The Wreck of the Corsair, Oahu

Heidi and I signed up with Reef Pirates Dive Shop to go do a deep wreck dive off the coast of Hawaii-kai in Oahu. I had never dove on a plane wreck before so I was very excited. Plus there are always cool critters on wrecks that you just don't see other places. This was no exception!

The is a worry about the current at this offshore location so we had to time it right. We descended down the mooring line and the outline of the wreck soon became visible. The right wing was broken and the left wing was buried under the sand but otherwise the wreck is in great condition. The landing gear is still extended from the back of the plane which you can see in the top right picture. Sometimes you can sit in the cockpit and get your picture taken but today a toxic spiny sea urchin had taken up residence right ontop of the pilots seat so that was a no go.
  One of the coolest parts of this dive is that the sand surrounding the wreck is filled with rows upon rows of garden eels. Slim, snake like bodies emerge out of the sand and sway back and forth unless you get too close. They are timid so the eels will quickly disappear into their holes until they feel safe enough to come back out and start their dance again.
  Large schools of red soldierfish had take up refuge inside the wreck as did this big stocky hawkfish peering out at me. A couple of frogfish were hanging around some of the nearby wreckage and a rarely seen white margin moray was living in the exposed tail of the plane.
  The 35ft plane is in just over 100ft of water making it an advanced dive. It is the perfect size wreck to fully explore in the amount of bottom time you have at that depth. The pilot had to make a water landing back in 1946 on a routine training mission because of a lack of fuel! You can see how the landing bent back the propeller. It is amazing that the plane remained so well intact.