June 2015 - Island Divers Hawaii

Divers Against Debris PADI Specialty in Oahu

June 27, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

The skies were clear and the ocean was calm. Today was the day to give back to our ocean the way she always gives to us. Our awesome students and staff came out to support the first PADI Project Aware Divers Against Debris dive. The class was held at the shop and we went over the how’s, why’s and where’s of this specialty. Part of what we do in this class is remove the things that will damage the sea life and the environment.

We loaded up the boat and headed out. Our Dive location was Spitting Caves today at the depth of 50 feet. This is an area that is heavily fished from the rocky wall area but is harder to access on scuba without the boat. This means that for clean up purposes it is a more challenging clean up location.

The dive was successful…..we were able to pull up over a 100 lbs of weight, 700+ yards of fishing line, many bottles, various odds and ends and a lawn chair!!

Special thanks to the Students: Chris, Mat, Kayleigh and Sarah. The amazing staff volunteers Bradley, Matt N., Ashley, and Andrew. Bruce who made the fish weights out of the recycled lead. The boat Crew Kelsea and a very special thank you to Captain Joe for helping set up the buckets and taking such good care of us while we were doing the clean up! Make sure to sign up and check our newsletter for our next Divers Against Debris Dive.

FISH GARDENS Dive Site in Bloom along the Sea Walls of Hawaii!

June 24, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

Fish Gardens is a wall dive, right between Spitting Cave and Sea Cave, two of our more well know and frequented dive sites. while these two sites are spectacular due to the quantity of marine life and the volcanic topography, Fish Gardens is equally enthralling. It has boulder clusters at 50 feet, ledges, caves, and dramatic walls, as well as thousands of colorful reef fish of all kinds -pennant fish, fusileers, butterfly fish, ulua, sergeant majors, probably almost every type of hawaiin reef fish in large numbers! it was really beautiful yesterday, truly a fish garden in bloom!! we had great viz and bright sunshine, we were repeatedly surrounded by these large shoals of reef fish! such a great dive! we also saw octopus and turtles as we drifted this site. Our first dive of the morning was over at Baby Barge, where we tied up in moderate current, and dropped down on the shark cave, which had turtles and a giant shrimp (oxymoron?) inside. more turtles around the wreck, plus some large morays – green heads, and yellow margins, as well as small schools of fish. thanks to all for safe diving, larry, joe

baby barge 80 feet 35 minutes viz 120

fish garden 50 feet 45 minutes viz 120

First SCUBA Breaths Underwater with Sea Turtles in Honolulu Hawaii

June 19, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

Happy Aloha Friday! What a terrific day to Discover Scuba Diving (DSD). Today Zi and Paris took their first breathes under water and loved it. We did our confined session this morning then, went out on the Sea Fox for our afternoon dives. We went to Koko Craters (max depth 37 feet) for our first dive and saw plenty of reef fish out and even a couple of eels. The certified divers went to check all the craters out while myself and our Discover Scuba Divers stayed near little budda and fat buddy.

For our second dive, we moved on to Turtle Canyon (max depth 37 feet) and were delighted to see sea turtles, eels reef fish and so much more. The Discover Scuba Divers did amazing and are now ready to move on to the next step by becoming Open Water Certified Divers. They did so good!! It’s always exciting to watch people gain our passion!

HONU, Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle patrolling on Oahu Dive Sites

June 19, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

Honu is the Hawaiian word for Green Sea Turtle. Here at Island Divers Hawaii we love to show off the huge and friendly sea turtles we have living at many of our dive sites. Today we went to Baby Barge for our first dive and it did not fail us on our Honu Patrol! The current was very strong, but seeing the turtles was worth the extra swimming we had to do. Baby barge is an imploded wreck which is home to lots of sea life, including eels, octopus, and white tip sharks. We went to Koko craters for our second dive and the current was much milder. We cruised around and swam by more turtles, big eels, and a peacock flounder hiding on the sand. Our divers did a great job navigating the Hawaiian currents today. Thanks to all for safe diving, Larry!

First Dive Location: Baby Barge Maximum Depth: 80 feet Duration: 30 minutes

Second Dive Location: Koko Craters Maximum Depth: 38 feet Duration: 40 minutes

Swimming with the Eels at Koko Crater Dive Site in Maunalua Bay Oahu

June 18, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

Today was a beautiful day out at Maunalua Bay on Oahu. The sun was shining and the breeze was blowing as we headed out on the Seafox this afternoon. We had a nice, small group of 5 divers on the boat. The first dive site we went to was Koko Craters. The visibility was amazing, 70+ feet, as we dropped down into the craters. We got down to the bottom at 40 feet and went for a tour of the craters. We found a couple of small moray eels swimming around. We also saw a few schools of Sergeant Major fish and some beautiful Moorish Idols. As we were swimming by the Buddha statue we were greeted by a big green sea turtle! After a 49 minute dive we headed back up to the boat.

The second dive site we went to was Turtle Canyons. Our maximum depth at this site was 41 feet. Here we were able to find a couple more moray eels including, a Viper Moray Eel! We also found a scorpion fish and a porcupine fish. After finding another turtle sleeping underneath the ledge, we turned our dive around and headed back to the boat. Today, our second dive was 54 minutes. Overall it was a magnificent day of diving and a great day to be out on the water in Hawaii!

Crew: Captain Todd, Instructor Sarah, Crew Ashley

Water Temperature 77 degrees Fahrenheit

Crabs, Slipper Lobsters, and Multiple Species of Eels on the Night Dives in Honolulu

June 18, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

It is always such a thrill to be loading the boat as the sun is starting to go down. The sky was all pink and letting us know that the day was done. The excitement for our night dive created a buzz in the air. Tonight Adam and Mary were doing their first night dive after becoming newly certified divers. Ole was doing the last two dives towards him Night diving certification. Raf and Michelle were our more seasoned divers who haven’t had a chance to dive for awhile.

