February 2016 - Island Divers Hawaii

Amazing Philippines Trip 2016!!! Jan 31-Feb 06

February 29, 2016/in Dive Reports, Dive Travel, Images/by Mary Christensen

Just have to start this out with WOW!!

What a great group of divers, a great dive staff and a beautiful resort. Magic Island in Cebu, Philippines was recommended to our shop and boy did they deliver. From the excellent diving, smiling staff that became friends, amazing food, comfortable bungalows, and fun adventures.

We would start our days with coffee or tea that was prepared magically all the time for us. Breakfast was served starting at 7 am every morning. There was always several choices but if they didn’t have something on the menu….all you had to do was ask and they would make it happen with a smile. After breakfast we had time to get ourselves together and headed to the dive area which was just steps away. They had your gear prepared and loaded on the boats. Had the dive briefings and off we went. Our group was 19 people, we were divided into smaller groups and had our own boats and dive guides.

From the minute we would splash in the water we had some of the most fantastic dives. Each dive was different and if you are a photographer it was a dream vacation spot. There was so many things to see, my mask was in a constant state of flooding because I could not stop smiling. Each day we did a different dive area, unless of course we asked to go back somewhere. Between dives our boat captains and dive staff would have our gear switched over before you even knew it. They served us fresh mango, pineapple and banana’s, accompanied with hot coffee, tea or cool fresh water. Never once did they hurry you on the dives or surface interval. Personally I never did a dive that was under 70 minutes!!!!

tiny crab

firedart

nudi

After a three course gourmet lunch we had several choices….Go for another guided boat dive, Go for a shored dive on the house reef, Get a massage (available at all hours and every day), Head out for local adventures on motor bikes, Lounge by the pool, Have adult refreshments at our private bar….the choices were endless. The nice thing about it was everyone could do exactly what they wanted to do. The staff was so happy and smiling all the time and just wanted to make you happy.

We all would gather around 7 at night to share dinner, again 3 course meal with an amazing deserts. We shared stories of our daily adventures, shared pictures, shared so many laughs. After dinner which was usually finished around 9ish because we couldn’t stop talking we would have again our different choices of things….Go have a drink at the bar, get a massage (offered at any time of day your heart desires) or just relax doing your own thing.

frogfish

Nudi

small shrimp

That was a few of our nights but we also had night dives, specialty dives to see the Manderin fish, a Flora Dive which lights the reef up in a way you can’t imagine. Dive boats to Pescador Island or just doing your own night dive on the house wall reef.

Night Dive Crab

On the last day we were all offered a chance to go dive and snorkel with the Whale Sharks!!!! AMAZING! What a great day! WHALE SHARKS! Need I really say more? We woke up early and had a lovely breakfast, loaded up the vans and off we went. They set our dive gear up and diving we went…..WOW WOW WOW! Came out and were greeted with towels and beverages. Then we got ourselves together and went snorkeling with them…..I have never been much of a snorkeler but this sure changed my mind. They are so big yet so gentle and graceful. One of the best dive experiences I have ever had. When we returned back to shore this time we were met with a bbq lunch, salads and fruit. All our gear was broke down and taken back to dry out for packing in the morning. This place really took care of us. We all piled in vans and head to a waterfall hike. This hike was an easy one and had three different spots with falls. Some of our more adventurous gang jumped in the water, more of us stayed up and watched. On the hike down we enjoyed conversation about our week of adventures and how we were looking forward to the party the resort was having for us that night. We also got to see Monkey’s up in the trees.

Whale Shark

The last night at the resort they sorted out our rides for the airport in the morning. Then we had a very special dinner prepared for us. After our dinner they had a small fun awards ceremony for us. We all got very good laughs out of it…thank goodness divers have such good senses of humor. The had live music and there was dancing until the late hours. What a Magical Dive trip we all had. We came together as just a group of divers, we left as bonded friends. Everyone was sad to say good byes….and on that note we really saw what this did for us and Matt Z. made the choice that this is somewhere that needed to be shared with everyone.

We have booked next year with Magic Island Resort the week of Feb 19-26. Super excited that we are going back there once again because I think so many of our divers will absolutely love this dive trip. We will have another fun filled adventure next year!!

Looking forward to having you join us!!

Amazing Rescue! Feb 28

February 29, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses, Images/by Mary Christensen

It was such a great weekend for a PADI Rescue class. They all did really well on the reviews and written test. Then we made our way to the pool. We went over skills until we had them all down. Lots and lots of learning of all good things. Including self rescue, divers with issues, and or being unconscious above or below water. They all listened intently but mastered their skills.

