O'ahu dive and spearing report

  • Hafa Adai and Aloha all,


    just wanted to start this thread on my dive adventures diving O'ahu.
    I'll update this thread when I actually have some ability to catch fish.
    I apologize in advance if my stories pale in comparison to the other diving legends
    on this forum.


    so my first report with pics is my adventure diving the south-side of O'ahu. Conditions were PERFECT, winds= light and variable,
    sun shining bright, no current, no chop. 40' vis.
    We started our swim out and w/in 10 mins, I saw this big thing on the bottom change color. I said to myself "WTF is that?".
    Dove down and realized it was a tako (he'e in Hawaiian, gamson in Chamorro) and its the biggest one i've seen so far in my diving.
    it saw me coming and hid in a hole but it was game over from there. I proceeded to "tickle the tako" with my shaft and grabbed it as it
    shot out of its hole, ink blowing everywhere. I made it to the surface shaking the hell out of it to stun it, i debated whether to bite it between
    its eyes to crack the skull and kill it or use my knife. I decided for the latter since I didn't want it to rip off my mask and snorkel. Dispatched it and put it on the
    kui (stringer). Missed a couple shots the rest of the dive day but oh well, got meat for dinner.



    Dove last week with a couple of the boys on the south east side again. Conditions were less than favorable, 10-20mph winds, strong ass current,
    strong chop, 15' vis. Anyways, started off slow for me with me missing shots on a couple uhus (parrotfish). I figured I'd check some ledges/shelves for
    menpachi but forgot to grab my 3 prong from my float so had my gun when I dropped down. When i landed on the bottom, i gathered myself and looked in the hole and saw
    this fat ala'ihi cruising inside. Pointed my roller at it and stoned it. After that managed to catch two tako when i was scouting other grounds. Funny story with the tako, I figured i'd bite it to kill it. I ended up mistiming it and idk what happened but when i bit down, one of the eyeballs popped off in my mouth, the legs grabbed my mask and snorkel.
    Got pissed off, grabbed my knife, and brained him. All in all a good day.
    Dive safe guys!


  • hatterasfreedvr thanks man! yeah, looks like i'm going to have to cut it in half to cook it. Fry one part and steam chinese style for the other. I'll post pics when i'm done cooking it.

  • Nice. I lived in Oahu for 5 years back in the 70s and 80s. I go there almost every year now to see family. Where on the south side do you hunt? (no GPS points :D Just general area)

  • Nice to see reports from the islands. I just booked my tickets to see family in Kona. Looking to get into some fish while back home.

  • Fatty Ala`ihi and good size He`e too bro!! :thumbsup2:


    Thanks joe! That tako is nowhere near that 7-ish lber you caught. I'm still jealous of your cheater tab uku. Yes guys, joe shot an uku (jobfish) with the band on his cheater tab. Nuts! Guys usually use longer range guns to get those.


    Don Paul, I looked that up (thought you were telling me it was poisonous, lol) and is looks good. I'll actually try and give that a shot.


    Hookinfish, so jealous the big island has pelagics so close too shore! Hopefully you catch some big ones and report back here!

  • hank, haha, yeah i know. no gps coordinates, but typically between makapuu and sandy's.


    That's some rough ass shore diving when the trades are blowing. I was there last Dec and went around that side on a friend's boat. We hopped in just past Sandy's going town side and drifted looked for ono but no luck.


    I still go to Sandy' every time I'm there. I'm gettin' kind of old for those grinders but still getting barrelled. :thumbsup2:


    I'll be there soon again. My daughter, named Sandy…haha… just gave birth. She lives in Kaneohe.

  • Hafa Adai and Happy Thanksgiving guys,


    just wanted to share a photo of my kelaguen gamson (octopus kelaguen), its a Chamorro dish commonly served with titiyas (flour tortillas) at parties and as a chesa' (chasers). I finally had some time tonight to make some for Thanksgiving tomorrow.



    Dive safe guys!

  • Went out on a zodi dive again yesterday with the boys.
    Finally got a nice day of weather this week cuz it's been raining,
    Voggy, and just unpleasant.


    Anyways, we hit our first spot and within the first five
    minutes I see a really nice moano kali (or simply referred to as kali). I was using my
    AD 120 with the stock salvimar shaft. The stock salvi shaft has virtually no overhang from the muzzle
    this makes it hard to instinctively aim. I took a shot on the kali and hit it high on the back. As I went to recover
    it, he wiggled off and darted between my legs! Lol. Slippery bastard. I resurfaced and loaded only 1 band to check the hole. I descended and found the hole, shot it mid body and tried to take it out. It turns out I was in a wrestling match with
    a puhi (eel). I tried grabbing the kali with my hands in excitement but couldn't nudge it from the eel's mouth. No luck.
    Unfortunately the eel won that day. I'll upload the vid of that fiasco soon.


    So I decided to check the edge of the channel for some mu's (bigeye emperor) and uku's (jobfish).
    I descended to 50' and immediately put my head down and starting dusting sand. I lifted my head up and saw a silver silhouette come in and saw it was a bar jack. I tracked it for a couple seconds and fed it some steel.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO8NjFu7IFw


    here's the kali fail... lol


    kali fail - YouTube

  • @hatteras no never been bitten. Hopefully never will. I had couple close calls but I guess they don't like brown meat. lol.


    here's a pic of some sashimi I tried making, only my 2nd time but turned out better than I expected...

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