Both submarines offer dives hourly from 8 AM to 3PM daily if weather permits.
'Run Silent, Run Deep', a classic WW II story of the submarine service partly set in Hawaii does not apply to the over 15 years of Atlantis Submarine Operations in the Islands. As guests look out wide windows at the coral, fish and support divers off Kona, Oahu or Lahina 'Ohs and ahs' fill the air. The rustle of plastic coated fish identification cards increases. The tense expectation built on the support boat ride out to the sub that compounded as guests filed down the ladder to into the submarine vanishes in the wonderment of subsurface action.
Give up an expensive dinner, night club tour or do whatever it takes to pay the $99 or so cost -- $39 for children -- to enjoy one of the 48-passenger or the new 64-passenger subs. If you divide the cost by the duration of the memory, it's very affordable.
In Waikiki, the trip starts with the hourly shuttle boat from Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach. Tours last about two hours with 20 minutes on the shuttle boat with nice views of Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach. A transfer to one of the submarines is followed by about 50 marvelous minutes submerged and a 20-minute voyage back to the shore. The missing time is taken up with transfers that can be a bit tricky for some as the hatch is less than three feet wide and the stairs below can be treacherous.
Once submerged off Waikiki, you pass coral reefs that are finally starting to come back with improvements in water quality. Two sunken ships -- one a large tanker, a couple of airlines, and some rather Lego-likeTM artificial reef structures offer reef fish, invertebrates and other marine creatures decent homes.
Out of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, the coral seems much more healthy and its forms more varied. The fish life is both more abundant and varied with less angling pressure.
Perhaps the best diving venue is Maui where the subs go a bit deeper as they glide down to 120 feet in the channel where whales play between Lanai and Maui. Lava formations, coral crunching green parrot fish and wildly yellow tangs play tag with divers as the pilot and an observer identify fish and answer questions.
As an alternative the new 'Yellow Submarine' that dives out of the Kewalo Basin about 5 minutes from Waikiki to Kewaalo Reef and Trumpetfish Bay at a $79 adults, $29 child rate, with discount dives ($55 adults, $25 child) at one, two and three with English narration only. There's a shuttle bus, a catamaran shuttle to the boat and parents need to know mariners must be 30 inches tall to come on the dives. To reserve dive space at Atlantis Submarines call 800-548-6262. Yellow Submarine offices are at Ala Moana and Ward Ave. Call 808-539-9440 Both submarines offer dives hourly from 8 AM to 3PM daily if weather permits.
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