February 2006 Dive Reports

Saturday, February 4th - What a beautiful way to start the weekend!!!

Today the gang from Pacific Paradise Divers, Chris, Pearl, Josh and our newest adopted family member/awesome photographer Krista, set sail for another day of deep blue discovery on the Nori Z with the always festive Captain Joe. Joining us today was our resident diver and world traveler Kyle, Mr. 3 hours a tank diver, and Ed who traveled through jungles, deserts, across great plains and wide open oceans all the way from Maui.

Captain "On Time" Joe fired up the boat and off we were! Our first stop on this fantastic aqua voyage was just off of Hawaii Kai at a dive site called Spitting Caves. We motored over to the site and in we were, no air in our BCDs, free descending and starting on our fantabulous undersea adventure that even Mr. Cousteau himself would be jealous of. You gotta love drift dives!

Our fearless leader Chris led the charge followed by Kyle, Ed, Josh, Krista and her satellite/camera and playing the caboose today was divemaster extraordinair Pearl who kept a watchful motherly eye on all of us. As we drifted along the wall, Krista was quick to spot a giant sea turtle gliding along without a care in the world, pausing only to smile for the camera. Today all of the locals were out in force. We saw schools and schools of fish. As we were cruising along at 40 feet Chris darted to the ocean floor and came back up with a tiger cowry the size of a football. Everyone got to see it and hold it before he was tucked back into bed and given a Hawaiian kiss goodnight.

Eels Eels everywhere!!! From moray, to blue ribbon, to dwarf, they were poking their heads out of every nook and cranny as far as the eye could see probably trying to hear what the whales were saying. And speaking of whales, we drifted along to the best possible music underwater humpback whales! Their peaceful and melodic songs carried us throughout the drift dive to the end where I ended up at about 60 feet with everyone pointing at my shoulder. It seems as though an octopus had taken a liking to my shoulder so we played around with him for a while and sent him off back to his home.

After we popped up to the surface and Captain Joe picked us up and we headed to our next liquid experience. On the way, we saw the humpback whales spouting water into the air and what seemed to be waving a fin at us divers. Just when we thought it could not get any better, three spinner dolphins decided to show off their latest dance moves and gave us a quick show, jumping and spinning and winking as if to say good to see you guys again the water is great, c'mon in!

So after our surface interval we once again jumped into the abyss and headed down the line to our next stop in the deep, Baby Barge. Always a great dive, the site is an actual barge that was sunk and nearby has three caves. We got to the deck of Baby Barge and headed over to the shark cave to see the resident white tip reef sharks. There was one waiting for us and man oh man was he huge! After exchanging pleasantries we headed over to the second cave where big mama turtle stays and what do you know, she didn't disappoint.

After saying hi we headed over to Baby Barge and slowly began circling the outside, taking in the magnificent reef and fish that always abound at the wreck. Chris led us around the front, down the side and back up onto the deck where we began our ascent, out of time and low on air, but completely stoked on what turned out to be two great dives in one day.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

 

Reported by Josh Huck, Divemaster In Training

 

January 2006 Dive Reports

Monday, January 23rd - We were waiting...just for this day..this dive...to be our first dive report of the new year...we knew it had to be coming soon!

Beautiful day to dive here on Oahu's South Shore, Sunny and 80 degrees. Captain Chris was waiting for us at 11:30am when we loaded the Elysium and headed out with our 7 certified divers. Tiffany had friends and family visiting and all were seasoned divers. In a few minutes, Travis and I had the boat set up and we took off for the Sea Tiger. The boat is fresh out of dry dock with a lot of new improvements, mainly the addition of trim tabs, which smoothed out the ride as well as made it even faster!!

We got to the mooring of the Sea Tiger Shipwreck and I donned my gear and went for the mooring line. We tied off with no current at all and as I returned to the stern of the boat to report great conditions, no one seemed to notice! Instead, everyone was looking over my head and pointing.

I turned to see a HUGE humpback whale surfacing 30 feet behind the boat. I immediately deflated and went underwater to see....not one... but two incredible creatures. The two whales were enormous, and I could see their full forms completely. They were mesmerizing and their song, it was so loud I could feel it. There they were, playing and diving right next to me. They dove down together toward the wreck where they leveled out and headed out to sea.

In 16 years and many many dives, I have never been fortunate enough to see whales underwater, as I did today. This was an amazing dive day - and it had only just begun.

The dive could have ended right then and been memorable, but no...we still dove and saw a white-tip reef shark and a huge Green Sea Turtle sleeping in the cargo hold. We even saw 5-6 Moray eels not just guarding their homes but feeding! 25 Minutes flew by and the dive was close to over, but not before we spotted 3 Eagle rays cruising in formation beside the wreck. Always a great way to end that dive.

Our second dive of the afternoon was to Kewalo Pipe was filled with plenty of eels free swimming and hunting for food....must have been the time of day! We searched for Octopus but couldn't find any today, they must have known we were coming to check them out. We found the ever-present Moray under the mooring block as well as the Scorpion Fish at the end of the pipe. We enjoyed a nice long relaxing second dive, with plenty to see. Very impressive!! Great dive today with great divers, I look forward to seeing you guys again this weekend and spending some more quality time underwater !!

