August 2014 - Page 5 of 6 - Island Divers Hawaii

Diving with Max and Larry Rain or Shine We Always Have a Good Time 8/7

August 7, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Maxine Markert

Our extreme afternoon had 4 Advanced students one open water student and two open water certified divers. We began our lovely adventure at Koko Crater. We moored up at Back crater where our open water student Kaelyn spotted a baby white tip reef shark! We were all so excited to see it on the other hand it did not feel the same way about seeing us. After 35 minutes at Koko’s we ascended to a down pour of rain which was pretty as it rain down Koko Crater the mountain. After watching the rain and discussing our Navigation skills for my Advanced student Kyle and Amanda, I set up a square pattern for them to navigate and they nailed it! Great job guys, I also had two lovely Hawaii Scuba University gentlemen that also completed Navigation and Peak Performance buoyancy. For our second dive we went to Turtle Canyons and Larry jumped in for the line and saw two giant eagle rays another score for our dives. Thanks to our crew for keeping us safe in extreme winds and swell, Captain Kendal and crew member Steve. We appreciate you guys hanging out on the boat keeping us safe. A big thanks to all our divers for coming out with us and enjoying the dives it was great day with good visibility and light currents, We would not get to dive every day if it wasn’t for you guys all coming out with us. I can’t wait to see all of you guys again very soon!

Weather Conditions: Hard Rain, 30 knot gusts, light Westerly Current 60+ visibility
Dive Conditions: Koko Craters (Back Crater), max depth 37 ft, 35 minutes, water temp 76 f, light westerly current; Turtle Canyons, max depth 42 ft, 35 minutes, water temp 76 f, light westerly current
Marine Life observed: Giant puffer fish, white tip reef shark, spotted eagle rays, cornet fish
Staff: Captain Kendal, Crew Steve, Dive instructors, Maxine and Larry

Double Wreck = Double Fun (AUG6)

August 6, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Marnie Cadden

Conditions were great this morning for diving in the Maunalua Bay area. We only had three divers on the boat this morning which made for a nice intimate group of divers. We had decided that we were going to go on two wreck dives this morning, and it came down to which ones we were going to explore. We chose to first dive Corsair and follow it up by dropping down on LCU.

Over at the Corsair, we dropped down on to almost no current, which made for a really easy descent. With such a small group today, we got to have a chance to explore this wreck in a more personal way. As always, it was covered in fish and we came across a crown of thorns on the exposed wing piece.

That particular part of the wreck has been teeming with eels over the last few days, and it was great to see four eels all on that same exposed wing piece! Of course the garden eels were out, which are one of my favorite parts of this dive. This site is one of the only places to see those particular kinds of eels is such large groups.

We spent about 22 minutes at the bottom, which was plenty for this 107ft wreck. We made our way back to the boat and had a nice long hour surface interval before we dropped down onto the second site.

Over at LCU, we again dropped down onto one of the large schools of fish that inhabit this wreck. Its so cool to swim through and have the fish part as you explore the overturned barge.

We explored all parts of the wreck but did spend a significant amount of time looking under the concrete blocks that surround the boat. There was a ton of different fish under them and it was a surprise under each block.

The top of the wreck (or the haul of the barge) had a lot of marine life on it today as well. It was quite an active day on this artificial reef and it was great to be a part of it.

About 30 minutes passed before we made our way back aboard the Sea Fox and made our way back into the marina. Between the weather and the great company, we had an awesome day out on the water, enjoying the great diving here on Oahu!

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CREW: Marnie (instructor) Joe (captain) Brent (crew)

WEATHER: 81*F, humid, partly cloudy

DIVE PROFILES: Corsair: max depth 107ft, visibility 90ft+, bottom time 22 minutes, 80*F

LCU: max depth 92ft, visibility 80ft+, bottom time 30 minutes, 81*F

MARINE LIFE OBSERVED: crown of thorns, brittle seastar, moray eel, parrotfish

WE LOVE EAGLE RAYS !! 6 August

August 6, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

Nice big eagle ray today at Turtle Canyons! swam right by us while we were checking out a big helmet conch that was trying to eat a heart urchin! so much to see down there!! first dive was koko craters and we had a blast counting turtles. i lost count after i ran out of fingers and toes. kaylyn was doing open water 1/2 and she nailed it all – buoyancy, focus, and all the skills! amazing. cousins ben and noah were also with us, and alika, cliff, and bernie rounded out our group. Flora was our intredpid Divemaster! back to turtle canyons, and lots of eels, vipers, and tigers along with the usual greens. thanks all for a great day of safe and fun diving! larry, flora, cj, and cute capt Kellen!

