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Coral heads and sergeant damselfish over a shallow reef in clear blue water — Oʻahu

Oʻahu · United States · Wall · Cave & cavern · Drift

Spitting Cave

Lava caves down a drifted wall to 43 m

Area photo: mattk1979 · CC BY-SA 2.0

A boat-only deep dive on the lava coast, run as a drift because the current here is generally strong. The wall starts around 15 m and drops to 43 m, with caves cut into the lava along the way, and it is a good place to see the endangered Hawaiian monk seals that live along this stretch of coast.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Spitting Cave: typical dive 15–43 m (50–141 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit15 m43 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 50 m (164 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

21.2583° N, 157.7078° WPublished position for this site.

The dive

The drop is made at around 15 m and the profile only goes one way from there, down the lava as the terrain falls away to 43 m. Natural caves are cut into the rock along the way, which is what gives the site its shape: you are not swimming a reef so much as following a cliff face that carries on below the waterline.

The current is generally strong, so this is dived as a drift rather than a circuit swum out and back. That is also why it is graded for advanced divers only. Hawaiian monk seals, an endangered species, live in this stretch of coast and are the sighting divers come for; tiger sharks, Galapagos sharks and whitetip reef sharks are all reported here as well.

Marine life and season

  • Seals & sea lions
  • Tiger sharks
  • Reef sharks
Month-by-month season rating for Spitting Cave
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
GoodGoodGoodGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodGood

Season follows Oʻahu: South-shore boat diving runs all year; the North Shore reefs at Pupukea are only calm from about May to October and are dangerous in winter.

Know before you go

  • The current is strong enough that the site is only dived as a drift, so the group moves with the water and cannot swim back to a fixed point.
  • The bottom of the profile is 43 m, deep enough that gas planning and a no-decompression limit, not the terrain, end the dive.

Sources

  1. Spitting Cave — Scubago — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide

In The Logbook

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