2015 - Page 8 of 25 - Island Divers Hawaii

Spitting Caves Awesome

September 22, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

Sharks!! Turtles!! Eels!! Octopus!! We got to see it all today on both dives on the AM Fox Charter. Baby Barge is always a wonderful wreck to dive. Again we were not disappointed. The turtles came out to play and all my photographers filled the cards up with pictures. Jon did the first part of his PADI Wreck Specialty and did an awesome job.

We did our drift dive on Spitting Caves. Each part of the dive was a new site to see. In the caves we got to be up close and personal to the sharks. The turtles were all about the reef, we must have seen at least a dozen including the baby turtle we have been spotting so often. Eels were playfully hiding in the cracks of the wall and a small octopus came out to see us all. So much wildlife today as always. When we got back on the boat Steven stated it was one of the best dives ever. Nicole, Jonathan, Byron, Jason, Mi Sou, Luke and Tatsuya all were so excited when we got back on the boat. Most of them are diving with me again this week!! What an exciting day on the Sea Fox.

Baby Barge, Max depth 85 feet

Spitting Caves, Max depth 50 feet

Corsair wreck dive in Hawaii!

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

The Corsair is such a popular airplane wreck dive in Hawaii. 10 minutes from our dock, it never fails to amaze and please the divers that make it down to the 107 foot deep dive site! Surrounded by garden eels and schools of colorful fish, and inhabited by large eels, lobsters, and octopus, there is plenty of marine life to satisfy all divers. Even on it’s own, it is simply amazing to see a plane with the tail and propeller still attached, and with a wing lying in the sand next to the fuselage, and the windscreen and instrument panel. It is quite breathtaking! It’s best done on a 32 blend of nitrox as then you can stay after all the air divers have to ascend and really look around and see all the cool stuff! 2nd jump was a drift of our beloved Fantasy reef with incredible topography, sharks, turtles, octopus, eels, hard corals, and loads of fish! Thanks to all for safe diving!! Larry, Joe, Kelsea

corsair 107 feet viz 150 feet 30 min

fantasy 52 feet viz 200 feet 50 minutes

Fantasy reef Diving!!

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

A rare treat we had today getting to two of our more advanced dive spots for the PM Charter on the Sea Fox! Steven, Luke, Limer, Miguel, Amy and Dianne were all certified divers so we got to do some special dives. It was nice and sunny out today and just light trade winds coming in. Beautiful day for diving. Dropped in on Fantasy Reef, max depth 55 feet, and made our way to the first swim through. There was a little surge around but still plenty to see there. Turtles, sharks, eels and reef fish. It was a great dive exploring the sights.

Since we were all certified divers and everyone felt confident we decided to drift on the second dive. Spitting Caves, max depth was 50 feet, was our next site. The current picked us up and we floated along and a nice pace. Exploring all the nooks and crannies along the way. Before we came up we found the biggest frog fish ever! We also got to see the baby turtle on the way, which is always a treat. This was such a nice change of pace for us, really uplifted the day.

Shark cave diving Oahu!

September 15, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

The sky’s opened up with rain this morning and there was some wind. We are divers and are going to get wet anyway. We motored out to Baby Barge, Max depth 85 feet. We were met there with amazing visibility and just a slight current. Jean, Matt, Larry, Luke and I dropped down and went straight to the shark cave. We have been so very lucky that every time we got lately they are there. This time we found a huge female shark and a turtle sharing the cave. We also got to see many more turtles, eels, octopus and another smaller shark back at the wreck.

After a brief Search and Recovery mission of a GoPro we did our surface interval and picked Fantasy Reef, Max depth 55 feet, as our next dive site. Upon descent we were immediately diving with the Hawaiian Hono (green sea turtle). This dive had more turtles than we could count, sharks, eels, octopus and thousands of beautiful reef fish. This is always one of our favorite dive sites and has been so much fun lately with all the great divers we have had.

Another great dive of diving here in beautiful Hawaii!!

Lanai scuba diving trip!

