|
|
Fire House
|
|
Submitted By:
Stephen Porter
Submitter Comments:
Directions:
Between 3 tables and sharks cove.
|
Diver
Reviews: (Please share your
own experiences by clicking
here!)
09/19/2008 Jeff Dowdy (Avg: 2.82 Review) - One of my favorites on the island. From the entry, which is similar to the neighboring Shark's Cove with some shallow rocks to navigate within a small cove to protect you from small surf, head out to the edge of the lava formation on the right then head to 265 degs about 200ft over smaller rocks and sand until you come across a wall, follow it to a large lava tube which is actually part of Three Tables. You can use Three Tables as an alternate entry and exit to reach the other way, but it takes longer to get to the cave. You can then follow the point around to another swim through which sometimes houses some turtles. I have seen small schools of various fish, sometimes eagle rays, and some eels, but the caves are the most interesting thing on this site also named Cathedrals by local divers. Visibility is good in the summer and there is little or no current from May to September. Winter diving here is not recommended aside from freakish calm days, some waves approach 20+ feet in the winter. Visibility is generally 30ft or better. The max depth is about 45 feet, you could go deeper but it's pretty much nothing much to see there. Also this site is generally less used by dive operations and tourists because of a longer walk from Shark's Cove parking and three tables. Facilities are generally located 300 feet away in neighboring Shark's Cove or there is a bathroom only a shorter distance on the other side of the firehouse-- follow the traditional drum music in the community center on the weekends.
01/16/2008 Brian M (Avg: 3.84 Review) - The dive is really nice. I did this quite a bit this summer. The north shore is divable only really in the summer which makes this dive a pleasure. The full area is only explorable if you are good on air. Very easy entry: I enter behind the fire house and usually fin backwards until I see the Foodland sign and swim out along the reef!
01/13/2008 Steve Porter (Avg: 3.95 Review) - This is by far my favorite shore dive on Oahu!!!! My wife loves it, we love it, when people visit, we make them LOVE IT. It has everything. Caves big and small, fish schools, one'sy two'sy, Tako (octopus), HUGE turtles like gamera. Very easy navigation, and variety of structure! When you swim out look to your right (if your back finning, left). When your about parallel with the church, this is the point to drop down. Look around and you should see a notch in the rocks. It looks tight but it opens up to a huge series of caves and swim throughs. We spent over an hour here on one night dive (because at night everything is different). Massive amount of cowries were stuck to the overhead here. Once you pop out the swim through, go straight keeping the wall to your left. There will be another small tighter cave slightly to your left. I hear there's lobster in there (wink-wink). About another 75 yds down is the sky light. Puffers hangout here in some of the crevices. You can either swim up through the light, or go farther down the wall. If you choose to continue down, you'll be rewarded by schools of big game fish! If you go through the sky light, you'll find a great valley to swim throughs. It brings you toward 3 tables. Once you round the valley, make for a heading of 055 and this will get you right back to the lagoon you entered from. If you choose to enter by going down the rocks, because it's shorter, be careful because you'll drop into a 3 ft deep hole that you have to pull yourself out of, and same when you return. If you go back by the lagoon you can also work this wall. At the end of the reef, way to the right, it drops to a great overhang with critters hiding everywhere. Great diving -- See ya out there!
ShoreDiving Resources:
Additional Resources:
Dive Site Links: (If you have a
relevant link for Fire House, please write us
here.)
Fire House PDF (3mb) -- Pictures and text by Stephen Porter give an excellent description of the Fire House shore diving site.
Dive Site Pictures: (If you have pictures
for Fire House, please send them
here.)
The cave.
Submitted by Bill Stohler
Diver
Averages for Fire House (1=worst,
5=best) |
Number of reviews for this site: 3
1724-1-4-23
|
3.67
4.33
3.33
2.67
2.33
5.00