Diving Hawaii and Midway: A Guide to the Aloha State's Best Diving (Periplus Action Guides)

A guide to the aloha state's best diving.

The relaxed lifestyle and breezy climate of this mid–Pacific paradise are famous the world over, and "The Islands," with their stark, volcanic seascapes, water that is more transparent than the air over Los Angeles, and abundance of big pelagic fish have become one of the most popular diving areas in the world. But most divers only scratch the surface of this very interesting archipelago. Did you know that almost one–quarter of Hawaii's marine fish are found nowhere else? That Hawaii is perhaps the only place in the world where the green sea turtle is not considered endangered?

Our authors have more than twenty years' experience with these waters, and their combined dives number well into the five figures. In Diving Hawaii they share this knowledge, giving you all the information you need—whether you are headed for the calm, rich reef of Maui's Molokini Island or the rugged, current–swept rocks off distant Niihau. And this guide, for the first time, includes information on newly opened Midway, in the remote northwest of the Hawaiian chain, the wild and exciting frontier of Pacific Ocean diving.

This Hawaii diving guide features:

• Practicalities: Island by island prices and contacts for dive operators, accommodations, and transportation.
• Maps: Accurate, detailed marine charts for every diving area.
• Photography: More than 130 shots by one of the world's foremost underwater professionals.

Mike Severns spent his childhood catching octopus and spearfish with his Hawaiian friends, and since then his underwater research has led to the discovery of several pre-contact Hawaiian fishing grounds, the longest underwater cave system in Hawaii, a 10,000-year-old wave bench under Molokini, and a new species of marine animal. His underwater photography has appeared in numerous books and magazines, including Islands and Natural History.

Pauline Fiene-Severns is a biologist specializing in nudibranchs, a type of mollusk, and is currently co-authoring the first complete book on the opisthobranch fauna of these islands. She has discovered new species in Hawaiian waters, including a sand octopus and many nudibranchs. For twenty years she and Mike have run a small but respected dive operation in Maui, where they live.