Fish Frenzy!!! (AUG5)

August 5, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Marnie Cadden

Such a small group this afternoon out on the Fox! It really made for a more personal experience for all of the divers and a really great time for the instructors! We had more great weather (surprise!) and some great conditions out on the water. We listened to a briefing from Captain Joe and set out into the bay for some diving.

We dropped down at Koko Crater right onto a turtle! I think we may have startled him a bit because once we hit the bottom, he took off straight to the surface. What a great way to start the dive! We continued exploring the back crater and then made our way to the Big Buddha statue to see what we could find.

We came across a rather large eel under the ledge, who loves to hang out in this area. There were tons of fish, from sergeant majors to saddle wrasse, and we got to swim through them all.

We came across this pincushion seastar, who had a tiny little crab on it! A pretty cool find under the reef ledge.

We turned the dive and made our way to the back crater and got to check out some of the cool statues that make up the reef ledge. I love this one, which is one of the seven dwarfs from snow white! I still can’t figure out which dwarf it is……

We also spotted this tiny little sea snake that was weaving his way in an out of the coral. I snapped an OK picture, but this little guy was only about 5 inches long. So cute!

We envetually made our way back onto the Sea Fox and enjoyed some snacks and good conversation. We made our way to the next site and were excited to see what we would encounter!

We were really lucky to drop down right ontop of this starfish, another great way to begin the dive! We made our way over to the reef edge and we encounter a massive amount of fish!

It was crazy how many different fish there were! We had a great time swimming through all of the schools of fish and got to snap a couple of really great shots of the divers! After we spent about 7 minutes or so exploring this area, we made our way down the reef edge to check out some other parts of the site.

We came across another eel, and this one was more curious then the others. He came right out and was very interested in the divers. It was quite cool to see him so intrigued, and I got a good shot of him coming out of the reef. However, that wasn’t even the coolest thing we saw!

We spotted this flounder swimming across the bottom. And we followed him along the bottom for the while and came across another just a few feet away! It was crazy how many that we came across at the site!

We made our way back aboard the ship and back into the marina with a new PADI Open Water Diver aboard. Congrats!

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CREW: Marnie (instructor) Max (instructor) Joe (captain) Alex (crew)

WEATHER CONDITIONS: 84*F, Sunny with a Breeze

DIVE PROFILES: Koko Crater: 28min bottom time, 40ft max depth, west current, surge, 81*F water temp

Pa’a’awa: 30min bottom time, 43ft max depth, west current, surge, 81*F water temp

MARINE LIFE: green sea turtle, flounder, pincushion seastar, wrasse, sergeant major, moray eel, seasnake, moorish idol

AN AUSSIE FROM CALGARY, and GERMANS FROM SHANGHAI !!

August 5, 2014/in Uncategorized/by Larry Hogan

big waves as Isele moves towards us, but the diving was fantastic! current was mild on Kahala barge, and viz was excellent, easily 100 feet! a big school of ulua (jacks), 2 to 3 feet in size were hiding in the superstructure and came streaming by us as we flushed them out! also two octopus came and said aloha! 2nd jump was the famous drift of Fantasy reef, spectacular every time! peter, the aussie, finished his nitrox cert, and the Pott family, dad and pia and titus, were on holiday from Shanghai. great divers all! at fantasy we saw turtles and giant turtles, nice eels, great barracuda, plus cj found a baby octo! sweet day. thanks to all for safe diving! Larry, CJ, Joe, Max, alex

kahala barge 89 feet 32 minutes

fantasy reef 50 feet 44 minutes

Fun Facts about John

August 5, 2014/in Uncategorized/by John Miller

Since my last name is Miller it is always MillerTime

I have a BA in Psychology, a BS in Health Information Management, and a MS in Health Information Systems

I am a Registered Health Information Administrator with the American Health Information Management Association.

Outside of the military and diving, I am a certified Arborist.

Married (forever) to my best friend and soulmate, Donna, currently a Divemaster.

Both our children are Master ScubaDivers.

I have been to 46 of the 50 states and 27 countries.

Avid Jeep and off road enthusiast.

Preferred beverage for after diving: rum and coke, Cruzan is my current favorite.

Upon retiring from the military I plan on opening a dive resort.

