Swimming with fin friends off the north coast of Oahu is safe and spectacular

The three-meter-long sandbar shark glides past secretly.

It’s close enough that I look straight into its eerie, slit pupil eyes.

The top predator stares straight back.

Having little interest in what I do, he disappeared as quickly as he showed up, with a smooth movement of his tail and swaying pectoral fins.

“That was pizza,” guide Juan Oliphant tells me as I leave the water.

“It gets its name from the wedge-shaped scar on his body.”

Instead of this encounter with sharks causing horror or even fear, it was idyllic with a touch of serenity.

Rocky Canon from

Hawaii Surf Dogs with business partners Kahuna (left) and Hina.”/>

After all, the snorkelers on the boat had been primed with a discussion about sharks-are-nothing-to-fear-before entering the sea, and in the water the dozen of sharks turned out to be calm and mesmerizing.

This is the One Ocean Diving and Research swim with sharks off the north coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

One Ocean is famous not only for free diving tourists with sharks, but also for its founders, Oliphant and Ocean Ramsey (yes, that’s their real name).

Rock stars in the world of shark conservation, Oliphant and Ramsey recently released the award-winning documentary Saving Jaws, which chronicles their travels around the world and encourages a love for this misunderstood species.

“Just what we did today changes the perception of everyone in this boat,” says Oliphant.

“Sharks are essential to a healthy sea and world and we can safely live with them. Mankind must stop killing 100 million of them every year for fear of them or for shark fin soup, supplements, makeup, and dog food. ”

A One Ocean excursion ($ 150 for a two-hour excursion) is educational, but it’s also a bucket-list experience.

My family and I boarded the Mano Kai boat (mano is the Hawaiian word for shark) with 10 other tourists and drove three miles off the coast of Haleiwa.

Sandbar sharks like to congregate here after they have been fed, so it is a prime place and time to watch them and know that they are not interested in eating a human at all.

First we hold on to lines in the water along the resting boat and look through our snorkel masks at a shoal of 49 (yes, someone counted them all) sharks underneath.

Each of us also takes turns freediving at a depth of five meters to take a closer look.

Two of the sharks, our buddy Pizza and Bully, so named for being aggressive with other sharks, not humans, come to the surface to review the group and offer our close encounters with this magical species.

My wife Kerry, our children Alex and Grace, and I continue an animal theme while on vacation on the North Shore.

We meet up with former professional surfer Rocky Canon from Hawaii Surf Dogs and his puppies Kahuna and Hina.

Canon is the only one in the world to offer tourists the opportunity to do stand-up paddleboarding and / or surfing with a dog directly on the board.

We decide on ‘SUP with Pups’ and start in the quiet Kawela Bay, while Kahuna and Hina take turns jumping on and off our boards to experience a symphony of barking and yowling.

The North Shore is only 60 kilometers from the metropolis of Honolulu and the spectacle Waikiki Beach.

So it’s handy to start with Air Canada, which will be introducing new flights between Calgary and Honolulu three times a week starting December 18.

Air Canada already flies three times a week between Vancouver and Honolulu and starts non-stop flights from Montreal (twice a week from December 12) and Toronto (three times a week from December 17).

Nevertheless, the North Shore with its relaxed surfer-and-beach-paradise atmosphere seems to be a world away from Honolulu’s hustle and bustle.

In fact, there are only two hotels on the beach-strewn North Shore, and we stay in both of them.

Turtle Bay Resort is a luxury destination with two beaches, a pool complex, golf course, and seven restaurants (you have to eat the fish tacos at The Point while watching the sunset).

The Courtyard by Marriott in Laie is cheaper, has a lovely pool, and is ideally located next to the Polynesian Cultural Center and close for beach hopping at Laniloa, Pounders, Mokuaula, and Hauula.

Visit OneOceanDiving.com, GoHawaii.com, AirCanada.com, TurtleBayResort.com, and Marriott.com.

Starting November 8, Canadians can travel to Hawaii with proof of double vaccination and a negative COVID-19 result from a test performed within 72 hours of the flight.

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