Yes they are! of course so is everything else underwater! but frogfish can be hard to find, so it is always a treat to find one. i’m so proud of myself when i do. 🙂 today’s conditions was just spectacular, with viz around 150 feet, and a pretty flat surface, thanks to the winds returning to normal. we had a great time today at Koko Craters, with lyle and mindy working toward their Advanced cert. they were able to guide us back to the main crater from the back using natural navigation techniques, and had no problems swimming rectangles with a compass. great job you guys! Seamus was also out, working on OW1/2. he was great underwater, but the rocking boat was not his favorite hawaiin experience! TJ was also along, working with the Leinringens on their AOW also! 2nd jump was Turtle Canyons, another great dive, with tons of marine life on both! good job divers, and thanks to all! Larry and TJ
https://i0.wp.com/www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/frog-juv.jpg?fit=1003%2C735&ssl=17351003Larry Hoganhttps://www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo111.pngLarry Hogan2014-03-20 21:50:222014-03-20 21:50:22FROGFISH ARE SO INTERESTING! 3/20/2014
On this gorgeous evening we were blessed with the calmest day we have had all week. Practically no wind and no swell, our whale watching crew was among the most lively and entertaining of the year. We departed around 16:40 heading out of the channel and going around to the mouth of Sea Cave then turning around. We were traveling back towards Maunalua Bay when one of our customers hollers out SHARK! I laugh never seeing a shark on a whale before look out the window and what do I see SHARK, a 8 foot Hammerhead shark cruising on the surface. The Hammerhead was around the boat for about 15 minutes before we went to pursue the whales. After another 15 minutes we found whales, a mother and her calf just traveling along towards Portlock. We got some good tail action and a beautiful Hawaiian sunset. Thank you for everyone who came out tonight with us, we appreciate your positivity and patience. All of you were an absolute pleasure, you make my job easy. Aloha, and we hope to see you again soon.
Minnesota madness with Koko Crater. Skog Vikings
Locals loving the sun, with Koko Crater
Shark spotters, in the aloha shirts
Hammerhead
Shadow of Hammerhead
Whale tail
Fluke
splashy whale tail
Whale fingerprint
tip of a tail
Koko Head, Koko Crater, and Sea Cave
Locals enjoying the sunset
Friends enjoying their time and the natural beauty behind them
Some people visiting enjoying their time on the Island
Our jersey friend’s making our time on the boat hilarious.
Kids getting a little tired after being on the water for two hours.
Weather Conditions: East at 20, 2 to 4 foot seas and 25 mile visibility
Captain Joe Crew Maxine
Starting off very well this morning, we departed on time at 8:30 and all the divers were excited and ready to go, all arriving at the requested time of 8 or earlier. I initially intended to dive the Corsair but the current was far to strong to tie up so after asking Captain Joe what he thought was best to start our day, we choose the utter bliss of sea cave. Luckily the conditions were good enough for us to safely dive Sea Cave granted getting back on the boat was a bit rough but overall worth the effort. We had a very solid and comfortable group of 9 divers including myself. We entered the water at 9:40 am and had a few troubles getting down nothing we could not over come. Once we all got down into the cave it was all smooth sailing from there. After leaving the cave we saw a white tip reef shark, and a massive school of Millet seed butterfly fish. After 30 minutes we all were running low on bottom time and safely ended our dive. As for the second dive we wanted to be a little calmer water so we arrived at Anglers reef at 10:30. We came across a massive coral head, a horned helmet, three giant puffer fish, jeweled anemone, baby seven eleven crab, big yellow margin moray, and a cushion star. We did another 30 minute dive with spectacular visibility, after we were done diving we arrived back at the dock at 11:30 as per scheduled. Thank you to all my divers today you made my day easy and fun, I hope you request to dive with me again. ALOHA