Living the Dream

August 5, 2014/in Uncategorized/by John Miller

I’m often asked “How’s it’s going?” or “How am I doing?”, and my typical response over the past 4 years is, “I’m living the dream.” With the military assigning me to Hawaii 4 years ago, I have been able to combine my 2 passions; serving the country I love and my love of the water. Despite growing up in Florida, getting certified in 1986, and extensively traveling the Caribbean in the early years, the assignments in the Army were less than conducive to getting wet, so I only dove sporadically on vacation in the warmer climates. (Yes, I’m a warm water diver.) As I arrived in Hawaii, I bought a set of dive gear, bought a boat, and set out to earn my Master Scuba Diver Rating with Island Divers Hawaii. After earning my MSD, a good friend of mine, also a MSD decided to earn our Divemaster and go through the class together, thus launching my professional dive career. I realized a latent dream had become a reality, and I soon earned my instructor rating. I have continued to climb the ladder, recently earning the elite instructor rating and becoming a Course Director. I am truly honored to still wear the uniform and share my passion for diving as the Course Director for Island Divers Hawaii and Hawaii Scuba University.

Into the night @ Baby Barge and Angler’s Reef

August 4, 2014/in Dive Reports, Dive Travel/by Manolo Cabasal

This evening, on the Sea Fox, we were joined by Fran and Danielle. Visiting on business, they were able to sneak away from the hustle and bustle and get in a couple of night dives. Having bought new dive lights the day before, they were anxious to embark on their first night dives.

Entering the water @ Baby Barge, the intrepid divers were met with moderate swells and current, but that wasn’t enough to deter them. Pulling themselves down the descent line yielded them the reward of not one, but TWO White Tip reef sharks elegantly swimming around the collapsed barge.

Circumnavigating the wreck shrimps and small crabs ducked away from the lights as they swept across the bottom. Before surfacing the adventurers happened across a whole sleeping group of turtles.

Angler’s Reef was host to a whole menagerie of colorful creatures. Several large slipper lobsters, Spanish Dancers, giant morays, sponge, and 7-11 crabs delighted the divers. What a great way to get into night diving. Congrats ladies!!!

Baby Barge & Angler’s Reef
80 ft – 30min & 41ft – 45min

Big shout out to Captain Neil, Parker, & Jessie! You still owe me a hamburger!!

An Awesome Afternoon! (AUG4)

August 4, 2014/in Uncategorized/by Marnie Cadden

There was so much to see today out in the water! We set off this afternoon with a group of 9 divers and some awesome weather. We had two students who were finishing up their certifications and were excited to finish up their skills.

At our first site, students and certified divers got to spend a lot of time with the turtles. There were so many today! It was as though every corner we came to there was another turtle. It sure made for an awesome dive.

Of course there were tons of eels, as always, and we got up close and personal with a few of them.

Right as we were ascending, a huge school of fish surrounded the boat and gave us something awesome to look at as we made our way back aboard the Sea Fox.

Over at the second site, we had even better visibility. With less of a current, divers had a bit more time to spend on the bottom since we didn’t seem to use as much air. That was cool because we got to see many different kinds of fish then we saw at the first site.

There were so many urchins as well, and they all were tucked into their own little holes along the reef edge. It was great to see a lot of new fish, I even snagged this photo of the white leaf scorpion fish that I have seen around!

It was another great afternoon aboard the Sea Fox and we came back into the marina with 2 new PADI Junior Divers! Congrats!

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CREW: Marnie (instructor) Max (instructor) Kendal (captain) Parker (crew)

PROFILES: Koko Crater: 36min bottom time, 40 ft max depth, 81*F

Anglers Reef: 42min bottom time, 40 ft max depth, 81*F

8/4 Something Something Bobbing in the Waves

August 4, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Kellan Bernhardt

Monday – Titus, Pia, Alex and I jump into the ocean at Fish gardens along the Kawaihoa point coastline, and drift along looking at a huge scorpionfish, some millet seed butterflies, and a stargazer eel. We also pick up and bounce around a pencil urchin for good measure. Seeking shelter from the biggish waves topside we headed into the bay for our surface interval. From there we headed back to spitting caves, one of my favorite sites, and continued drifting westward. We got face to face with a big old granddad turtle, and gaped along with a ton more eels. Thanks a bunch everybody, stay safe and keep diving!

Alex

Titus with a Pencil urchin

Pia

Double shaka? Intense

Weather conditions: Warm, sunny, windy, medium swell
Dive Sites: Fish gardens 59ft 40min and Spitting Caves 55ft 40min
Dive Conditions: 60+ viz, 82F
Marine Life Observed: Spotted Moray, Green sea turtle, Pencil urchin, Scorpionfish
Staff: Capt. Kendall, Kellan, Parker crew