May 2014 - Page 2 of 5 - Island Divers Hawaii

Avoiding the rain with great diving

May 24, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Mark Savel

With rain around parts of the island we had clearer skies and no rain diving in great clear waters off the south east side of Oahu. We had some wonderful viz as we headed to Pa’a’awa for the first dive. We found a few eels about the site including a large yellow margin morey. There were also a lot of sergeant majors and saddle wrasses around the reef. We had a nice little dive but soon had to head up for the next dive.

For the second dive we dove Anglers Reef and again had great viz and life all around. There were more eels hiding around the reef including another large yellow margin and a couple white mouth moreys. There were also a lot of reef fish about the area with moorish idols and butterfly fish swimming about. We had a great afternoon and congratulations to Lyndsey on finishing her PADI open water certification.

Morning Dive May 24th

May 24, 2014/in Dive Reports/by David Pinilla

The rain surprised us early in the morning, just to give us a really nice dive 20 minutes later. On the way to our first dive LCU ship wreck, the skies started to cleared and give us 80 feet visibility underwater. With a mild current the water was clear and warm, at the wreck we found frog fish, moray ells and nudibranchs. After 28 minutes we have to come back to the surface to find a nice blue clear sky. Perfect!!! Then we cruise to our next dive spot Fantasy reef, where we had a mild current again, but with a nice blue sky we had over 70 feet visibility. Over Fantasy reef, Laura and Mike completed their Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty, Congratulations!!!

We drifted fantasy reef towards Diamond Head and we spotted a school of Oceanic Surgeon fish, moray ells, scorpion fish and the beautiful coral heads!

Congratulations to Susan completing her Deep dive and Peak Performance Buoyancy dive specialty!!

Thanks to Captain Joe, crew Max and Kelsie and Instructor Amy and my self David!

Afternoon Dive

May 23, 2014/in Dive Reports/by David Pinilla

A beautiful day to dive, hardly any wind and flat seas. Cruising towards our first dive site the weather could not have be nicer with Koko Head behind us and Diamond Head in front of us … perfect views!

Koko crater gave us awesome visibility, calmness, and lots lots of turtles. Perfect conditions for an Underwater Navigation, good job Susan! Later we moved to our second destination, Anglers Reef. With a bit more wind but still that nice sun and blue skies! At Anglers Susan completed the Underwater Naturalist specialty with no problems! This reef is a great spot to find different species of fish, and lots of invertebrates. We spotted four yellow margin moray eels, the puffer fish gang (15 of them), cleaner shrimps, fantastic leaf fish, three different species of sea stars, nudibranchs, sea urchins and a beautiful juvenile “Dragon wrasse”.

Congratulations to Lindsey on her first Open Water dive, she did great!! and also Congratulations to Susan on her portion of the Advanced Open Water course.

Thanks to Eiichi and Aya for joining this dive, different than cold Seattle right?!

Thank you Capt. Joe, crew Kelsey and Instructor Max and myself David.

Cruising along.

HITTING THE WALL (FOR A GREAT DIVE!) May 22

May 22, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

another calm day, as winds are still down, gave us an pleasant ride out to LCU to look for it’s resident sharks, frogfish, and eagle rays. we saw a turtle instead of sharks, but did catch a glimpse of a passing eagle ray! and the frogfish is back on the lower rail, begging to be photographed by any who can find him! joining me today were ryan and emily (first ocean dive!), lew and rill, and mike and liz. nice group today, and special congrats to emily for a great job in the ocean!! also along was crewman chris, not sure what he was doing (see photo!) on our 2nd jump we hit the wall at spitting cave (or spinnaker cave, as liz calls it?). another super experience as we found two octopus and myriad turtles, as well as lizard fish, box fish, cow fish. . . etc. a great day for fish ID! thanks to all for safe diving, Larry and Lord Kendal

Cruzin’ on a sunny Thursday afternoon

May 22, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Amy Bossler

Weather conditions: sunny, slight breeze
Dive Sites: Kahala Barge and Angler’s Reef
Dive Conditions: limited surge, little/no current, 120+ viz
Marine Life Observed: Sandbar shark, sponge crab, octopus, nudibranchs, frog fish, leaf scorpion fish, and 4 helmet shells.
Staff: Capt K, Amy, David, Nate, and Mia

Aloha,

Thanks for choosing to dive with Island Divers Hawaii. We had our fantastic group of high school marine science students, Ocean Matters, from sunny Florida join us for an lazy afternoon of diving. Capt’n K led our group of eager divers to Kahala for a fabulous start. We explored the inside of the wreck which rests in 95′ of water then did a perimeter sweep. We saw: a sandbar shark, huge sponge crab, some black coral, and lots of schooling reef fish. For dive two we cruised over to Angler’s Reef. This is a beautiful reef ledge in 55′ of crystal clear water. Today it was like an treasure chest full of exciting finds! We saw: leaf scorpion fish, an octopus, nudibranchs, helmet shells, sea biscuits, cushion starfish, lots of eels, and giant porcupine fish. All in all, it was a great afternoon of diving. Thanks again for choosing IDH. Until next time, dive easy.

