Manta at Turtle Canyon!
Epic ay at Turtles! 6-8 ft Manta Ray cruising the reef… me HUFFING AND PUFFING trying to catch it!
Archive for month: March, 2015
FLAT AS A PANCAKE !! 9 march
I love to find those pancake flat peacock flounders that slide around on the sand at Koko Craters. I have seen them range in size from the size of a dinner plate at Maxine’s house (huge) down to the size of a good old american quarter! great example of evolution and adaptability! I like pointing them out and watching the diver look up with a puzzled look on their face, “what, what, i don’t see anything!” then it’s very cool when the flounder slithers along the sandy bottom, blending perfecting, visible only when they move. amazing ! check out the photo below. So Kokos was great, mild current and good viz, and we saw at least 10 turtles and some huge moray eels. 2nd jump was over at turtle canyons, which is so fun these days because there are some baby turtles growing up right before our eyes! cute little guys! no eagle ray today, but we saw eels, frog fish (with Tim, photo below), octopus, and lots of reef fish! thanks to all for safe diving, larry, kendal, mark
kokos 38 feet 100 viz
turtles 35 ft 100 viz
Funnest Class You Will Ever Take
Today was the day to learn how to dive! We had six students on the boat this afternoon all working towards their open water diver certification. There was also a pair of certified divers who came out. It was an amazing day out on the water, the sun was shinning and the water was flat. All of the students did amazing learning about open water scuba diving. The first site we went to today was called Koko Craters. We dropped down to 35 feet and went for a tour to find some fish! We found quite a few turtles hanging out around the dive site today. After a 31 minute dive our students completed all their skills and swam with some turtles so we headed back onto the boat.
We switched over to new tanks and headed over to Turtle Canyons for our second dive. Here we found some moray eels, lots of butterfly fish, trigger fish, and a blue dragon nudibranch! Our bottom time was 30 minutes and our maximum depth was 40 feet at turtle canyons. After two awesome dives we soaked up some rays and headed back to the shop. The students learned lots today and had fun doing it! Dive on!
Crew: Captain Neal, Instructor Sarah, Instructor Mary, Instructor Mark
Conditions: Water temp 73, visibility 50+ feet
ME TARZAN, YOU TURTLE ! 7 march
well, i’m not really Tarzan (except occasionally in my dreams), but sometimes when we dive Koko Craters there are so many big green hawaiin sea turtles there, that it’s like Tarzan released a stampede of turtles and we’re swimming for our lives! fortunately the turtles generally move pretty slow so they are rather easy to avoid. But such great fun to see! i love seeing the faces of divers when they see their very first 5 foot, 200 pound turtle cruising right next to them! in fact, part of my briefing is, hey newbies when you see your first turtle don’t follow him up too high in the water column and end up doing a unintentional buoyant ascent. but that is how mesmerizing they are to see, especially the first time! divers just follow them anywhere! our standard joke when we get back on the boat, and divers are talking about the size or how many there were, we say incredulously, “what, you saw a turtle?!’ we laugh and laugh!! our first dive was actually at Turtle Canyons, and that was fun. mild current and good viz, loads of reef fish, some big eels, and that solitary huge eagle ray! great diving today! thanks to all for safe diving! larry, max, JP, cap’n joe
turtle canyons 35 feet 40 minutes
koko craters 38 feet 40 minutes
I Like Turtles!!!03+08+2015
Have you ever seen that YouTube video? It’s quite possibly the most hilarious 18 second video ever. At Island divers, we love turtles just as much as that zombie kid in the video and we saw plenty of them in the water today. This morning’s weather was a prelude for the rest of the day: Partly cloudy skies, moderate winds from the East Northeast, and a small southern swell. Another awesome day in paradise. The dive sites on today’s 3-tanker: Kahala Barge, The Sea Tiger, and Spitting Caves.
KAHALA BARGE
92ft – 30min
The visibility was an amazing 90 ft, but the current was absolutely ripping. Pulling themselves down the line, some divers penetrated the wreck while others enjoyed the company of a solo white tip reef shark. Along the top was a large school of moorish idols that hovered over the wreck and along with a whole bundle of different nudibranchs.
The Sea Tiger
102ft – 30min
Deep blue waters ushered in 100+ ft visibility and the current died down for the second deep dive of the day. The massive turtles showed up at the end of the dive, but that didn’t stop the former smuggling vessel from mystifying divers. A massive eel along with a lone puffer and a couple nudis littered the deck while a large school of snapper gathered off deck. I like turtles.
Spitting Caves (drift)
45ft – 43min
With a prevailing flood current and 80 ft visibility, spitting cave was everyone’s favorite dive because of, you guessed, the turtles! We were seeing turtles all over the place! They were taking naps in caves, posing on the ground, and soaring around the group. A crown of thorns starfish, cuddling lizard fish, and tons of reef life filled the gaps in between turtle sightings.
A special turtle ‘THANK YOU’ goes out to the crew of the Sea Fox. Much turtley love to Captain Joe, the lovely Lauren, and S’moores.
For the curious, here is the turtle video I speak of. You will not be disappointed.
Don’t You Want Some Moray
We had a great afternoon on the water today. Even though the current was pulling hard all of the divers stayed strong and powered through it. The first dive site we went to this afternoon was Koko Craters. Once we descended to 38 feet we found a few turtles sleeping under the ledge. We also saw a few little morays hanging out in the wall. After a fun 41 minute dive we headed back on the boat to venture over to our second dive site, Turtle Canyons.