Diver (and Divemaster) Satisfaction = Phenomenal!

Reported by Mike Savage , Divemaster

 

December 2005 Dive Reports

Friday, December 23rd - Where do I begin. Today was one of the most epic days I have ever experienced. We began this morning early in Hawaii Kai, ready for a great day of diving. Steve, Chris and Cory all geared up and ready to complete a couple Nitrox certifications. All of us looking forward to a good day of diving, although we had no idea what was really in store for us.

Captain Joe informed us that our sites would be The Corsair and the Sea Cave. Sounded great to us, we were ready to plunge on anything.

After Cory hooked the Nori Z to the mooring, we were right behind him into the water, eager to begin our day of diving. As soon as we started the descent we could glimpse the old WWII fighter jet nested in its home on the ocean floor at 107 feet.

Our viewing of the wreck began with a greeting from a large crab peeking from underneath the propeller, possibly a Samoan Crab - although we couldn't get a clear view. His menacing claw kept us at a distance...We began the trek around the plane, peaking in every nook and cranny. Today, instead of just the usual school of taupe that reside in this spot, there was a school of juvenile yellow striped goatfish, we are hoping now call the Corsair home as well.

We played a hide-and-seek a bit with the garden eels surrounding the wreck and found another friend that wanted to play, the peacock flounder. I must say, the flounder is one of my favorites - I just can't get over how peculiar they look. As the flounder fled beneath the sand we realized our time was up as well, as our NDL was down to a few minutes left. On our ascent a large Kahala (amber Jack) passed by, saying farewell. What a fantastic way to start the day!

After a nice relaxing surface interval, enjoying the company of Miss Marie's divers and See-in-Sea divers, we all geared up to start the hunt for the Endangered Monk Seal at Sea Cave. There are estimated to be only 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals left alive. They are considered the most endangered marine mammal in US waters. Read more here on the Hawaiian Monk Seal. As an endangered and protected species it is a rare and lucky occasion to sight them, however in the past month they have been spotted in the Sea Cave in Maunalua Bay. Needless to say, every time we venture to Sea Cave it is as though we are on a Safari for just a glimpse of them.

We could not have been luckier, because once inside the cave, we found not one but two monk seals. Their playful dance in the sunrays shining through the wholes in the top of the cave appeared to be a love ballet. Full of nuzzles, kisses, and love bites...The duet was captivating and the divers, as though in a trance circled around and sat below in awe. It was as though we were watching an Opera or Ballet, a love dance that didn't need words to describe. Every so often they would swim apart and come take a closer look at their spectators - interested in us for only a moment until they remember each other and went to continue their romantic play. I'm beginning to wonder if we shouldn't rename this dive site to Love Cave instead of Sea Cave ;-) .

After 40 minutes of watching the monk seals we realized it was time to head on, sadly we parted and headed out of the cave for a trip down the wall. As we left the cave we encountered a beautiful school of flat-tailed needlefish swimming about and possibly a hundred freckled sea stars lying about the rocks of the cave.

We continued our dive and quickly heard the beautiful sound of the humpback whale songs. In between every breath we would hear the longing call of the breeding whales....must be something in the water! ;-) We encountered many green sea turtles and a variety of moray eels. A 7 inch cow fish strolled by us at one point (Launa will be jealous she missed this one, he was a huge!). Finally after almost an hour dive, we began our ascent. As we floated at 20 feet for our safety stop, a school of pennant fish visited with us while we waited - it was as though our underwater world didn't want to see our dive end either.

Needless to say, the mood on the boat among the divers was one filled with many perma-grins. It wasn't a "I saw this" with a "I saw that" response, but more of a "that was awesome" and a "uh-huh" response. Many of us were simply speechless, in really doesn't get better than that. Bill Keen of See-In-Sea commented on it being one of his best dives and he's been diving professionally in Hawaii for 7 plus years! This was definitely an invigorating dive for us all!

Surface temperature = 80 degrees F
Water temperature = 76 degrees F
Underwater Visibility = 100 Feet
Diver Satisfaction = Astronomical!

Reported by Pearl Wade, Divemaster

November 2005 Dive Report

Friday, November 18th - Today started off with 2 early morning pickups in Waikiki and a short road trip to Waianae. We used the 45 minutes of traffic to get to know each other, Jeremy, who just finished his Advanced Open Water certification with us throughout the week, brought his wife Rachel along today. She is a geophysicist out here for the next few months and needed some dive time to relax. We also met Stacy out from Louisiana doing his first dive after certification. We got to the boat early and got good seats and our gear set up before the other groups arrived.