We then took our skills to the water the next day. We had a nice sunny day and the waters were calm but they all quickly understood the difference doing the skills in the pool and in open water. Current and waves all add in to the mix, I have to say they all handled the changes like pro’s. I am proud of all of them for all the hard work they invested into their diving knowledge!

Newest PADI RESCUE DIVERS……Courtnie, Emma, James and Loretta!!! CONGRATULATIONS!

A special thank you also to our Island Diver’s DMC Matt. He did an awesome job helping with the class!

Dive Instructor: Mary

What a LEAP into the Water! Feb 29

February 29, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

The water was calm, the winds light and the divers excited! Everyone showed up early today for the dive and it gave us an early start. The conditions were perfect for us today to make it to Baby Barge and then to our favorite SEA CAVE.

This adventure was was fantastic today. Baby barge had little current and we dropped in and went to the shark cave. Sadly no sharks today but as we made our way back a couple of our divers found shark teeth in the sand. Way to go guys! We all explored the wreckage of the old barge for a bit. There were turtles on the dives and a few good sized eels.

On our surface interval we just kind of took our time getting to the next stop…we were ahead of schedule. Captain Joe took us on a super Whale Watch. They were breaching all over the place which had everyone super excited.

Sea Cave never lets us down as a dive site. Nice and clear and very little current today. We got in and explored met there by a pair of turtles. They were swimming around us and very curious. It was fantastic! We drifted west outside the cave on our dive. A good part of the dive was we were surrounded by millet butterfly fish and moorish idols. Its always such a special feeling when a school of fish surround and swim with you.

When we were in the water Capt. Joe and Sam had a whale that was tangled in a line and float and were actually able to report and get help for it. What an awesome crew we have and always love our Ocean. That whale had a lucky LEAP day to have such a caring crew.

Another perfect day on the Sea Fox with Island Divers!

Dive sites: Baby Barge, max depth 85 feet, viz 100 feet

Sea Cave, Max depth 50 feet, viz 90 feet

Divers: Chad, Chris, John, Pete, Johnson, Tommy, Matt, Chris, and Alex!

Crew: Captain Joe, Dive Instructor Mary and Boat Crew Samantha.

Saturdays are for Scuba Diving

February 28, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

Saturdays are always great for diving off the Seafox! This was one of those amazing dive days. The weather was beautiful here as we headed out to our first dive site, the LCU! Our first dive was a wreck dive with lots of fun stuff to see. We found a white tip reef shark hanging out underneath the wreck, three eagle rays cruising by the top of the wreck, and lots of cute little nudibranchs hanging on to the side of the wreck. After a 30 minute dive at 85 feet we were thoroughly satisfied with all mother nature had showed us this morning.

After a nice relaxing surface interval we headed over to fantasy reef for our drift dive. The visibility was amazing over at fantasy. We found about a dozen sea turtles swimming around the reef and sleeping under the ledges. We also found a couple large moray eels. After a nice 40 minute dive drifting with the current at around 50 feet we headed back to up to the boat to catch some final sun rays before pulling into the dock. Another amazing day out on the water with some really fun dive buddies! Until next time!

Crew: Captain Joe, Instructor Sarah, Instructor Larry, Crew Kelsey

Water Temperature 75

A Beautiful Day Under the Sea!!!! Feb 25

February 25, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Chelsea McLaughlin

We had some fantastic dives this afternoon at Angler’s Reef and at Koko Craters. It was beautifully sunny out with a light breeze on the surface and clear with a small current underwater. We saw many turtles, eels, and even a nudibranch! and Derek completed their first dives of their Open Water courses, while Baotam finished up his Advanced Open Water Certification. Congratulations divers!

Koko Craters: max depth 41ft

Angler’s Reef: max depth 43ft

Amazing divers: Roz, Derek, Baotam, Steve, Sara, Heidi, Daniel, Jaquy, and Patrick!

Crew: Capt. Brad, Instructors Chelsea and Jim, Divemaster Steven and deckhand Mandy

FANTASY REEF STRIKES AGAIN!! 22 feb

February 24, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

always a spectacular experience diving Fantasy Reef ! this place is truly amazing with its combination of volcanic topography and incredible marine life. chimney swim-throughs, archways, and half archways create a marvelous swimming journey, with colorful hard corals covering the top of the reef. and the marine life is truly spectacular, as you can count on seeing huge green sea turtles, schools of reef fish, whitetip sharks, octopus, eels, and frogfish. first jump was the Landing Craft, where we also saw sharks and eagle rays! great conditions on flat, sunny, hawaiin day. thanks to all, larry

LCU 90 ft 30 min 150 viz

Fantasy Reef 52 ft 50 min 200 viz

Double Wreck, Double Whitetip!