September 14, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

The boat was loaded and ready to go at our 630 departure. Full of eager divers and staff getting to go on an adventure to new dive sites. The weather was a little challenging but we all were up for it. At the start of the dive trip one of the divers told me this was on her “Bucket List for Hawaii”. We are so happy we made this a great experience for her and all our divers.

Captain Joe and Captain Kendal took us through the night on the Sea Fox while all of us rested for the next day. Awesome that we have such great Captains. It was a little crazy getting over there but we found calm waters eventually. In the morning we made it to our first dive site of Monolith. Our belly’s full of a good breakfast we did what we came for and that is a great dive. Monolith is max depth of about 85 feet. There were huge lava tube swim thru’s, so many fish to see and just a beautiful clear site for us.

Our next dive spot was called Shark Fin…from the picture you can see why. This was a super site. In a protected cove we had lots of small caves and lava tubes to look into. Beautiful marine life was abundant. At Shark Fin, we kept our max depth to around 60 feet but could have gone much deeper. Plenty of octopus, eels and even a spanish dancer, to keep us occupied. Everyone came back to the boat with lots to talk about.

The next site we went to was Lady Fingers, max depth was 60 feet. We started our dive at 30, went in to 15 feet then out to about 50 on average. This Dive Instructor’s favorite of the trip, was filled with loads of amazing things. From the rare 3 tone butterfly fish to the elusive Dwarf blue eyed yellow eel. Also spotted eagle rays and octopus were seen.

We left the dock as Captain’s, Crew, Dive staff and customers……We came back as Friends that went on a wonderful adventure together. As we left the boat and went our different ways it was nice to see everyone sharing hugs and goodbyes. Until we get to do this again on our next Island Divers Trip….Happy Bubbles!!!

Baby Barge and Sea Cave, diving Hawaii!

September 10, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

Today we pulled away from the dock on the Sea Fox and it was like a lake out on the Pacific. The water was so clear we could see the bottom even at the depth of 100 feet. The sun was shining and it was a great day for diving. We went to Baby Barge, max depth 90 feet. The current was slight so we headed to the shark cave to see if anyone was there….no luck this time, but got to see so many other sea creatures…turtles and eels. We came back to explore the wreck and took a look at the small cave that the barge sits on….The shark was there! Super exciting because we all thought it was going to be a shackles dive. Explored the wreck for a bit then time was up.

We headed to the Sea Cave, this dive instructors favorite dive spot, max depth 50 feet. Upon entering the cave after the small swim through we found sharks, three of them. They were swimming around and giving us quite a show. Moving deeper into the cave there was tons of stuff to see and you guessed it…..Three more sharks and these were good sized. They also were very interactive with the divers. We came out and started our drift heading Diamond Head direction. This is such a beautiful dive site and the current took us just like on the a lazy river. It was clear and beautiful day. Ryan and Jon had the DPV’s out and got to cover lots of the site. Scott, Michelle, Daniel, Hollis and I, made our way down the wall. Was such a magical dive today.

Kahala Barge Scuba diving in Oahu!

September 8, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

The Kahala barge is an excellent wreck for a easy penetration and swim-through. With large rectangles of deck removed, there is plenty of light inside and plenty of room for maneuvering. There is one area that is pitch black and it is still a mystery waiting to be discovered. I have seen white tip reef sharks, turtles, and small schools of large ulua (jacks) in there. That was our first dive and we had a blast dealing with a bit of surge while checking below the deck! 2nd jump was a drift of Fantasy reef, a staff favorite. We saw so many huge green sea turtles that our divers couldn’t stop talking about them afterwards! We also saw eagle rays, some big and small eels, octopus, and lots of reef fish. A beautiful day of diving! Thanks to all for coming out. Larry, Joe, Ryan

kahala barge 92 ft 100 viz 35 min

fantasy reef 52 ft 130 viz 45 min

Drift diving spitting caves and wreck dives!

September 6, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

If you take 10 great divers, a great dive boat and a calm Pacific Ocean you have the makings of a blissful dive day! Today the tides dictated that we do a reverse to what we normally do. Our drift dive at Spitting caves, max depth of 50 feet, did not disappoint. This dive was action packed and full of sea life. Sharks, Eels, Frog fish, Snake eel ….and to many more to list. Everywhere we looked there was something new and exciting. This dive was so good, we all wanted to do it again!

