Lauren Smith

Spotted Eagle Rays spotted by First Time SCUBA divers! Feb. 11th

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Today was a fun in the sun day at Island Divers. On the boat we had first time divers and Open Water students getting ready for our PM charter to Maunaula Bay.

Our first dive site was at Turtle Canyons. With a max depth of 36 feet our Discover Scuba Divers went on their first underwater adventure, while the students practiced mask clearing and navigation  skills in the sand. Underwater we saw several different kinds of moray eels, wrasse and butterfly fish. After 34 minute our group began to ascend up the mooring line and to begin their out of air scenarios.

The next dive site that was chosen was Koko Crater. With a max depth of 34 feet the group hit the water to be meet by a beautiful spotted eagle ray. This ray was not shy in the least, we enjoyed the ray while she flew past diving into the sand gliding over corals. Soon after we ran into a few local celebrates, such as the green sea turtle and our underwater Buddha statue.

 

Everyone really enjoyed the dives today and there new wetsuite tans, another awesome day diving on Oahu!

 

Cheers!

 

W: Bradley (instructor) Sarah (Instructor) John (captain)

CONDITIONS: Sunny, 78*F Air, 75*F water, visibility 30+ft

DIVE PROFILES: Tutrle Canyons: 36ft max depth, dive time 34 minutes. Koko Crater: Max depth 34ft, dive time 36 minutes.

MARINE LIFE: Nudibranch, Spotted Eagle Ray, Puffer fish, Moray Eel, Jack Fish & Green Sea Turtles!

Manolo Cabasal

Abundant Macro Aquatic Life and Spanish Dancer Egg Ribbons 2*11*2015

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It was another beautiful morning today in Hawaii Kai. The wind was out of the west at a mild 10-15 mph and the surface was slightly choppy with 2-3 foot waves. None of that, however, deterred 17 divers from boarding the Enzo this morning. If it’s a little rough up top, you can bet that the bottom is much much nicer!

KAHALA BARGE
83FT – 35MIN
73 DEGREES

After mildy bumpy ride, the mass of divers entered into the water with 80 ft visibility. The silhouette of the wreck was discernible from the surface. Carefully swimming their way into the wreck, the group of advanced divers glided elegantly inside the bowels of the barge. Inside, the divers startled a napping turtle the promptly left the wreck and swam around the group. Along the top of the wreck, elusive spiny stars and coral crabs gave divers an appreciation for macro diving.

ANGLER’S REEF
47FT – 48MIN
74 DEGREES

With the high tide leaving and the current beginning to pick up divers entered the water with a sustained visibility of 60 ft. Swimming steadily into the current a large school of Moorish Idols passed the group. Among the many fascinating aquatic creatures spotted, some of the standouts were Spanish Dancer eggs, an Imperial nudibranch, viper eel, a giant green moray, and schooling squirrel fish.

A special shout out goes to the crew of the Enzo that made this day possible: Capt. Joe, Sarah, and Dave.

Larry Hogan

SCUBA Diving on the Corsair Wreck with Experienced Divers 7 feb

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a dangerous group, those sea-cavers, but fun!!  Sea Cave has become such a popular dive sight, that people all over the island are coming to dive with us there!  Today we began with another popular site – the Corsair airplane wreck.  it was very nice today, mild current and good viz.  the big resident  moray had wrapped itself in and around the exposed engine block, so we could see parts of him all through the engine.  he is a big sucker!!  instructor Nate is lucky he still has his finger!  🙂  garden eels were out, and the whale serenade was loud!!  fun dive!  then off to Sea Cave, with those in the know smiling and smiling.  we drifted it, and it was really excellent.  mild surge inside, along with a large green sea turtle, and a very large white-tip shark, most likely pregnant (overdue?). we also spotted schools of fish, a large sponge crab, and a huge hairy-legged hermit crab.  crazy colors on that guy! then out on the wild and mysterious wall.  awesome sights!!  thanks to all for safe diving, larry and sophie (the magnificent)

Corsair   107 ft  120 viz   33 min

sea cave  50 ft   120 viz   50 min

 

 

 

 

Manolo Cabasal

Sleeping Sea Turtles and Triggerfish in the Bubbles…*2*6*2015

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Actually it is when the conditions are absolutely gorgeous. The wind was moderate from the west southwest and the sun shined unabated as there were no clouds in the sky. Typical surface conditions here in Hawaii Kai. Today on the Sea Hound, we were joined by a hodgepodge of divers: first-time, students, and certified divers shaking off rust.