February 23, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

It was a beautiful morning out on the water today! We had a small group of divers on the Seafox eager to blow some bubbles. Our first stop was the Corsair, a single seat fighter plane, that sits in the sand in 107 feet of water. In the plane engine area we were able to find the large Yellow Margin Moray Eel that calls the Corsair home. We also had some fun playing with the garden eels that surround the wreck in the sand. After a short 20 minute dive we headed back up to the boat for our surface interval. We kept entertained during our surface interval by a whale hanging out on the surface not far from the boat!

Our second dive site was the LCU, an upside-down landing craft that sits at 85 feet. We went underneath the wreck first thing which is where we found two white tip reef sharks! We hung out with them for a little and then cruised onto the top of the wreck for a total of a 30 minute dive. The visibility was absolutely beautiful today with 100+ foot visibility at both sites! It was a beautiful day both on and under the water with some awesome divers.

Crew: Captain Joe, Instructor Sarah

Water Temperature: 75

Skimmens! Rabbit Island! Feb 21

February 22, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

This morning was pretty windy but the skies were nice and blue. We had the rare occassion that allowed our boat to go EAST!

There was only a slight current at Skimmen’s and 100+ of viz. There is always so much to see there and this reef is dove so seldom we were lucky. Lots of life on this reef. Fun to explore. Next we loaded up the boat and headed to Rabbit Island. This was an exploratory dive on our part. We dropped and there was sightings of a small hawksbill turtle, several nudi’s, eels but we like it mostly for the interesting rock formations at the bottom. It was so fun to explore this whole site. Lots of ins and outs and things to look at. The whales were singing the whole time making the dive so much more enjoyable.

Met back on the boat with a great lunch, laid out by Kendal and Brandon. We made our way back around the island and back towards the next dive site. This was Never Never Land…..its a really cool drift dive that just goes on and on. The reef is amazing and again one that rarely gets dove. We just kind of took off as a group and explored again. This reef was full of life. We found huge tiger coweries here, octopus, turtles, eels and so much for. The schooling reef fish were off the charts, just surrounding us the whole time.

When we got back to the boat there was fresh pineapple and warm towels!!

This day was also and awesome teaching day. New PADI Drift divers Paul and Mohammad did a great job. Paul completed his PADI AOW class and also his PADI Enriched Air courses! Well Done Gentlemen!!

Skimmen’s Reef: Max Depth 75 feet, viz 100+ Drift Dive

Rabbit Island: Max Depth 60 feet, viz 80 feet, Drift Dive

Never, Never Land: Max Depth 50 feet, viz 100+, Drift Dive

Crew: Captain Kendal, Dive Instructors: Mary and Chelsea, Boat Crew: Brandon

Rocking Rescue Class!!! Feb 20

February 22, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

After completing all the book work and scoring high on the test and hours in the pool really getting the rescue skills down. These divers were ready to take the challenge of the open water parts of the class.

We loaded up on sunny Saturday morning and went out on the dive barge. Bringing unresponsive divers to the surface was a little more difficult in open water than in the pool. John, Taylor and Louis did a great job. Then we went on and had them deal with an unresponsive diver at the surface. Getting them out of gear as they gave rescue breaths back to the boat. Each of them showed their mastery in these skills and this instructor couldn’t be prouder.

We also had some time to do some search patterns under the boat. They all figured out the team work very well and recovered my bag of gold, well gold weight bag anyway!

Very, very proud of all the new PADI Rescue Divers….Great Job Taylor, John and Louis!

Beautiful Day in Paradise!

February 21, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

It was an amazing afternoon out on the water yesterday! The sun was shining and the water was crystal clear! We had a mixed group of Open Water Students, Advanced Open Water Students, and certified divers on the boat as we headed out into Maunalua Bay. The first dive site we went to was Koko Craters. A series of sand craters at 35 feet that is home to many hawaiian green sea turtles! We had quite a few cruise by us during our dive as well as a couple sleepy ones taking naps underneath the ledges. We also found a the tiny little Indian Nudibranch! Such a cutie! With tons of reef fish swimming around us we completed our 40 minute dive and headed back up to the boat. We cruised over to our second dive site, Hawaii Loa! Hawaii Loa is a beautiful reef with large schools of sargent majors and different types of butterfly fish. We spotted a couple moray eels while swimming around the reef and even found an octopus! Overall it was an amazing day out on the water with some great divers! A special shout out to Carolyn for completing her Open Water Course! Welcome to the club Carolyn!