Our next dive site was on the other side of Diamond Head. We were bound for the YO 257, max depth was 95 feet. On our way there we were met by calm seas and lots of chatter on the boat about all we saw. Making our way down to the YO, everyone was pleased that there was zero current, with the great conditions we got to make this a double wreck. Adding in the San Pedro, max depth of 85 feet. Again we got to see huge moray eels, turtles and yes even a Shark! YO is one of those great wrecks you get to do swim throughs on and awakes so interesting.

Making our way back to our side of Diamond head we all sat down on the boat to figure out what we wanted to do next. Our first drift dive was so awesome and we did get to see two wrecks on the 2nd dive……drum roll please…..you guessed it we got to do a second drift. This one on Fantasy Reef, max depth was 55 feet. Before we started the drift our Captain Kendal and Crew Member Kelsey set out a great lunch. We got to snack on sandwiches, fresh veggies and some chips. Starting our 3rd dive of the day was just as perfect as the previous two. With in the first few minutes we saw another shark, turtle and an Eagle Ray! What a great day so far. Making our way west on the reef we all got to see so much then we made our way through the arch and entered what one of the divers named Turtle alley. Everywhere you looked there was a huge Hawaiian green sea turtles, must have been at least twenty on the dive.

A big Mahalo to our great divers, Steven, James, BJ, Anthony, Brett, Joey, Jeff, Kaoru, Krishna, Sandy and Scott.

Diving Oahu’s west side.

September 5, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

What a great day with Island Divers Dive Club Members. Today we ventured up to the west side of the island and did a couple of dives. We were headed to Black Rock but it was a little to rough there so we went to the old Mine Sweeper wreck called the Mahi, max depth today was 95 feet. There was a bit of current but that was no problem for our seasoned crew of divers. Checking out all the nooks and crannies of the wreck, so interesting. There is so much life on the wreck and its super fun when there is current because we get to see the , and today the biggest Puffer Fish that most had ever seen.

We had a super nice boat ride to our nice dive site and were escorted there by a large pod of spinner dolphins. It was so great to watch all the babies learning to ride the wake of the boat. Things like that just make Surface intervals nice to have. Everyone was crowded to the port side of the boat to watch them.

We arrived at our next dive site of STARS, max depth was 60 feet. This is the coolest dive site. Where the mooring ties up there is a chimney that you go down. Its about 30 feet then you emerge at the bottom and head on the dive. The picture below is a view looking up to the mooring line.

Stars is such a great location, plenty of small caves and swim throughs and we did them all! There was so much to see on this dive. Plenty of fish, eels, a baby turtle and exploring to be had. Once back on the boat we couldn’t stop talking about our next dive club adventure. All in all this was a great day. Thanks to Allison, Becky, James, Anthony, Steven, Chad, Jennifer, Rebecca and Scott for coming diving!!!!

Sharks, turtles and wrecks, diving Oahu!

August 31, 2015/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

What a day!! We boarded the Sea Fox and headed to the bay to start our dive day. Asking the divers what they wanted to see today….SHARKS!! Well boy did we deliver today! We went to Baby Barge/Shark Cave, max depth 85 feet. The current was working in our favor and we went to the Shark Cave first….Booya a HUGE shark! The whole group was happy to take pictures and watch this beautiful white tip swim slowly back and fourth hamming it up for the group. So lucky we have GoPro Rentals at the shop. Not to forget our great Hawaiian green sea turtles that where around the wreck.

During our surface interval I asked “What would you guys like to see now?” They respond…..Sharks!! We jump in to do our drift dive over the beautiful Fantasy Reef, max depth 55 feet. We started on the Diamond Head side of the reef and first thing we run into…..You guessed it, a Shark! Not just any shark but a nice big 6′ shark.

Then we made our way through the swim thru and headed down the reef, KoKo head bound. There is one more place that we usually find some amazing sea life is a particular ledge at the end. Looking under it, a good spot for Honu and what do we spy? Two very big turtles and three….yes count them three more Sharks! What a great day for diving and seeing Sharks!!