| Delphinus |
02-03-2012 08:32 PM |
That's probably more a function of that where Sam took these photos, Poipu and etc., are better for snorkeling on account that they are safer places to swim. There are many spots on Kauai where the shoreline and the waves are simply too treacherous and swimming is not recommended. I bet if you took a boat based dive trip you'd be able to see more reefs. I did some shore based dives in Kauai and did find some decent coral formations in spots but not to the same extent that you can find off Maui or the Big Island (and even Maui for that matter isn't exactly a coral hotbed. The Big Island, particularly around Kona-Kailua, has the most spectacular reefs, IMO, looking closer to our expectations, in this hobby, of what a reef "looks" like. The underground topography lends itself well there for better coral growth. One of the fellows on the boat when I did my dive trip there last year ran his own dive shop in Oahu but he told me he chooses to dive the Big Island when he himself takes vacation - I thought that was rather telling.)
In general though, if you look at a map, Hawaii is pretty much at the northern limit of the tropics and in fact the island chain that makes up the group continue well north of the topic line. It is also one of the most geographically isolated places anywhere surrounding by a LOT of ocean before the next land. For "tropical" water, at around 25-26c, it's on the cooler side of things (and a lot of the shoreline is, for lack of a better way to put it - "too new" - in geographic terms that lava hasn't been there very long). As such the coral formations around Hawaii are quite juvenile in comparison to places further south (think Fiji and so on), and the vast majority of species tend to be of the hardier varieties (what we would call "beginner SPS", like Porites, Pocilliporas, and so on).
Reefs or not, I absolutely adore all of Hawaii. Kauai has a charm all its own that you don't find on the other more heavily traveled islands.
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