Kauai, Hawaii coastline taken during a helicopter tour
Last year, I went to some of the outer Hawaiian Islands for a nice vacation and, of course, to dive. My wife and I went to Hawaii on our wedding anniversary 44 years ago, and I dove then too, so I had an opportunity to assess the place decades later. The diving then was good, plenty of varied life with a smattering of sharks. MORE
I have had the same experience with Hawaiian Islands. The reefs look like they are in decline compared to just few years ago. I was especially disappointed with area around the back wall of Molokini, which now looks completely devoid of life. The only healthy reefs I’ve seen were on the island of Hawai’i around Kealakekua Bay. I would like to go there in the winter someday and see the condition of reefs on the northern shore of Maui or Big Island. Kaua’i is a different story, the island is much more exposed to the current and waves, therefore reefs there consist mostly of coraline algae (which build massive reefs on their own anyway)