Our first stop was Baby Barge with a max depth of 95 feet. There was a slight current tonight but it eased up when we got to the bottom. This was the dive of the turtle. They were everywhere which was very fun for our new divers!

Our second dive stop was Angler’s Reef with a maximum depth of 50 feet. This was a very interesting dive. Slipper lobsters were out in full force tonight. Also, the crabs kept filing in and out of the holes of the lava bottom reef. We saw a wide range of eels down there too including, the elusive snake eel and the snowflake eel. The huge stoplight parrot fish were all tucked away in their hiding places. One of the skills Ole had to complete on this dive was turning his light off for three minutes. No lights on was very interesting…the funnier part was trying to get Ole to keep his lights on afterwards. His eyes had adjusted and he was having such a good time. Our night dive came to an end shortly after the lights came back on. The boat was brought back in, we unloaded and hugs were given all around. Once again our guests came as divers and left as friends. Happy diving to all!

LCU and Spitting Caves

June 16, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

We had an amazing and clear morning during our dive today at LCU and Spitting Caves. LCU, which has a maximum depth of 97 feet, had a little bit of a current today but the extra swimming was so worth the effort. One of our huge Hawaiian green sea turtles was there to make sure we respected the LCU wreck and after the turtle, we spotted an Eagle Ray. Today was Lyndon’s first wreck dive so he was super excited. Chuck, Mat, Katie, Dave, Franze and Matt also enjoyed the LCU wreck dive.
Our Second dive was to Spitting caves; a drift dive with a maximum depth of 50 feet. Spitting caves is one of our favorite dive sites on the island and we were not let down today. There were not one but two free swimming white tip reef sharks on the wall as well as, large moray eels and more Hawaiian green sea turtles. There was plenty of sea life to find and loads of things to see. What a great day of Diving!!!

All bubbles and no troubles diving in Oahu!

June 13, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Lauren Smith

We had a boat full over divers today at Island Divers Hawaii. First time scuba divers explored the sea floor with certified family members, while Open Water students brought their training to the reef along with great compass practice and peak performance bouyance divers working towards their advanced.

Maxine lead a group of 7 certified divers down the Koko Craters for their our first dive down to Koko Crater. With a maximum depth of 39ft and awesome visibilty, she was able to spot lots of critters. Several different colored leaf scorpion fish were out to play today, along with snowflake eels and school of Sargent Major fish. With a slight bit of current the group was able to visit most of our underwater Buddha statues before turning around and lightly drifting towards the boat

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In the mean time Sarah was taking our first time Discover Scuba Divers and Open water students in a small and fun adventure, while I worked on a Peak Performance Buoyancy Adventure dive in a nearby sand patch.

Our Second dive site was a local favorite called Turtle Canyons. With a max depth of 40 feet our divers gathered together to find more underwater life. Below Maxine and her gang of certified’s saw a very large Viper Eel free swimming across the reef. While I worked on a Underwater Navigation course a fully grown Milkfish seemed to hover on by. Under the boat Sarah was introducing her divers to a burr and puffer fish, they all made friends

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Today was a beautiful day diving on Oahu, divers of all levels shared the excitement of their adventure together!

We look forward to taking another dive with each of you again soon!

All bubbles and no troubles!

Crew: Bradley (instructor) Maxine (instructor) Sarah (instructor) Joe(captain)

CONDITIONS: Sunny, mid 70’s*F Air, 77*F water, visibility 80+ft

DIVE PROFILES: Koko Crater: 39ft max depth, dive time 44 minutes. Turtle Canyons: Max depth 40ft, dive time 47 minutes.

MARINE LIFE: Viper Eel, Milkfish, Leaf Scorpion Fish, Hawaiin Sargent.

Birthday Scuba Diving on Oahu

June 12, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mark Savel

It was a perfect morning to be scuba diving in the waters of southeast Oahu and a great day to be leading a great group of divers on my birthday. We headed to Baby Barge for the first dive and had a turtle waiting for us on the surface as we tied up to the mooring. The visibility was fantastic and the current was light so we dropped down the line and found a few more turtles resting on the bottom. A large school of goatfish and butterfly fish joined us for a swim around the wreck. It was a great first dive!

We drifted Spitting Caves for the second dive and again, the visibility and current were great. We saw more schools of goatfish around a couple of the caves and we had a good size school of bluefin trevally come check us out before taking off into the blue. There were a of couple sharks hiding out in the caves and more turtles swimming about the area. Near the end of the dive we found a couple large frogfish hiding in the reef. It was a great way to start off the morning and kick off the weekend which is sure to be filled with more awesome scuba diving on Oahu.

coast.

Scuba Diving Oahu’s Beautiful Waters 6/6

June 6, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mark Savel

This morning was another perfect day scuba diving on the southeast side of Oahu. We had a great group of divers as we headed out on the Sea Fox for the Baby Barge. Getting to the dive site we had 100ft visibility and little current as we got in the water right away. Right away we found turtles around the site with a couple resting on the bottom and a few swimming about the wreck. There were also a lot of eels hiding all over the reef including a couple yellow margin moreys and undulated moreys.

For the second dive we drifted Fantasy Reef and again had a great dive. There was a moderate current and crystal clear waters as we got to the bottom. Again we had turtles all over the site and more eels in the reef. We also found groups of horned helmet snails and reef fish throughout the dive. Scuba diving this morning was a great start to a wonderful weekend on Oahu.