Test post - Waikiki part 0, Hilton Hawaiian Village

My first video is up. As per the title of this blog, I intend to snorkel around Oahu and find out what is there, what isn't there, what places are beautiful, what places are ugly, and in general bring Oahu reefs and ocean life into view as a whole. Other issues I may cover in this blog are conservation, fishing, snorkeling, freediving, fish and their habits, laws and how people experience the ocean.

My first video is of a trip off the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. There are few large fish in the inner reef, and the fish obviously are wary of humans, but there are some very healthy coral formations after you get past the rubble at about 200 yards. Also, I count any day that I see a moray as a good day, and indeed I found a snowflake moray!

It's a short selection from about an hour of snorkeling. We went out to the break but not really beyond it. I plan at some point to get a better view of the outside reef, but I need a dive flag and would like to have a useable float at least. Perhaps a kayak would be best for getting there.

Waikiki itself is seemingly small but a world of its own. The Hilton has a large beach, unusual for Waikiki since they built far, far too close to the water in most of Waikiki (in an example of the shortsightedness and foolishness often on display when money is involved). There were a few people snorkeling but I think we may have been the only ones out so far - though one person near the beach when we came in had a float and flag. I suspect they either came in earlier or were going to leave when we came in. Too bad for the tourists, there IS something to see if you can swim a bit. For a place that most people here would never associate with "nice snorkeling" it was better than expected.