Oahu Scuba Dive: Sea Tiger Shipwreck


   One of the most popular boat dives along Oahu's south shore is the shipwreck of the Sea Tiger. Sitting upright on the sand at 127', the wreck of the Sea Tiger makes for a challenging, but still recreational deep dive. It was purposefully sunk just outside of Kewalo Harbor to become an artificial wreck. The wreck itself is 165' long and about 40' wide. You can penetrate into the wreck thru some open refrigeration hatches on the deck.
  Heidi and I were playing tourist today as we headed out on the boat, listening to the safety briefing. Last time we did a boat dive here in Oahu the boat was filled with Japanese tourists. We were shocked this time when it turned out to be just four of us divers on board. The conditions were great, no wind or waves, although the water looked more inky blue than light aquamarine in the early light of day. The light got better as the dive progressed but at first glance from the surface we couldn't see the wreck.

  I was the first to descend so I was the first to see the outline of the wreck emerging from from inky blue. Schools of fish surrounded the ship and a rare Hawaiian broad stingray cruised over the sand in the wreck's shadow. It was only the second broad stingray I've seen out here so a pretty good way to start the dive.

   After a couple of minutes everyone else made it down to the bottom and we set off exploring the wreck. Numerous nudibranchs and a large moray eel set up shop on the surface of the wreck. I followed some of the other divers into the open hatch leading down below decks before emerging back out at the upper portion of the ship. We only had about 20 minutes of exploration time due to the depth of the wreck. I feel like it could take a half dozen more dives to fully explore the hulking wreck. As we swam back towards the bow where our mooring line was attached I could see a dozen or so other divers descending upon the wreck. It was really special to have the wreck all to ourselves. Even the ascent and safety stop on this day was beautiful. The sun was a little higher and was showing up as a shimmering sunburst at the surface. The boat cast dark shadows below it providing a beautiful contrast of light and dark blues. And the bubbles of the other divers seemed to explode in a ring of light as they hit the surface.



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