At turtle canyons we dropped down to 40 feet over the sand and then headed in over the reef. On the reef we saw lots of fish, butterfly fish, porcupine fish, trigger fish, moorish idols to name a few. We also were able to find a scorpion fish, which is pretty lucky because they look just like a rock! Overall we had two fun, safe dives today. Another great day on the waters of Hawaii!
Crew: Captain Joe, Instructor Sarah, Crew Lily
Conditions: Visibility 50 feet, Water Temperature 73 degrees Fahrenheit
YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT !! 4 march
at least according to Mick Jagger! BUT, if you ever what to see GIANT Hawaii green sea turtles, you can always get what you want, especially if you dive Fantasy Reef, one of our favorite dive sites, only 25 minutes from our dock behind the shop! Fantasy reef has two main plateaus, covered with hard corals, riddled with small caves and underhangs, with a couple of swim throughs, all created by the hot lava meeting the cool Hawaiin waters. it has spectacular topography, and is packed with marine life – tons of reef fish, big eels, barracuda, octopus, eagle rays, sharks, frog fish, rock scorpions, whew, it’s got it all. we drifted it, using the mild current to zig-zag back and forth over this spectacular creation. spectacular dive! Our first dive was the world famous Corsair, with more pilots out diving with us today, that is where they wanted to go! the current was strong, but the line setup on the Fox makes it easy to get to the wreck without wasting any air! schools of reef fish surrounded the wreck, no moray in the engine today, but we did see the crocodile snake eel peeking out of the sand near the wing. at 107 feet it has a short bottom time, but it is just a beautiful wreck to see. thanks to all for safe diving, larry and joe
corsair 107 ft 25 min
fantasy reef 52 ft 50 min
Scubado
Today we had a nice intimate group out on the fox with only four divers on board. We had two discover scuba divers who came to Hawaii to try scuba diving for the first time! Also a congratulations to Kelsie who completed her Advanced Open Water certification on the boat this afternoon!
The first dive site we went to was called Koko Craters. We saw more turtle than we could count today at Kokos! We also saw two big moray eels hanging out in the coral. The visibility was great today and we had an awesome dive swimming with the turtles and playing with the fish. After a 41 minute dive we hoped back on the boat so that we could head over to our second dive site.
For the second dive we went to Turtle Canyons. At this dive site we soared over the reef for the majority of the dive looking at scorpion fish, porcupine fish, moorish idols, and lots of other small reef fish. We then headed out to the sand to work on our buoyancy and have a little fun. We all perfected out underwater back flip this afternoon! After 36 minutes we ended our dive and got back on the boat to head back into the marina. Overall our little group had an awesome day of diving.
Crew: Captain Joe, Instructor Sarah, Crew Imran
Conditions: Visibility 65+ feet, water temperature 75 degrees farenheit
Dive profiles: Koko Craters max depth: 38 feet dive time: 41 minutes, Turtle Canyons max depth 37 feet dive time 36 minutes
Eagle rays coming to play*03-03-2015*
An overcast sky and moderate winds from the East made for a breezy start this morning. The addition of a 3-foot swell also made things a bit more bumpy than usual. All that wasn’t enough to stop divers from boarding the Sea Fox this morning. Things are usually better and wetter when you go down. Nobody wants to stay topside anyway!
LCU
86ft – 32min
With a moderate Diamond Head Current the divers were easily able to see the wreck from topside. Behold! 100+ ft. visibility!!! Pull themselves down the mooring line a massive wall of goat fish parted ways ushering divers beneath the wreck towards a massive white tip reef shark. Also spotted was a massive crown of thorns and a couple of small eels. At the end of the dive a group of 4 spotted eagle rays teased the group with a fly by as divers held their safety stop on the line.
Angler’s Reef
46ft – 48min
With prevailing winds, the Sea Fox stayed within the shelter of Manalua Bay and moored up at octopus haven, Angler’s Reef. A dead current and 60ft visibility allowed for a nice, slow, and chilled out reef dive. Several big boy green moray eels gnashed their teeth and a massive octopus crept along the bottom before disappearing into an unbelievably small hole. A few hermit and sponge crabs were also thrown into the mix.
A special thanks goes out to the crew of the Sea Fox: Capt. Joe, Imran, & Dave.
THE CROCODILE HUNTER !! 2 march
as usual we ask our divers if they have any particular dive sites they want to visit. and today it was the awesome Corsair airplane. sitting at 107 feet, it is the dream dive for all of our scuba-diving pilots! we get pilots from all over the world who come dive with us simply to see that wreck! it is a real trip, from the shoaling fish, the intact instrument panel, the resident huge moray, the ubiquitous garden eels, and the ever elusive crocodile snake eel! these eels hide a 4 to 5 foot long body in the sand. i have seen them out swimming, only to suddenly reverse into the sand in a few seconds, leaving only their eyes and nose peeking out. really astonishing to see!! and their eyes and nose are jammed all the way to front of their croc-like head. check out my photo, but maybe google it too, and see if you can find a photo of the whole head! amazing to see!! 2nd jump was a drift of Sea Cave, and boy, everyone was stoked – great viz and mild current, plus 3 sharks inside, and turtles and octopus outside. lots of sunny smiles while heading back to dock. thanks to all for safe diving, larry