Aloha,
Amy

Whitemouth Moray

Leaf Scorpionfish

Horned Helmet, pu puhi

Drifting along da East Side

May 21, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Amy Bossler

Weather Conditions: Sunny, slight breeze
Dive Sites: Skimmen’s Reef, Spitting Caves
Dive Conditions: slight current, 100+ feet of viz
Marine Life conditions: Sea turtles, spotted eagle ray, white tip reef shark, octopus, juvenile frog fish, and tons of schooling reef fish
Staff: Capt. Kendall and MSDT Amy

Aloha,
Thanks for joining Island Divers Hawaii today. We had fantastic conditions for diving. Today was the first time all week that we were able to leave the bay for some wall diving. Capt Kendall lead the way for our small group of Mark, Kelsey, and Andrey. For our first dive we headed to Skimmen’s reef. Our max depth was 65′ and we had :40 of bottom time. We swam under the arches and had some great topographic diving. Saw tons of reef fish, a juvenile frog fish, and turtles. After our surface interval we headed to Spitting Caves for dive two. Our max depth was 50′ and we had a bottom time of :55. This was a fantastic dive! We started off with a huge spotted eagle ray, saw a bunch of turtles, an octopus, and a shark!!! Woohoo!!! Thank you again for joining IDH, it was a great day on the water. Until next time, dive easy.

Aloha,
Amy, Capt. K, and Cammie (diver dog)

Turtle

Who wants to be an ASTRONAUT? rEvo ‘TRY DIVES’ now available at IDH

May 21, 2014/in Diving Courses, Frontpage Article, Images, News, Technical Diving/by Lauren Smith

Dive the rEvo III hCCR… the most advanced diving system on the planet!

The rEvo hCCR(hybrid closed circuit rebreather) is the most advanced cutting edge, diving system available for underwater exploration. It rivals the astronaut’s primary life support system and shares much of the same technology. The rEvo hCCR recirculates and conditions the onboard gas supply, extending dive times far beyond those of traditional scuba divers. In addition, there are no bubbles and noise associated with open circuit scuba.

Learn how rebreathers work and how rEvo divers can remain underwater longer. Discover how they enable divers to closely approach marine life to interact, to take photographs and video, stay warmer and make observations that would otherwise be missed by divers on open circuit scuba. Once you’ve gone Silent, you’ll hear what you’ve been missing!

CCR Try Dives at IDH

There are a few options available for divers wishing to ‘try before they buy’ and we always encourage you to get all the information possible before making a commitment to buy a CCR.

As a diver you have the following options available but if you feel your needs are not met below then please drop us an email detailing your specific request as we tailor events to suit your needs.

Option 1 is an informal 1-2 hour conversation. There is no charge for this but it must be pre-booked and arranged so please don’t show up expecting someone to be available. Drop us an email with the timescale that suits you best and we will advise you when it is best to arrive.

Option 2 is a more detailed version of the above costing $150.00+tax for half a day. With Option 2 we spend more time going into details of the available units plus fire them up and you get to ‘try dive’ them in our pool.

Option 3 is the same as option 2 but with an afternoon out on one of our boats. Please note that with option 3 we do charge an additional boat fee of $60.00 for a total cost of $210.00 per person+tax.

We would like to point out that our rEvo Try Dive days are very different than what is currently available on island. If you’re looking for a quick 20 minute dive on a CCR then there are other instructors offering this option. We consider ourselves a little more organised and professional which is why we meet and greet you in our shop before moving on to the in-water portions of the experience. All fees are included in the prices quoted above and there are no hidden extras involved. We make the theory part of the day informative and enjoyable with plenty of time to play with the units and ask questions.

What are you waiting for? Come on down to IDH and play with our units.

LCU Followed by Fantasy – May 19

May 19, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Lauren Smith

Today we had a great bunch diving: Andre, Marc, and Anna. Also joining us we had a couple Island Divers Crew diving in celebration of boat crew Kelsey’s 20th birthday. This morning’s Sea Fox brought the divers out of the channel and straight over to LCU for the first dive. After making their way down to the wreck the divers explored the dive site and its surrounding areas. To my suprise, the pregnant White Tip that had been living under the LCU wasn’t around today. Clearly she must have had other plans.

After a 35 minute dive at the wreck the divers ascended and went to pick up another group of divers that would join us for the second dive. Ocean Matters is joining us this week with a group of 10 high school students who are out diving with us while learning about marine conservation and biology while on an academic trip accompanied by 7 chaperons.

After retrieving the teens the Fox sped back out to Fantasy Reef where we tied up and dropped down to the 60′ lava-field-turned-coral-reef for a 45-minute dive. The diver came across more Green Turtles than they could count while they explored the beautiful reef and swam through its swim-through’s. Excellent dive guys!!

Another great day splashing around in the Pacific. Happy Birthday Kelsey!

Juvenile turtle in B&W

Happy birthday Kelsey!

