March 2015 - Island Divers Hawaii

Spitting Caves with its Lava Tubes is One of the Most Spectacular Dive Sites in Hawaii

March 31, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Lauren Smith

Today was a sunny and calm morning with a boat full of advanced divers, gearing up for our two tank morning charter on the Sea Fox. The Sea Fox motored out into Maunalua Bay by 8:30am as our group was brief on the first dive at LCU. The Landing Craft Utility wreck sits upside down at a max depth of 90ft, surrounding this wreck are artificial Z-blocks hiding eels, slipper lobster and spotted coral blennys. The penetration point of this particular sunken barge is large and can easily be navigated, here is where divers will normally see white tip reef sharks napping in the sand. After 34 minutes exploring the wreck and it’s surroundings our divers made their way towards to mooring line, and were met by a small spotted eagle ray hovering right above the wreck. After a 3 minute safety stop the group was back on the surface, drying off in the sun.

Our second splash was a drift across Spitting Caves. With a maximum depth of 52 ft, we were all drifting the wall as one big happy family. As soon as we entered the water a large Devil Scorpion fish was spotted under a ledge. As we drifted across the wall divers ducked in and out of lava tubes looking for creepy crawlers. A collector crab was found feeding in one hole, and a octopus camouflaged in the next. Out in the open we had Hawaiian Green Sea turtles and a not so small white tip reef shark swim past.

Once we finished a 40 minute drift the group swam out into the blue for a safety stop and then back on the boat for a smooth ride back to the dive shop.

Great dives today with great divers!

W: Bradley (instructor) Joe (captain)

CONDITIONS: Sunny, 76*F Air, 75*F water, visibility 80+ft

DIVE PROFILES: LCU: 90ft max depth, dive time 37 minutes. Spitting Caves : Max depth 52ft, dive time 45 minutes.

MARINE LIFE: Devil Scorpion Fish, Spotted Eagle Ray, White Tip Reef Shark, Collector Crab, Slipper Lobster, Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

Humpback Whales Singing as SCUBA Divers enjoy the 100 Foot Visibility of the Pacific

March 25, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Manolo Cabasal

Is that humpbacks singing?

The humpbacks were indeed singing, and they say all day long. More on that later though! It was another beautiful day in Hawaii Kai. Light and variable trade winds and a small swell made surface conditions absolutely perfect for this morning’s dive. Today aboard the Sea Hound we were joined by local divers, students, and the ever faithful and steady troop of tank monkeys. The tank monkey position is a highly sought after volunteer position here at the Dive Shop. One 4-hour shift a week filling tanks, cleaning dive gear, and sweeping the shop gets you free dives and dive courses up to Rescue diver. If you are interested in getting on the wait list for a tank monkey position, send us an e-mail! You must already be a diver. Enough rambling, let’s talk about the day’s dives!!!

Landing Craft Upside Down (LCU)
94 ft – 32 min

The lack of current and 100 ft visibility allowed for a nice and relaxing free descent to the bottom. Absent were the usual family of sharks underneath the wreck, however present was the massive school of goat fish that envelopes the wreck. Underneath the wreckage an air pocket large enough to fit ones head was found off in an odd corner (the air in it tasted a bit musky). Around the wreck a solo spotted eagle ray flew by. Further from the wreck a crown of thorns starfish was found wrapped around an unfortunate coral head and a tandem of barracuda cruised along the bottom looking for their next meal. During the whole dive the baritone song of nearby humpback whales provided the soundtrack.

Smitty’s & Keanu Reefs (drift)
72ft – 42min

After cruising with humpback whales on the surface interval, divers jumped into 80ft visibility on Smitty’s & Keanu Reefs. The baritone soundtrack of humpback whales continued to resonate in the ears of the divers. Except this time their song was much louder. Along the bottom were several fine specimens of green antler coral that yielded several species of fish using them as protection. Most notably were the Banner Butterfly Fish and yellow and convict tangs. Also spotted were a solo green moray, the only and only unicorn fish on the reef, and another spotted eagle ray.

A special thanks goes out to the crew of the Sea Hound! Many thanks to Captain Joe and Greg for making the fun and easy!

Koko Craters Dive Site is Home to a Plethera of Aquatic Creatures

March 23, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

Today was a beautiful day out on the water! We had a mixture of certified divers, students, and discover scuba divers on the boat this afternoon. With the sun shining bright and the water clear blue we headed out to Koko Craters for our first dive. As we descended down to 35 feet we were greeted by a sleeping turtle! We also found a couple moray eels hiding in the coral. There were plenty of fish hanging around the crater today including sargent majors, trumpet fish, and moorish idols to name a few. After a 30 minute dive we headed back up to the boat to head over to our second dive site.

