ERIK KRUMMEL / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN Creatures frequently seen at Oahu's shipwrecks include the yellow margin moray eel, left, Moorish idol and trumpet fish, which looks more like a clarinet.

Into the Blue

Just south of Kewalo Basin, three shipwrecks have become thriving sea-life gardens and popular playgrounds for divers

A malevolent-looking eel peers out from a temporary hiding spot.

Starfish crowd a section of the seabed like conventioneers.

Colorful butterfly fish dart in and out of barnacle-covered bulkheads.

Warily, I watch for sharks.

Just south of Oahu, an underwater wonderland awaits.

Three sunken ships act as a magnet for recreational scuba divers in what is otherwise a watery desert.

These rusting hulks are famous in the diving world, but largely unknown among Hawaii residents who do not dive.

Perhaps the best known is the YO-257, a 1940s-era Navy oiler that was sunk in 1989 by Atlantis Submarines to make its offshore tour more interesting.

It also promptly made Oahu's South Shore more attractive to the scuba set - and to reef fish in search of a reef, albeit artificial. Now it's not uncommon for divers and Atlantis passengers to wave at each other and snap each other's pictures as the sub glides by.

I took the plunge on a recent Sunday with Erik Krummel of OahuDiving.com and Yumi Nakayama, a visiting science reporter with the Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo.

Aboard the dive charter Kahala Kai, the ride to the 165-foot-long wreck took only 15 minutes from Kewalo Basin.

The ship rests in 100 feet of water, well within the 130-foot depth limit for recreational diving. The uppermost sections are at 70 feet, and there is no reason to go below 90 feet, so one tank of air gives you plenty of time on target.

A mooring line extends down to the YO's deck, which makes the descent easy despite occasionally strong currents. On the way down, we just held on to the line, our pace dictated by our ability to equalize our ears to the equivalent of an atmosphere of pressure every 33 feet.

ERIK KRUMMEL / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN Yumi Nakayama, science reporter for the Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo, follows a heavy chain from the wreck of the YO-257 to the dive boat mooring at the surface. The chain helps divers fight heavy currents.

ERIK KRUMMEL / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN The Sea Tiger was scuttled by now-defunct Voyager Submarines as an artificial reef.

The main decks are in only 60 feet of water, but some of the best viewing is along the flanks and stern of the ship, covered in colorful coral and algae.

Properly trained divers can make their way inside the cargo holds of the 90-foot-long wreck, but Krummel warns that hanging steel shards make it a tricky entry.

After a refueling trip to the Texaco station at the Ala Wai Harbor - part of a 90-minute interval to let our metabolisms get rid of some nitrogen - we headed out for a second dive.

In 125 to 130 feet of water, the Sea Tiger completes the Triple Crown of South Shore diving.

Scuba rules dictate that your second dive of the day shall be shallower than the first, so we stayed above 100 feet. That still allowed a thorough exploration of the upper decks of the wreck, a former Chinese vessel seized by the Coast Guard for illegal activities and sold at auction to Voyager Submarines for $1.

Voyager went out of business, but its undersea legacy lives on for divers to relish.

Sea Tiger also has some dangerous interior spaces, but the outer hull has plenty to offer with little risk if divers don't stray too deep.

Krummel says he's seen tiger sharks on these dives, but none appeared this day. I was almost disappointed.

ERIK KRUMMEL / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN The deck of the Sea Tiger, at a depth of about 90 feet, hosts a community of corals and sea urchins. About 165 feet long and 40 feet wide, the Sea Tiger was a Chinese vessel seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and sold at auction for $1.

ERIK KRUMMEL / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN In roughly 100 feet of water, the Sea Tiger, San Pedro and YO-257 are the incredible hulks of Oahu scuba diving. Largely unknown to local residents, the wrecks are rated the top three "must dives" here by Sport Diver magazine. Above, Star-Bulletin staffer Jim Borg drifts above a colony of starfish not far from the YO-257.

Hanauma Bay rates as top snorkel spot

Other snorkeling sites in top-10 Hawaii list are: Makaha Beach; Molokini Crater, Maui, Kealakekua Bay, Big Island; Kee Beach, Kauai; Kapalua Bay, Maui; Anini Beach, Kauai; Kapiolani Beach Park; Poipu, Kauai; and Kahaluu, Big Island. The list, released earlier this month, is unchanged from September 2006.

"Friendly and plentiful fish swim close by," the Web site enthuses about Hanauma. "The setting is gorgeous and easy to access. Even in waist-deep water, dozens of species of reef and inshore fish common to Hawaiian waters can be seen."

Hanauma is certainly worthy, but snorkeling enthusiasts should not overlook Honolua Bay, just north of Kapalua, Maui. I've snorkeled there three times in the last dozen years, most recently last summer with my son, a teen.

The bay is part of a marine life conservation district, so fish are plentiful. A number of boats anchor in the sandy-bottom side of the bay and let snorkelers make the short swim to the reef.

The boat we took, the Teralani, sails from near the Westin Maui Resort and Spa at Kaanapali. Lunch is served on the morning cruise, which in season doubles as a whale watch.

ERIK KRUMMEL / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN The stern of the San Pedro looms ghostlike.

ERIK KRUMMEL / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN A school of yellow striped snappers huddles in the shadow of an outer bulkhead, left.