Sunshine and Surge

Yet another great day for diving on the island of Oahu. Everett and I (Marnie) geared up the boat for an awesome three tank dive off the southern coastline of Oahu. With 13 divers on the boat, we had the ability to see a lot of the reefs here on the island. At our first site, LCU shipwreck, we dropped down into some rather strong currents, but none the less, had a fantastic dive at 88ft.

Aboard the sea Fox, we had an advanced student who required a few skills to compete his dives. Under close supervision of the staff, he was very well prepared to handle the conditions that the ocean gave us. He was thrilled and so pumped to complete his first wreck dive!

We were even lucky enough to spot a white tipped reef shark under the deck of the LCU! He was just crusing around, which gave the divers a first hand experience with one of the oceans most profound creatures.

We surfaced after 36 minutes and again boarded the Sea Fox to head to our next dive site. We enjoyed a light snack and tea while enjoying the summer sun.

At our second dive site, the YO257 shipwreck, we encountered a slight current and dropped down to see some really cool features of Waikiki’s most famous shipwreck. There were schools of fish and turtles covering the deck and divers got to enjoy some swim-through parts of the ship.

We spent some time checking out both the YO257 and the San Pedro shipwrecks (which for those who don’t know, are located close enough to each other that you can see both in one dive) at a max depth of about 98 ft. Once we hit our deco time or remaining air time, divers made their way back aboard the Sea Fox once again and enjoyed a nice lunch as we made our way to our final dive site.

After our surface interval, we made our way back into Maunalua Bay and headed over to Spitting Caves which is one of my favorite sites here on Oahu.

There is so much to see and potentially see at this site that it makes it a rather popular dive on the island. The current was definatly ripping around the wall which made it rather easy for the divers to navigate the site.

Once we were done diving around the wall, we sent up our surface marker buoy and the Sea Fox came and picked us up. It was such an easy way to board the boat and a fantastic way to end an awesome Sunday of diving.

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CREW: Marnie (instructor) Everett (instructor) Lauren (crew) Joe (captain)

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny 86*F, slight breeze, strong surge

DIVE PROFILES: LCU Shipwreck: max depth 86ft, bottom time 34minutes, strong east current, 79*F water temp

YO-257 Shipwreck: max depth 98ft, bottom time 36minutes, strong east current, 78*F water temp

Spitting Caves: max depth 57ft, bottom time 32 minutes, strong west current, 81*F water temp

MARINE LIFE OBSERVED: white tipped reef shark, green sea turtle, crown of thorns, butterfluyfish, trumpetfist, urchins, scorpion fish