Dive Site: The Corsair Wreck

The Corsair airplane wreck, sitting 115’ at the bottom of the ocean off of Hawaii Kai, sank in 1948 on a routine mission from Pearl Harbor.  The captain of the plane realized his fuel gauge was rapidly falling but assumed it was a faulty gauge and continued flying.  

He executed a perfect emergency water landing, but the plane still sank, with virtually no damage, and the captain was rescued and taken to safety.  

The plane sits upright, but is in a location with strong currents and is meant for more advanced divers.  The left wing of the plane is submerged under the sand, acting as an anchor to keep the plane from drifting, and the right wing is home to many octopus and eels.  Surrounding the plane is mostly sand, and thousands of sand eels can be spotted.  Many people attempt to squeeze into the cockpit for a photo, but beware, large yellowmargin eels make their home in there, and they don’t like intruders!  Although not common, divers have seen manta rays, Galapagos sharks, tiger sharks, and humpbacks around the Corsair.  

Galapagos Shark

Garden Eels

Humpback Whale

Manta Rays

You never know…you might get lucky and see one of those rare creatures on your dive!

Sea Tiger & Honus!

Two adorable sea turtles fighting over the perfect spot to rest on the Sea Tiger, a wreck commonly used as a dive site off Waikiki Beach.

The Sea Tiger, prior to being intentionally sunk and turned into a reef.

Bow of the Sea Tiger today, a host to hundreds of underwater species.

A Little Sea Tiger History...

The ship was originally called Yun Fong Seong No. 303 and was carrying 93 illegal Chinese immigrants in 1992.  The immigrants were captured peacefully by the Hawaiian Harbor Police and the ship was sold at auction for $1by a man who later abandoned the ship.

It was then bought by The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for $40,000 and was going to be used to ram fishing vessels that used drift nets.  That plan also fell through, and it was sold to a Vietnamese fisherman who named it the Sea Tiger.

By 1994, the ship was still docked in the harbor, leaking oil and causing a stir with environmentalists.  Voyager Submarines bought the ship for $1 and spent $250,000 to restore it and clean it up in preparation to get all the approvals from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, health department, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Army Corp of Engineers.  Another $100,000 was spent to drain the remainder of the oil and fuel, and it was taken out to its location now, and was sunk to become a gorgeous environment for sea life.