Maxine Markert

Sea worthy 3 tanker 9/7

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Incredible day for a dive charter light trade winds and 1 to 2 foot swells the conditions were once in a life time. We started out at the LCU with 5 white tip reef sharks, and two eagles and finishing with a football sized frog fish. I had the pleasure of having Pam, Jeff and Rene for dive buddies having a 35 minute dive with 100+ visibility and barely any current. Unbelievable start to our day, on our way to the Sea tiger spinner dolphins swam by providing an excellent show. David and his dive master candidate Heather were along as well to finish up our two advanced open water students Jimmy and Chad.  Doing their deep dive on the Sea tiger, clearly having a good time. We descended on to the wreck right on to a turtle getting his shell cleaned, then saw a Spotted eagle ray which lead us to a yellow margin moray eel, and 2 viper moray eels. In between the viper eels was a giant octopus just hiding out in a crack in the wreck. Once we made it to the stern of the boat we spotted a white tip reef shark and 2 imperial nudi branchs mating. Another 25 minute dive at the sea tiger we came up and had a delicious lunch which we provide and another hour long surface interval, as we made our way back towards Sea cave.  Upon arrival of the sea cave  we descended to the entrance and were utterly baffled by the sheer beauty of the natural cave. In the back of the cave we found 2 more white tip reef sharks. In total we saw 8 sharks in one day of diving, unheard of! Thank for everyone coming out to enjoy all the sharks and the fabulous Hawaiian conditions. With 83 degree water and no current all day, that is enough to make my day incredible then you add all the marine life that we saw and this sunday was one of the best days of diving I have ever had the pleasures of experiencing. Thank you all for coming out on such an incredible day. Look forward to diving with you all in the future!

Heather and Jeff

Heather and Jeff

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Eagle ray on the Sea Tiger

Eagle ray on the Sea Tiger

Jeff shaka under water

Jeff shaka under water

Rene getting I am sure some great shots

Rene getting I am sure some great shots

Pam at the entrance to Sea cave

Pam at the entrance to Sea cave

Staff: Captain Joe, Crew Lauren, Dive instructors Maxine and David

Marnie Cadden

Saturday in the Sun (Sept9)

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What an awesome day to drop down into the ocean! Despite the slight drizzle we had this morning, conditions for weekend diving were fantastic! We had a small group of divers, most of which had dove in these parts previously. We had decided that dropping down into Baby Barge was going to be our first adventure for today.

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With almost no current, we had an easy descent to the wreck and ledges. We had no struggle navigating around the site, enjoying all of the sea turtles that we came across, there were so many!

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At the barge, there were tons of fish cruising around the ship’s wreckage, enjoying the calm seas. It made for great visibility for our divers, and a nice easy way to start out the day!

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For those of us that spent a significant amount of time searching around the ledges, there was tons of stuff to see there too! Eels were everywhere and the microlife was astounding. Its great to search for some of the smaller stuff, there’s some really cool stuff down there!

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There was also a variety of corals and aquatic plants as well. Crazy to think that this man made ship is slowly becoming part of the earth again, but it is very apparent on the barges.

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After 35 minutes, the divers (who were all very good on their air) made their way back up to the Sea Fox, where we enjoyed the afternoon sun and some light snacks. There’s nothing like fresh pineapple after a dive!

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Jumping in after almost an hour surface interval. We again had a very mild current at Fantasy Reef. We dropped down on the west side of the reef and got to glide slowly across the reef below.

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Fantasy is one of my personal favorites, there is always so much to see. From starfish to turtles, swimthroughs and bommies, there is never a dull dive at this site.

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There is one little “cove” created in the middle canyon part of this site that houses many turtles. We try to hit it every time we come to this site. As usual, there were turtles enjoying the calm waters and the divers got up close to these graceful creatures.

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A great thing about the coral formations at this site is that they house so much marine life. We spotted loads of eels and little shrimps that have created their home among the reef.

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We stayed down drifting for about 36 minutes, and again made our way aboard the Sea Fox to head back into the marina. It really was fantastic conditions out in the bay, a great way to start the weekend!