These boots were made for sitting at the bottom of the ocean?

Landing Craft Utility

Eel

Hey brah, what ya looking at?!

Charter Staff:

Captain: Joe & Neil
Boat Crew: Dooley
Dive Guide: Pete & Larry

Weather Conditions:

Weather: Mostly Cloudy
Swell: Moderate South Swell
Winds: Mild to No Winds

Dive Sites:

LCU
Fantasy Reef

Dive Conditions:

Visibility: Excellent
Current: Moderate Diamond Head

Marine Life Observed:

Humuhumunukunukuapua`a
Crown of Thorns Sea Star
Purple Dragon Nudibrach
Yellow Margin Morray
White Mouth Morray
Hawaiian Sergant Major
Moorish Idol
Raccoon Mask Butterfly Fish
Saddle Wrasse
Green Sea Turtles

5/18 Joe Catches a Fish! We Swim Around a Bit

May 19, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Kellan Bernhardt

Sunday – Three Tanker Day! We had a bunch of really great people on board. Namely Ann, Chris, Billy, Peter, Randy, Allison, Toshiro, Patrick, John, Rebecca, Erica, and Gene. Gene especially is an old-timer fellow of Island Divers, and deserves a special mention. First stop was the Kahala barge. Deep, but the current wasn’t too bad, there was a thermocline at about 80 ft, which made it feel way colder. Some people said they saw a crab, I’m calling their bluff. I didn’t see it: must not have happened. I did however find a new fin. Treasure! During the surface interval Joe caught a fish! Finally. From there we went to Baby barge and checked out a few turtles and the baby shark that’s been hanging out in the cave adjacent. After some lunch and hanging in the sun we went over to Fantasea reef and drifted for a bit, I zoned out in a food coma for 5 minutes, and then we took a left turn and looked for some conch. And eels. And some other things. All in all it was a very peaceful trip. Usually we look for exciting out here, but sometimes that can be a bad thing. Not all types of excitement are the fun kinds. I’ll take peaceful this time. Thanks everybody for making it a good one, and we’ll see you all soon.

Erika Gives Two Shakas

Patrick Gives a shaka

So Many Shakas!

Look no bubbles!

Randy and Allison, There’s another!

Gene

Heart Urchin!

Weather: Light Wind, Mostly Sunny, Seas 2-3 ft. swell
Dive Sites: Kahala Barge, Baby Barge, Fantasea Reef
Dive Conditions: Kahala – Vis 100′, Depth 95′, Moderate Current
Baby – Vis 90′, Depth 70′, Mild Current
Fantasea – Vis 50′, Depth 50′, Slight Surge

Marine Life: Honu, Moray Eels, White Tip Reef Shark, Horned Helmet snail, Sleepy Sponge Crab
Staff: Captain Joe, Instructors Kellan, Everett, Crew Lauren

So Hard to Choose..17 May

May 18, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Matt Negaard

Fortunately the predicted swell fell short for this Saturday 3 Tank beauty. The surf was up a little, but not enough to keep us dry. The Sea Hound left Kewalo Basin with 8 Divers plus lucky me and Captain Neil aboard. Arriving at our first dive site, we were welcomed by great visibility. We enjoyed the YO-257 from the outside (moderate current kept us out of the swim thrus today) and even made it over to visit the San Pedro, the second wreck at this unique dive site. There were a few Turtles around and some Moray Eels, along with a bunch of Pennant Butterflyfish. A submarine full of dry kine explorers came by a couple times too.

After an hour plus on the surface in gorgeous Hawaii weather, we made our way down to the Sea Tiger. No turtles here today, but a massive school of Bluestripe Snapper was a sight to see, cruising around the wreck in tight formation. Very little current and nice visibility made for a pleasurable tour of one of my absolute favorite wrecks to dive. Time for some snacks and drinks to refuel for the last dive.

After two deep dives, it was time to finish with a nice reef dive. After a little hunting around, we got tied up at Kewalo Reef. There was a bit of surge here closer to shore, and reduced visibility, but what a great dive site! The reef is very lush, full of reef fish and lots of eels, even a Spotted Boxfish and a Thornback Cowfish. It was a great finish to a beautiful day on and under the waves. It was a pleasure to dive with such a skilled and relaxed group..you guys made my job easy today. Mahalo, and hopefully you can join us again soon.

Sea Tiger

Bluestripe Snapper

YO-257

Whitemouth Moray

Weather: Light Wind, Mostly Sunny, Seas 2-3 ft. swell
Dive Sites: YO-257/San Pedro, Sea Tiger, Kewalo Reef
Dive Conditions: YO – Vis 100′, Depth 90′, Moderate Current
Sea Tiger – Vis 80′, Depth 107′, Mild Current
Kewalo Reef – Vis 30′, Depth 50′, Slight Surge
Marine Life: Honu, Moray Eels, Pennant Butterflyfish, Bluestipe Snapper, Spotted Boxfish, Thornback Cowfishd, Atlantis Sub.
Staff: Captain Neil, Instructor Matt