Every Joseph Campbell fan knows that a proper mythic adventure begins when you cross the boundary line from the everyday world to the land of danger, mystery, and excitement. Often, this boundary line is marked by what Campbell called "threshold guardians"—forbidding or playful spirits.
So we realize we’re in for a real Campbell-style adventure as we head for the coast of Lana‘i, which is our launch-point for a scuba dive that will take us to an underwater landscape known as The Cathedrals. We know, because the boat ride from Maui concludes with a dazzling dolphin encounter. The threshold guardians!
Dozens of slick, gray wave-dancers bob and weave through our bow waves, as if excited to welcome us. Moments later, our boat is at anchor. The dive briefing is given…and then we’re shuffling penguin-like off the stern, falling through the boundary line into a beautiful blue adventure.
Our quest has begun.
The transition from the dive platform to the action beneath is smooth and tantalizing. The clear water and streams of bubbles rising from deeper divers makes it seem like we’re diving into a glass of champagne. Moments later we’ve assembled on the bottom.
Our group of 12 is led by our dive master and tour guide from Maui Dive Shop, one of Hawai‘i’s best-equipped and most dedicated outfits. We head out to explore.
This is the perfect place to be awed underwater. Here, molten lava has been shaped by the sea into spectacular rocky chambers and passageways. The diver who discovered these spaces surely felt like another classic adventurer—Carter stumbling on Tut’s tomb.
On our procession to the Cathedrals we pass a kaleidoscope of sealife. Yellow striped goatfish forage in the sand. A school of blue parrot fish buzz over the reef. A lone, reddish squirrel fish is hiding in a hole. And, look over there! Two reticulated butterfly fish have paired up like yellow-suited dive buddies. Then we spot a beautiful crown-of-thorns starfish, a fitting signpost on the way to our destination.
Large rock formations become more obvious now. Our guide heads to the base of one huge outcropping—then she disappears through an opening. We follow her into a dark, mysterious tunnel, feeling a bit reluctant to leave the bright, colorful action of the open sea. Another boundary line, another threshold to cross.
I proceed through the entrance, my exhaust bubbles splaying against the low ceiling as they seek escape to the surface. The opening suddenly gets larger. My eyes strain to discern the dimly-lit scene.
There are flashes of fish caught by our guide’s light. A lobster, startled in her beam, scuttles deeper into its crevice. She raises the light to the ceiling and it illuminates a patch of rare black coral sprouting from the ceiling, like a living chandelier swaying in the current.
My eyes are adjusting now and I begin to fathom the scale of the space I’m in. This Cathedral easily accommodates our group with room to spare. The ceiling soars 20 to 30 feet above in places; the base spans twice as wide. My mind begins to ponder the origins of this amazing scene, its wondrous caverns and unique "lava tubes."
The area’s history stretches back to when the island of Lana‘i was created from the volcano Lana‘i Hale. Over millennia of eruptions, lava flows became "channeled" into a few prominent streams. Overflows of lava from these streams solidified quickly and rose up the channel walls, building natural ramparts, then crusted over to form a roof, similar to the way a stream in winter continues to flow beneath the cover of its own ice.
These so-called "lava tubes" are good thermal insulators. Lava flowing through them can remain hot and fluid much longer than surface flows. And the lava can travel a surprisingly long way through these caverns. During the 1969-74 Mauna Ulu eruptions at Kïlauea, lava flows traveled underground through a lava-tube system for more than seven miles.
When liquid lava stops rising from its source deep within the earth, the still-molten lava moving within a tube will continue to drain downhill and may ultimately leave an empty, tubular or cavernous space. It is this type of space that has become known as one of the Cathedrals of Lana‘i.
The tubes, caverns, ledges and walls formed by these lava flows make magnificent mazes for undersea exploration and great settings for underwater picture-taking. They also attract a variety of shelter-seeking marine life from moray eels, lobsters and nurse sharks to turtles, manta rays and those playful spinner dolphins. As a dive trip bonus, humpback whales visit the area from late December to late April, their soulful sounds seeping into the ears of any nearby diver.
Just a handful of dive operators make the trek from Maui to Lana‘i’s Cathedrals. Chief among them is Maui Dive Shop, with eight locations on Maui. The first branch was opened in 1979 by Bob Chambers, a former New Yorker. With his wife Sandra, Bob has grown the business into the island’s largest scuba diving experience provider. The company’s success stems from the high quality of service. "Because of this," Bob smiles, "more than 60% of our clientele are repeat customers."
Maui Dive Shop remains driven to satisfy the steady stream of divers eager for aquatic adventure. That subtle but profound commitment trickles from the top down: from Bob, a scuba instructor for 30 years, to the enthusiastic dive masters who readily share the wonders of their underwater world. Even the boat captains show a knack for bringing out the best of the seas, as ours did near Lana‘i attracting that welcoming committee of dolphins.
With a certain reluctance, our party departs from the Cathedrals of Lana‘i. Making our way back the way we came, we break surface and clamber back on board ship. Heading for Maui, the mood is respectfully quiet. We are contemplating the treasure that is won in any true Campbell-style adventure myth. In this case, the treasure is our vivid memory of one of the planet’s most inspiring natural wonders.
Looking at the faces around me, I see the experience has left many of the divers in awe—myself included. And I realize it’s a fitting reaction to an undersea visit to the realm of the mysterious and the magical.