Right on time, we headed to our first dive site of the morning, the wreck of the Mahi at 95 feet, which was originally sunk in 1982 as an artificial reef project. It is located 1/2 mile offshore and a 15-minute boat ride from Waianae Boat Harbor. The Mahi was originally built as a minesweeper, but the Navy instead used the 800-ton ship in the Bahamas for laying cable. Although originally sunk facing shoreward, it now lies upright on a sand bottom, facing seaward, due to Hurricane Iwa repositioned the ship 180 degrees in 1982. Conditions were better than 150 feet of visibility, with no current at all, water temperature right at 70 degrees F.

Schools of 10-20 spiny puffer fish were spotted in mid water as we descended, facing into the current beside the ship's mast. Spotted Eagle Rays were circling overhead and the ever-present Frog fish were also hanging out on the mast and the stern. The highlight of the dive was watching John Hoover (of Hawaii Fishes Guidebook) and Jack Randall (of Shore Fishes of Hawaii) remove a sample of a blue ringed octopus we believe may be unknown to these islands. Divemaster Cameron found the octopus last week and a lot of divers have headed over to Oahu to catch a glimpse of what may be a new species.

Our second dive took us to Black Rock. After an very relaxing hour surface interval, we descended down into a huge cave and found many large cowry shells, as well as a sponge carrying crab. We convinced a 4-6 lb octopus to come out and play and we all took turns holding it until he got bored and swam back to his hole. He spent a few minutes hiding inside Stacy's BCD around his tank before he left though. We dined on the great sub sandwiches and pineapple on the ride back to the dock and compared stories with other divers on board as to who had the most fun. :-)

Reported by Mike Savage , Divemaster

August 2005 Dive Report

Wednesday, August 10th - Today, after yesterday's refresher dives at Nautilus Reef and Turtle Canyon, I picked up Ben this morning from Waikiki and we headed to the Enzo early. It was nice having Chris on the boat when we got there - gear set up, tank racks ready, we just hopped on and were ready to go diving! Since Chris was first mate today, I dove for the mooring on the Sea Tiger. It was beautiful, 150 foot visibility and no current.

We free descended towards the wreck but were distracted by the Eagle rays that cruised by and stopped to play. Finally we could focus on exploring the wreck, but not before spotting a few smaller turtles going up for air. We began to cruise between the 2 large storage holds forward and came face to face with a monster Green Moray Eel.  We decided he was home and we were visiting, so we backed up and watched him from afar.  We did a swim-through of the pilot house and descended down the interior pilot’s ladder well back outside.  It was amazing how many eels were out today.  After I exited the wreck, Ben grabbed my fin and pointed down.  It appeared I unknowingly swam about 6 inches over the back of a huge green sea turtle sound asleep. Luckily we didn't wake him and continued on our dive. We managed to get 30 minutes of bottom time, great for a dive at that depth and after a brief safety stop were back on the boat.

Our second dive was Kewalo Pipe, a dive we have done many times, but today it stood out more than any dive to this site previously. Today was awesome, as I dove for the mooring I realized we had 100+ foot visibility, something that can be rare at this dive site due to its positioning near the marina. Instead of swimming along the pipe, we swam away from it, heading north to the Little House and the reefs farther out, something that we do not often get the opportunity to do. We found Octopus, several big eels as well as the fish Hawaii is known for. It was a terrific dive and we had the chance to glimpse a side of this dive site that I had never realized existed. It has definitely bumped up high on my list of favorite shallow dives....it was almost as good as seeing Chris' face when we told him everything we saw (and he did not)!

Reported by Mike Savage , Divemaster

 

July 2005 Dive Report

Friday, July 1st - Coming out of Kewalo Basin aboard the Enzo, you could already see the pristine diving conditions of the south shore of Oahu. We headed to a sunken ship, the YO257 dive site. Upon entering the water we could already see the wreck clearly, probably 150+ foot visibility. No current so no need to go down the mooring line, the free descent down to 100 feet was spectacular. Once we arrived at the top of the wreck we did the loop taking a look at the many varieties of fish species in the area.

We then headed to the San Pedro (another ship wreck adjacent to the YO). We explored one of the cargo bays of the wreck, exited and continued on about 300 yards past the San Pedro to find a coral ridge. Under the ridge we saw the largest yellow margin eel I have ever seen - probably 6 ft + in length! He was not shy with over 3 feet of his body extending from his hole in the rock. Upon closer inspection, his younger brother popped his head out of a nearby hole as well, it was quite a site to be seen.

After our eel encounter we headed our divers back towards the YO and on the way we came across a school of barracuda and a school of Hawaiian flag tails. On our arrival back at the ship we saw a green sea turtle float into the wreck and decided to follow it. Swimming through one of the large cutouts of the YO we located our fine flippered friend who had since nestled himself into a nook of the wreck. We decided to further investigate one of the lower decks which was teaming with life. The crystal clear hawaii waters magnified the colors of blue making our entire dive surreal. As we exited the wreck we continued to investigate the upper decks and wheel house. As we began our ascent the Atlantis Submarine paid one of its' many daily visits, providing us an opportunity to share our experience with those that do not have the pleasure of being a certified SCUBA diver. Reminding us, just how lucky we are to be able to live and dive in our Hawaii paradise.