K e r i W i l k
The Big Island’s rich and rugged west coast KONA