Koko Crater
37ft – 38min
75 degrees

With 2-3 foot waves, the boat lazily rocked on the surface as the divers entered the water in to 70ft visibility. Almost immediately, the local turtles began to frolic around the group. Unafraid at the presence of divers, cruised alongside the group for several minutes. Other fish spotted were the Hawaiian Sergeant Fish, Moorish Idols, and a school of yellowfin surgeon fish. Divers also had interaction with a huge pincushion starfish and a prickly collector urchin.

 

Turtle Canyons
37ft – 41min
75 degrees

In between dive sites, the wind lightened up and so did the waves. The Sea Hound gently rose and fell in 1 to 2 foot swells that rolled along the azure blue surface. This time the current picked up, but the visibility stayed the same at 70ft. Descending down the line a group of black trigger fish played with divers bubbles. Once on the bottom divers encountered a couple of massive snowflake eels showing off their snow white mouths. There were also a couple of napping turtles and a random porcupine fish.

A special shout out to the crew! Without these guys the day would not have been possible. Much love to Capt. John, S’moore, & lovely Lily.

 

Larry Hogan

Underwater Photos of Eels, Our Dinosaurs of the Ocean! 5 jan

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well, Dino – eel – asaurus is not a real word, but maybe it should be!  photoing the various types of moray eels often creates an image that looks to me, very dinosaur-like.  Turtle Canyons, our 2nd dive today, has an amazing variety of eels – zebra morays, tiger morays, yellow margin morays, white-mouth morays, and the list goes on.  but my favorite is always the Viper moray, and they really do look like a Tyrannosauras  Rex, particularly when you can only see their head just poking out of the reef!  vipers have a unique shape to there upper jaw, an upward curve, and a fantastic set of bristling, discolored, needle-sharp teeth.  which they love to show you!! Turtles also had some turtles, plus the huge eagle ray that has been there lately, as well as myriad reef fish and beautiful hard corals.  our first dive was Koko Craters, which has some huge green sea turtles, fun statues, and some fascinating coral heads (plus eels as well!).  winds are still a bit weird, from the west and south, and strong, creating some wind swell and lowering viz down from our usual 150 feet.  but we had a blast spotting all those critters, and everyone was stoked about the dives.  thanks to all for safe diving,

larry, matt, mark, and sophie and ashley

 

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Larry Hogan

Blak Tips, Eels, and Scorpionfish in our Hawaiian Sea Cave 4 jan

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C being the middle letter in LCU!  another great dive at this popular spot, as we spotted large white tip sharks napping, 12 eagle rays feeding, octopus inking, and fish shoaling.  lot of marine life there these days!  Joe (da Bears) from Chicago was out today working on his AOW – congrats and nice job!  plus simon, chris, and dmcs bill, pierre, and chris out to enjoy the beautiful weather and diving!  weird winds created some messy surface conditions, but everyone was smiling after seeing so much on the first dive!  2nd jump was a drift of spectacular Sea Cave.  rough on the surface, but very nice underwater – decent viz and incredible topography!!  inside the cave we saw turtles and pufferfish, plus a large school of needle nose.  after a nice circumnavigation we drifted the wall toward hanauma bay, spotting more turtles, huge schools of fish, eels, and scorpion fish.  thanks to all for safe diving,  larry and captain sophie

LCU  90 ft    100 viz   35 min

Sea Cave   50 ft   120 viz   50 min

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Lauren Smith

Group of Pufferfish in the Deep Sea Blue of Hawaii! Feb 2nd

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Today was a windy day at Island Divers Hawaii. With winds picking up from the south the it was a bumpy ride out to our first dive site. We had happy divers ready to make their first descent down to Baby Barge. At a max depth of 80 feet our group spotted several large Crown of Thorn starfish and a few big Jack Fish. A few Green Sea Turtles swam out of the sunken barge which where also hidding schools of squirrel fish. Heading down the ledge and to a small cave we spotted a 5 foot white tip reef shark sleeping in the sand.

Once back on the boat we made our way through the waves and onto a shallow reef called Anglers. Down below the visibility was awesome! With light current we had an easy dive looking for Moray Eels and Trumpet fish at a max depth of 46ft. Into the blue we saw a group of puffer fish.  Swimming up close we counted 13!

After a 49 minute dive we made our way back to surface and headed back to the shop.

Awesome visibility dives with so much marine life today!

 

W: Bradley (instructor) Sophie (captain)

CONDITIONS: Partially Cloudy, 74*F Air, 75*F water, visibility 80+ft

DIVE PROFILES: Baby Barge: 80ft max depth, dive time 36 minutes. Anglers Reef: Max depth 46ft, dive time 49 minutes.

MARINE LIFE: Nudibranch, Crown of Thorns, Puffer fish, White Tip Reef Shark, Moray Eel, Jack Fish & Green Sea Turtles!