Archive for month: April, 2014

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to a new installment of Pete’s Dive Adventures and Rare Sea Creatures. This week our divers went to two dive sites on the afternoon fox, Turtle Canyons and Angler’s Ledge.

It was during the first dive at Turtle’s when the group encountered the rare Sea Horse seen in the photos and video below. These creatures are rarely seen and even more seldom captured on camera. We are truly fortunate to have been able to capture such amazing footage.

On our way out towards Angler’s the group stop and watched as a pod of Humpback Whales frolicked about 200′ off from the Sea Fox. Then the group of divers headed down to explore the Ledge where they encountered a number of large Yellow Margin Morays and an Eagle Ray along with all the other common fishes and invertebrates that inhabit the reef.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to tune in next time for another edition of Pete’s Dive Adventures and Rare Sea Creatures.

Fish

Coral & Fish

Rare Hawaiian Sea Horse

Turtle Canyons

Staff:

• Captain: Kendal
• Dive Guide: Pete
• Boat Crew: Parker

Weather Conditions:

• Weather: Mostly Sunny
• Swell: Mild
• Winds: Moderate-High E Trade Winds

Dive Sites:

• Angler’s Ledge
• Turtle Canyons AKA Mermaid’s Reef

Dive Conditions:

• Visibility:Excellent
• Current: Mild Koko Head

Marine Life Observed:

• Humuhumunukunukuapua`a
• Cushion Sea Stars
• Blue Dragon Nudibrach
• Yellow Margin Morray
• White Spotted Eagle Ray
• Snowflake Morray
• Moorish Idol
• Day Octopus
• Rare Hawaiian Sea Horse…

Sunday – A boatload of radical divers departed Hawaii Kai and made our way to the Baby Barge, where due to slow swell and no wind, visibility was over 100 feet.  A stiff Diamond Head current made descent using the downline imperative.  Baby Barge delivered as always.  Turtles were seen!  A white tip shark was spotted!  Moving on to the next site, a rare freediver with a kayak base was diving on the YO-257, but the mooring was free and we tied up no problem.  This site is fun because you get to see all the tourists who don’t dive looking out at you from the Atlantis submarines, like YOU’RE the one who’s crazy.  You just wave as they cruise by they take pictures from the warm and dry side of the glass, not knowing what they’re missing.  We kicked over to the San Pedro, only a hundred feet away, getting a two-for-one wreck deal on this dive.  Good stuff.  After the YO ’twas lunchtime (chips and sandwiches! Dericious!), and on the way over to our last sight Fantasea Reef we spotedt humpbacks off the port side!  With a negative entry we descended on Fantasea Reef which is always full of good stuff.  Turtle city, eels everywhere, and I swear I saw some Hawaiian Turkey Fish (those three I pointed to in the coral).  Thank you everybody, it was super funday.

Gearing Up

Love Birds

YO-257 Swimming Over the Main Deck

Getting Silly With a Seastar

David and Chris Chill Out

Weather conditions: 2 to 4 foot south swell, light trade winds, sunny, NICE
Dive sites: Baby Barge, YO-257, Fanasea Reef
Dive conditions: Baby Barge: max depth 80ft, 31 minute dive, temp 75F, West current; YO-257: max depth 100ft, 22 minute dive, temp 74F, light Diamond head current; Fantasea Reef: max depth 50ft, 40 min dive, temp 75F, East current
Marine Life observed: White Tip Reef Shark, Green Sea Turtle, Hawaiian Turkey Fish, Humpback Whales
Staff: Captain Joe, Crew: Maximum, Instructors: Kellan, Everett, Josh

Weather Conditions: Sunny, slight breeze
Dive Sites: LCU and Fantasy Reef
Dive Conditions: 100+ viz, slight current
Marine Life observed: White tip reef shark, turtles, spotted moray, juvenile frog fish
Staff: Capt. Jo, Amy, Sam, TJ, and Kelsey (crew)

Dive 1: LCU, 93 feet, :25, 100+ viz, 73 degree water
Dive 2: Fantasy Reef, 53 feet, :43. 100+ viz, 73 degree water