The second dive site we went to was Anglers reef. The maximum depth on this dive was 40 feet. We followed the ledge of the reef checking out all the urchins and starfish for about 35 minutes before we headed back up on the boat. We found quite a few more moray eels hanging out on the reef. Overall it was a great, relaxing afternoon of diving!

Crew: Captain Kendal, Instructor Sarah, Instructor Mary, Instructor Jess, Crew Tim

Conditions: Visibility 100+ feet, Water Temperature 75 degrees Fahrenheit

Kahala Barge the Largest Wreck Dive in Maunalua Bay Oahu

March 22, 2015/in Uncategorized/by Manolo Cabasal

Summer like conditions returned to Hawaii Kai this morning. Cloudy skies didn’t last very long when the standard 20 MPH trade wind from the East Northeast blew into town. On top of the brisk breeze, a consistent 3-foot swell rolled through Manalua Bay. The Sea Hound was rocking and rolling a little bit today, but it was nothing the seasoned divers aboard the Sunday 3-tanker couldn’t handle.

Kahala Barge
91 ft – 26 min

The ever steady and faithful Kahala Barge is the biggest wreck dive in Manalua bay. At approximately 200 feet in length, the barge presents many opportunities for penetration and is teeming with healthy corals on the top deck. The current began as mellow and steadily increased in strength during the dive and the visibility was a solid 80 ft. Spotted during the diving was a crown of thorns starfish, several juveniles eels, and schools of trigger fish.

LCU
84ft – 32 min

Visibility continued to maintain at 80-90 ft and the current held steady allowing for the second wreck dive of the day to go off without a hitch. Vacant were the local celebrity white tip reef sharks, but a tight formation of spotted eagles circled the wreck throughout the whole dive. More eels and a massive school goat fish were also around.

Spitting Caves (Drift)
50ft – 48 min

With the flood tide timed perfectly by Captain Kendal, the visibility was seeming an endless 100 ft when the divers dropped onto the wall. A couple of octopus, schools of banner butterfly fish and sergeant fish, and a clumsy little hermit crab filled the dive with excitement from beginning to end. A perfect end to a perfect day of diving.

A special thanks goes out to the crew! Captain Kendal and the Lovely Lauren.

Manta Ray spotted on the New Barge Wreck Dive Site in Oahu

March 20, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mark Savel

It was just a perfect day this morning diving off the Sea Fox. We had a smaller group of divers and decided on something a little different today. We headed to a little dove wreck as we have no mooring on it and it is a small area. We dropped in with a bit of a Koko Head current and right away found a turtle resting on the wreck, there were also uluas hiding out under the cover of the wreck. There is great coral on the site but soon we were off in the current as we drifted to New Barge. There was great fish life all along the area but the biggest thing came along on the safety stop. As we were hanging on our stop a good sized MANTA RAY came cruising by and stayed for a bit for everyone to get a good look of it. And a big thanks to Bill for the video.

For the second dive we drifted Fantasy Reef and had a great time. There were a few turtles about the area and reef fish everywhere. There were also a few eels including a large yellow margin morey hiding in the reef. It was an awesome way to start the day and ending the week.

Living The Dream

March 19, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

It was another beautiful day on the water this afternoon! We had a pretty full boat as we headed out to our shallow reef sites to find some turtles. And turtles we did find! The first site we went to was Koko Craters. We dropped down 38 feet into the crater. We found some sea turtles sleeping, as usual, under the ledges. We also found a few large moray eels! We saw both small and large marine animals today as we found turtles and eels but also a few tiny nudibranchs! We swam around with lots of small reef fish such as moorish idols, Sargent majors, butterfly fish, and trumpet fish to name a few. We also saw a pretty big file fish! After 44 minutes of swimming with the fishes we headed back up to the boat to motor over to our second dive site.

The second dive site we went to was called Turtle Canyons. Our maximum depth on this dive was 33 feet. Turtle canyons is rolling hills of reef so we spent the dive floating just above the reef looking at the coral and fish and morays. We were able to find a scorpion fish today which looks oddly identical to a rock, except for the eyes and mouth! After a relaxing 42 minute dive we ascended back up to the surface to be greeted once again by gravity. I am reminded everyday how awsome my job is. I get to go scuba diving with sea turtles and soak up the Hawaii sun on a boat. I most certainly am living the dream and all my divers were today too!

Crew: captain Kendal, instructor Sarah, instructor Mary, instructor Matt, crew Ashley

conditions: water temperature 75 degrees Fahrenheit, visibility 70+ feet

Don’t kiss the scorpion fish! March 18

March 18, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Lauren Smith

Today was fun in the sun at Island Divers HI! On the 2 tank morning advanced charter we had return vacationers and first time advanced divers.