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CREW: Marnie (instructor) David (instructor) Joe (captain) Kelsey (crew)

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, 88*F

DIVE PROFILES: Baby Barge: 72ft max depth, 95+ft visibility, 83*F water temp, 35min dive

Fantasy Reef: 56ft max depth, 90+ft visibility, 83*F water temp, 36min dive

MARINE LIFE OBSERVED: crown of thorns, sea turtle, pencil urchin, butterflyfish, trumpetfish, bubble shell, green eel, boxfish, wrasse

Maxine Markert

Refreshing the Open Water Experience 9/5

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Starting out with two joyous refreshers Missy and Derek, absolute treat to hang out with you two all day. Great energy and happy to be on the water making me love my job even more thank you! Heading over to Maka’i research pier we refreshed their open water skills, getting them back into the swing of things. After the pier I headed in to town to pick up Jimmy our advanced student and Kelley another certified diver. Getting off the dock with plenty of excited people. We were also joined by Cara and Charley for open water dives 1 and 2, as well as Dive master candidates Chris and Heather. Larry another instructor coming out to take advanced students Jimmy and Ashley one of our own crew.  Making for a great group of people to enjoy the 80+  visibility at Koko Craters. After a 30 minute dive exploring the Craters and visiting the statues, and turtles, we headed over to Turtle Canyons. Where visibility was around 50 or so, but the ever beautiful corals and a spotted eagle ray dropped in to say hi! 53 minutes getting to explore the canyons of my favorite dive spot we stopped at a coral head underneath the boat to see a snarling viper moray to wish us a good bye. Thanks Larry for the incredible pictures it’s always appreciated, you are by far my favorite photography. Another big thanks to all our divers today for coming out and diving with us and conquering those fears I could see a lot of progress for most of you improving and becoming better divers. Great job.:)

Spotted Eagle ray

Spotted Eagle ray

Viper Moray eel eek

Viper Moray eel eek

Buddah Statue with Ashley and Heather

Buddah Statue with Ashley and Heather

Staff: Captain Joe, Crew Clara, Instructors Maxine and Larry

 

Larry Hogan

TEAM BLUE DESCENDS !! 3 september

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sunny blue skies, and 80 degree water temp accompanied Team Blue out to Baby barge, as we saw that around the wall was a bit too rough.  the current was moderate  Diamond Head direction, but we visited the shark cave after a free decent.  no sharks in the cave, but several turtles, and coming back along the ledge we found an octopus, and some big eels, plus lots of various reef fish.  Team Blue out today were Jen, Stephanie, and Kevan, with me as an honorary!  yay!  first time ocean diver richard was out with wife carla, and he did great!  audra and jon from florida, bob from wisconsin and dad, brinne and bruce were diving here before heading out Down Under. 2nd jump was a drifting of Spitting Cave and we had a blast.  current was weird, but so many turtles, big and small, plus eels, cowfish, scorpion fish, frogfish a eagle ray, octopus, whew!  you name it, we saw it!  thanks to all for safe diving, larry, max, joe

baby barge -80 feet, 35 minutes, viz 90.

spitting cave – 50 feet, 50 minutes, viz 80

 

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Maxine Markert

Tie up Tuesdays 9/2

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Today was a excellent day for diving, So calm that we tied up for both sites. Beginning our day at the Kahala Barge. Jonathan and myself got to explore the upper deck and the east end of the wreck with slack current and 100+ viz.  Great conditions, the swell was 2 to 3 feet, making for a calming 45 minute surface interval. Driving just in shore of the Kahala Barge we again tied up at Rock pile several large schools of fish the visibility was in our favor again going as far as the eye can see. After watching David and his Dive master candidates, in the accelerated course  at Hawaiian Scuba University, as they were attaching lines to the wreck and looking very professional.  Great to see people enjoying to learn to improve their diving capability awesome job, Heather and Chris, it’s refreshing. Thanks again to Jonathan for coming out today and diving with me, I am glad that you continue to come out and dive with us on a regular basis, you were a treat to have on the boat.