Aloha,

Thanks for choosing to dive with IDH.  We had a fantastic start to the weekend.  The winds and seas calmed thanks to our birthday diver, Matt.  We had a full boat of divers seeking some underwater relaxation.  The birthday crew (Mark, Danielle, Bryan, Jacob, James, Juliana, and Ian) plus Jon and Angie wanted to find some sharks.  Johnny, Cody, and Jason came out to get wet too.  Capt. Jo took us to the LCU in the hopes of finding the little white tips that cruise under the cinder blocks.  We were not disappointed and found a little baby sharky immediately.  Poor Jon was so mesmerized by the shark he nearly forgot to check out the rest of the site!  The rest of the crew swam under, around, and over the LCU.  We were rewarded with spotted moray eels, reef fish, and a frog fish.  There was a mild current to keep up  on our toes (or fins).  After we all surfaced we enjoyed some Famous Amos, Red Vines, and hot chocolate.  The captain also tried his luck at fishing.   Being the resident vegan at IDH, I seem to bring him bad fishing luck.  Oh well, more fish for us to see on our second dive! 🙂  Our team decided to moor up on Fantasy Reef and have a relaxed second dive.  We saw a juvenile frog fish, tons of turtles, lots of reef fish, and a beautiful trumpet shell.  We have absolutely perfect conditions all day.  Yay for diving!  Thank you again for diving with us today.  All of us at IDH love to safely show you the underwater world of HI.  Until next time, dive easy!

Aloha,
Amy, Capt. Jo, Sam, and Kelsey

P.S.- The 7th annual IDH underwater Easter Egg Hunt is happening on 4/19! Make sure to reserve your seat early.  You won’t want to miss a photo op with the diving Easter Bunny!!!

Baby barge was our first stop today, and it was perfect underwater.  Lots of push on the surface, creating some good surfing waves, and a bumpy surface!  But today’s divers were excellent underwater and climbing the ladder!  We stopped in the shark cave, but no sharks there, just a huge turtle!  heading to the barge we saw a juvenile frogfish, some eels, and more turtles!  i checked the cave under the barge with my flashlight, and BINGO, a big whitetip shark hanging out! Diving with me today were locals Jane, a Pulmonologist, daughter Skylar, a student at Iolani, and son Tegan, visiting from school in the Carolinas.  Also new regular Jeff the pilot, and cold water diver Scott from SD, whose girlfriend was doing Day One of her Open Water Course!  Everyone was up for a drift, so we headed to Fantasy Reef, dropped in on the west end and commenced drifting!  lots more huge turtles, big eels, 5 slipper lobster in one hole, and a spiky sea cucumber with a tiny crab on it’s underside.  see if you can find it in the photo above!  if you do find it, you should be very proud of yourself, but you should never believe headlines either. thanks to all, captain joe and crew erica, plus maximum Max.

April THIRD was windy!  The SeaFox handled a couple nice sized swells today.  All the divers, including Yolanda ,Vincenzo, Cassidy, Chris, Jeff and Dave made it out a safer, more experienced diver.
The 4FU Corsair plane crash sank in 1948 when it’s pilot crash landed in the water preserving the plane for the most part. The pilot was rescued alive.

Depth: 105 FT
Time: 28 Min
Marine Life Observed: Big, fat, healthy Garden eels

At Anglers Reef I hovered 6 inches away from a  5 inch Stripe Belly Puffer Fish, it wasn’t shy at all!  Its proximity made me think it knew something I didn’t know.

Max Depth: 46 FT
Time: 48 Min
Marine Life Observed: Stripe Belly Puffer, Spotted Eagle Ray, and a school of Giant Porcupine fish that live at Anglers Reef

Thanks for the help today Capt’ Kendal, Bodhi, Crew: Mia/Chris.

Safe Diving,

Davy

Yolanda

Stripe Belly Puffer Fish

HIghfin Chub peeking out of corsair

Divided Flatworm

Corsair

Weather: 25 knot East Wind and Sunny skies
Dive Conditions: Seas 4-5ft and Moderate East Current
Dive sites: Corsair and Anglers Reef
Staff: Thanks again for your work today Capt’ Kendal, DM: Bodhi, Crew: Mia/Chris.