MY BUBBLES
Entrance of Sea Cave
Good buddy diving, Father and Son
Milletseed Butterfly Fish, Lauwiliwili
Following the Max
Horned Helmet, pu puhi
Vivacious Coral Habitat
Cushion Star, Culcita novaeguineae
Enjoy the pleasures of the sea urchin skeleton
Yellow Margin Moray Eel, Puhi paka
Three Giant porcupine fish, Kokala ‘o’opu kawa
Jeweled Anemone Crab, Dardanus gemmatus
Weather Conditions: East at 20 knots,2 to 4 foot seas, 80 ft Visibility
Dive Sites: Sea Cave, Anglers
Dive Conditions: Sea Cave -max depth 87 ft, 30 minutes, water temp 74 f, easterly current, Anglers- max dept 47 ft, 30 minutes, water temp 76 f, easterly current
Marine life observed: white tip reef shark, green sea turtle, cushion star, jeweled anemone, giant porcupine puffer fish, yellow margin moray, and horned helmet
Captain Joe, Crew Dene, Instructor Maxine
It was a super-glide day today as conditions were perfect for diving, including a nice current which we used as a drift on our last dive at Turtle Canyons, gliding over hard corals, several turtles, octopus, eels large and small, and lots of reef fish. viz was 120+, and the water was warm! Danny and Martie are long time Harley riders, and they gave me some great advice on cruisers. This was also their first time on an ocean dive, having recently gotten certified deep inland. you never know what to expect from new divers, but i figured, if they can ride a big bike safely, they can dive safely too. which they did, once we got our weights sorted out! great job you two! also out was Dr. DJ and son Jack, working toward their Advanced cert. they were real comfortable underwater, and were fantastic to dive with. Doc also cheerfully answered all my medical questions! 🙂 Jack looks older than his 14 years, and dives that way also! Kokos Craters was our first dive, with a few million turtles! it is one of the best and easiest spots for turtles in Oahu scuba diving! thanks to all, particularly Max, the greatest crew person who ever lived.
When I Google “How to Prevent Getting Seasick” I get a multitude of reasonable offers. Over the counter medications (Dramamine, Bonine, Meclizine and Benadryl), prescription medications (Promethazine, Ephedrine, Scopolamine), and natural remedies (ginger pills, wrist bands) are all recommended. I read one should avoid spicy or acidic foods: coffee, grapefruit. Eating panda express for breakfast probably isn’t the best idea. You probably shouldn’t be hungover. But this is Hawaii. Vacation central. Pretty much everyone is in some stage of detox any given day. Hopefully some of this information gets out to some of our divers. Our company does much of it’s business on the Sea Fox, the Sea Hound, and the Dive Barge. Seasickness becomes an occupational hazard. My condolences to all you seasick divers. We’ll do our best to make you comfortable.
https://i0.wp.com/www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/G0450888.jpg?fit=2048%2C1536&ssl=115362048Kellan Bernhardthttps://www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo111.pngKellan Bernhardt2014-03-19 20:23:332014-03-27 18:41:46Getting Seasick Is The Pits
Last night was a wonderful evening for a night dive off the southeast side of Oahu. We headed out before sunset to do a dive on the Corsair and had great viz and a light current as we headed down the line. The were fish all about the wreck with schools of butterflyfish and goatfish swimming about and and damsel fish near by. We had whales singing the entire dive at times so loud we were expecting to see one but sadly they didn’t swim by.
For the night dive we decided on Turtle Canyons which has great macro life on it. There were eels all over the reef including undulated and yellowheaded moreys. There were also reef fish hiding out in the coral for the night and squirrelfish swimming about the reef. We found a couple spanish dancers as well as a large sponge crab and even a night octopus.