Kahala Barge

Kahala Barge

Shaka

Shaka

incredible tunnel shot

incredible tunnel shot

Staff: Captain Joe, Crew Ashley Instructor Maxine

Labor Day Party Boat (aka Club Dive)

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Weather Conditions: Sunny (87 degrees), slight breeze, flat waters
Dive Site: Corsair
Dive Conditions: Strong Diamond Head current, 100+ viz
Marine Life Observed: Garden eels, scorpion fish, moray eels, schooling reef fish
Staff: Captain Kellen and Amy

Aloha,
Thanks for choosing to dive with Island Divers Hawaii.  This afternoon we held our annual Labor Day Club dive.  One of our divers referred to it as the “Party Boat.”  It honestly was a party boat today!  We had IDH regulars: Vanessa and Fred, Lew, Rill, Claire, Stacy, Andrew, Chris and Shadaya, and Heather and Robert.  We were all advanced divers and being in the festive mood we convinced our captain to take us on an adventure!!!! For the first time in my memory the Barge took on the Corsair!  Woohoo!!!!  We hit the water around 5:00 pm and had near perfect conditions.  The Navy F4 Corsair rests in about 108′.  We had a total dive time of :25.  We saw: garden eels, scorpion fish, moray eels, and beautiful schooling reef fish.  After we completed our dive we headed back to the shop for a great group BBQ.  Max fired up the grill ahead of time so the coals were hot and ready for our return.  Fred manned the grill with Claire and Lew as assistants.  The spread was plentiful and the company was great.  Overall, it was another fantastic afternoon of diving and eating with our IDH ohana.  Please watch out for news on our next club event coming up in October.  IDH will host our 7th annual underwater pumpkin carving!  Get those dive knifes ready!  Until next time, dive easy!

Aloha,
Amy

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Manolo Cabasal

Lazy Labor Day Diving 09.01.2014

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This afternoon on the Sea Fox we had a full load of 8 divers out for some lazy labor day diving.

Before the herd arrived @ 1200, Michael showed up @ 0900 with his wife Vanessa to complete his Discover Scuba Diving orientation. Vanessa, already a certified PADI Open Water diver, relaxed at a nearby coffee shop while her husband completed his orientation video and brief training dive at the Makai Research Pier.

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Boarding the Sea Fox @ 1200, they were joined by 4 other certified divers and 2 students completing their PADI Open Water Course. The first dive site on the agenda was Koko Craters. Met with 100ft visibility, the divers could see straight to the bottom from topside, and out as far as they could see down below. Divemaster Carlos led the certified divers while MSDT Instructor Manolo led the 2 students and DSD Diver. Numerous turtles of all sizes swam around the divers along with a scorpion fish, a school of trigger fish, banner fish, and trumpet fish.

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After a 37 minute surface interval, the divers re-entered the ocean @ Turtle Canyons. Despite the name, Turtle Canyons is know of octopus and giant morays. Both of which were spotted on the dive. Asides from the local celebrities, numerous hermit crabs were spotted on coral along with the rose pedal-like eggs of Spanish Dancers.

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Congratulations to both Soongup, Kate, and Michael for completing their open water courses and DSD experiences, respectively.

Dive Stats:
Koko Crater & Turtle Canyons
38ft – 43min & 40ft – 44min

Big shout out to the Crew: Capt. Kendal, Carlos, and Manolo.

Larry Hogan

not so GIANT SQUID !! 1 september

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close call today as a (not so) GIANT SQUID visited us on our safety stop on Skimmins Ledge.  well, not really a close call, as the squid was really pretty small, but truly amazing to see!  i believe it’s called a Big Fin Squid, and they are fascinating, as their side fins ripple rhythmically  up and down, and lights flash from front to back!  really beautiful, and this squid stayed right next to us throughout our 3 minute safety stop.  check out the photo!  Skimmins ledge was crystal clear, easy 150 of viz, and mild current, perfect for an easy drift, which we did.  lots of fish, plus a giant sponge crab!  2nd jump was another drift, and we decided to do  Sea Cave, another world-class wall dive!  a bit surgey, but the four sharks we saw inside, more than made up for that! out on the wall we saw turtles, large schools of fish, and an eagle ray cruised right by us!  great day of diving,  thanks to all for safe diving!  larry, davy,  and kendal

Skimmins ledge  75 feet  40 minutes  150 viz

Sea Cave    60 feet  40 minutes  130 viz

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