Our first dive site of choice was Baby Barge. With a maximum depth of 79 feet, we made an easy descent with light current down to the top of the wreck. Below we quickly spotted a scorpion fish and a blue dragon nudibranch. Visibility was awesome today! Zebra Morays and Lizards fish were also hiding around the wreck today.

The second dive site we picked was a fun reef named Anglers Reef. Down below we found more scorpion fish and a huge tiger cowry! On the ledge of the reef our divers spotted s whitemouth morays and a very large trident trumpet!

Current was very light today and visibility was great, which made an easy swim and exploration for everyone

.

W: Bradley (instructor) Joe (captain)

CONDITIONS: Sunny, mid 80’s*F Air, 75*F water, visibility 80+ft

DIVE PROFILES: Baby Barge: 79ft max depth, dive time 43 minutes. Anglers Reef : Max depth 47ft, dive time 50 minutes.

MARINE LIFE: Trident Trumpet, Tiger Cowry, Parrot Fish, Pennant Fish, Nudibranch, Moray Eel & Scorpion Fish!

SMILING CAVES !! 15 march

March 17, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

i think that’s what we should call Sea Cave and Spitting Cave, two of our dive sites on the Portlock – Hanauma Bay wall. Why? because everyone comes back smiling from those dives – they really are fantastic, spectacular, enthralling dives. before we hit the wall, we did tie up at Baby Barge, and there were great conditions there, clear blue water, several large turtles, eels, ulua, lots of reef fish, and a cruising eagle ray! very nice, but then onto those world-class sites on the wall. first we did Spitting cave, as we had to catch the end of the incoming tide, and we timed it perfectly! clear blue water, and a gentle push guided us all the way around to china walls. along the way we delved into the canyons and caves, spotting white tip sharks, huge green sea turtles, scorpion fish, and an octopus that (somehow) landed on top of a frogfish. that was amusing! third jump was another drift, this time Sea Cave – and it was perfect! great viz inside, with turtles and white tip sharks, and a gentle push towards Hanauma bay after we exited the cave. a perfect day, lots of smiling divers! thanks to all for safe diving, larry, max, joe

You’ll be Green with Envy… 3172015

March 17, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Manolo Cabasal

…When you see this view from the boat!

That’s the view from Palea Point, outside of Hanama Bay! Today’s weather was fantastic, as usual. The winds were negligible and the swell was nonexistent allowing for a trip to the Eastern side of Oahu. This morning we were joined by a mixed bag of certified divers and divemaster/instructor candidates from Hawaii Scuba University. Today’s diving agenda consisted of two drift dives at Skimmon’s Reef and Palea Point.

Skimmon’s Reef (drift)
70ft – 36min

On top of the fantastic weather the current was dead and the visibility was a stellar 100 feet. Skimmons, teeming with pristine coral and reef life, was a sight for sore eyes ( I hadn’t seen the site in a while). Some of the highlights: a giant green moray, a massive octopus, and a huge school of pennant butterflyfish.

Palea Point (drift)
56ft – 44min

Conditions continued to stay pristine with visibility increasing to over 100ft. The current picked up lightly, but everything continued to remain chill. An often missed dive site, Palea Point yielded bigger schools of fish than Skimmons. Large schools of hawaiian sergeant fish, teardrop butterfly fish, and bluefin trevally littered the dive site. Also spotted were numerous dragon nudibranchs and a massive crown of thorns starfish. You could also hear the song of nearby humpback whales.

A special SHOUT OUT goes to the crew! Many thanks to Capt. Joe and Imran for making today’s adventure easy.

EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE IS REAL. . . 12 march

March 13, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

so said Pablo Picasso. He must have been a scuba diver! not a lot of Cubism down below, but when you scuba dive a dive site like Turtle Canyons, you really feel someone or something has a real imagination!! the beauty and intricacy of a single coral head is just profound! the shapes and colors, the living coral and the sea life which lives in and around it is truly phenomenal! Turtle Canyons is filled with rolling hills, covered with coral, and packed with sea life. there is so much to find in the macro world there – frogfish, scorpion fish, all types of eels – green, zebra, spotted snake, snowflake, and my fav, the viper moray. lots of fish – puffers, butterfly, goat, big eye. just a ton of amazing stuff. NOW on top of all that we saw a manta ray cruise right by Instructor Dave! amazing day! our first dive was over at Koko Craters, and the turtles put on their afternoon show, with goofy looks, and trips for air. congrats to bethanie and sarah on their new OW certification! thanks to all for safe diving! larry, dave, joe, ashley

kokos 38 ft 44 min

turtles 40 ft 47 min