Spanish dancer
orangeband surgeonfish
manybar goatfish
https://i0.wp.com/www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_4474.jpg?fit=2048%2C1536&ssl=115362048Mark Savelhttps://www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo111.pngMark Savel2014-03-19 19:03:562014-03-19 19:03:56Sunset Serenade 18 March 2014
Well, the crash was actually back in 1946, and with the pilot having to safely ditch it due to engine problems, we have another great dive site on Oahu, 3 miles directly offshore of the Island Divers Hawaii shop in Hawaii Kai! Extremely high winds scared Captain Joe, but we (me, Lauren
and David) made him drive us out anyways. I’m joking as usual, as those of you who dive with us, know Captain Joe spent 22 years in the Coast Guard and for the last few of those, was in charge of search and rescue ops out here in Hawaii. but it was windy! I think nature decided to reward us for diving anyways, giving us spectacular hawaiin-style viz of 150 feet on all our dives! only problem with a Corsair dive is that it always too short (unless you’re on 32% or a rebreather)! just a great dive! Fantasy reef was next, and also spectacular viz and marine life! turtles, eels, rays, sharks, octopus – so much to see amidst some beautiful topography! The topper was dive 3, a drift of Spitting Cave, a site along our world famous Portlock wall, always a special experience!. Lucas and Mendy, congrats on your Advanced Open Water – great job. and special thanks to Rex and Carmel for bringing us some Aussie humor and positive energy!
Our trip began with a Big Happy St. Patrick’s Day smile, we departed around 16:45 on a fairly windy, but sunny day. We got off to a good start because within 5 minutes of being outside of the channel we spotted a pod of spinner dolphins. The bouncy dolphins played along the wake of the large and in charge Seafox. We traveled along china walls in hopes of finding Whales once everyone on the buoy got splashed we turned around. Heading back towards Maunalua Bay we went back and forth between the two. Then around 18:15 we spotted our first spout of the day! We hurried over to them within reason of scaring them off. We got a mother and calf swimming in circles just off the starboard side of the boat. After about a half hour of the whales blessing us with their presence the sunset on Diamond head. Leaving us a beautiful halo above the crater of Diamond head. We had an excellent crew for whale watching today and they were all so patience and all extremely excited when we were fortuned with whales and dolphins. We were even lucky enough for the an amazing Hawaiian sunset. Congratulation on no one getting seasick. Thank you for making my job fun and easy, I hope you all choose to come back out again with us again soon.
It was a little bit of a windy day today but the diving was wonderful off the southeast side of Oahu. We had a small group for divers with Roger and Sharon diving on the LCU this morning. The viz was great with 100ft+ and there was a mild current on the bottom. Right away we found a frogfish sitting on the side of the wreck and an octopus under one of the cement blocks near by. Under the wreck we found a large white tip reef shark relaxing, but the great find was the two baby white tips resting under a block to the side of the ship. There was also a large school of yellow stripe goatfish swimming around the area.
For the second dive we motored in to a more protected area from the wind and choppy seas to dive Turtle Canyons. There were a few eels about including a large white mouth morey. We also had a lot of green sea turtles resting around the reef but we were surprised to find a hawksbill turtle as well. It was a great relaxing dive in a calm area.
red frogfish on LCU
octopus hiding on LCU
Roger with a turtle
rare hawksbill turtle
https://i0.wp.com/www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_4415.jpg?fit=2048%2C1536&ssl=115362048Mark Savelhttps://www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo111.pngMark Savel2014-03-18 02:53:282014-03-18 02:53:28Baby Sharks and Hawksbill 17 March 2014
Diving Kahala Barge is always an exercise in conservation. You don’t want to use too much air down at 90 feet, but there’s always a strong current; which makes everyone swim more than they should. Which is a lot of exercise. What to do in this situation… I like to think back to when I was a kid river rafting with my dad. In this situation I would bury coals in the sand, and then put my sleeping bag over them to remain warm throughout the night. Wait, sorry that’s the wrong… In this situation I would look for the eddies, and hang out there, so as not to fight the current the entire time. And indeed, that’s what we all did. Dropping down to 90 feet, we all hid behind the Barge and started the dive that way. Make sure everyone uses the downline on descent. Now, what to do for dive two in such a strong current? Drift it baby!
You can see the octopus ink right below the diver in the beginning.
https://i0.wp.com/www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMAG0378.jpg?fit=2048%2C1155&ssl=111552048Kellan Bernhardthttps://www.oahuscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo111.pngKellan Bernhardt2014-03-17 19:41:102014-03-25 19:44:03Can You Use Kahala To Not Swim So Hard? Yes You Can!
