April 2016 - Island Divers Hawaii

Lots of Turtles, Lots of Fun

April 30, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

This afternoon was a great day both out on the water and underneath. We had a few students on the boat this afternoon finishing up their open water course and a group of certified divers as well. The first dive site we went to was Koko Craters where the turtles were out and swimming around. We also saw a few moray eels hiding in the reef. After a lovely 45 minute dive we headed over to our second site, Turtle Canyons. We were able to see a couple more turtles at the second site too today. There was also a spotted eagle ray cruising around the reef! My favorite fish, the porcupine fish, came by to say hello. We also found a devil scorpion fish and an octopus. A great dive with lots of sea life to check out. A special congratulations to Sean and Garret for finishing their Open Water course! Welcome to the club!

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

Not Your Typical Afternoon

April 29, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Sarah Moore

Today was a gorgeous day out on the water, the sun was shining and the water was refreshing! We had small group of certified divers on the boat this afternoon all ready to spend some time below the surface. For the first dive we headed over to our finger reef, Turtle Canyons. With a maximum depth of 40 feet there is lots of marine life to see. We found a giant helmet conch, an octopus, quite a few moray eels, one who appeared to be in an altercation with said octopus and also appeared to be winning! A great big porcupine fish decided to swim with us for about 5 minutes of the dive as well! We were also able to find the beautiful but very small gold lace nudibranch. After a fun 45 minute dive we headed back onto the lovely seafox to make our way to the second dive site. For our second dive we went out to Fantasy Reef, an excellent reef full of fun critters. The maximum depth at this site is 50 feet. Here we were able to swim with lots of turtles, I lost count after 5. We also found a baby white tip reef shark underneath one of the ledges! There were again lots of moray eels and another octopus, these ones appeared to be getting along though. We also saw quite a few blue dragon nudibranches. It was an amazing 40 minute dive on a beautiful reef that we don’t often get to dive in the afternoon. It was a fun day with fun divers!

Crew: Captain Joe, Instructor Sarah, Instructor Jim, Crew Maddie
Conditions: Visibility 30-60 feet, water temperature 76 degrees

Dolphins on the Corsair! April 27th

April 27, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Chelsea McLaughlin

The water was smooth and the winds were very light as we started out this morning. Josh really really wanted to dive the Corsair, so we headed out to the small plane wreck in Mauna Loa Bay. Visibility was well over 100ft (we could see the wreck sitting at 107ft clearly from the surface!) and there was hardly any current!! We descended through schools of pennant butterflyfish and goatfish to reach the wreck. Once down there, garden eels were poking their bodies out of their homes and swaying in the crystal clear water. We could hear dolphins nearby, but couldn’t see them. was the most enjoyable dive on the Corsair that I’ve ever had. On the way up, while finishing up their safety stop, Kevin and a few of his divers saw the small pod of three dolphins swimming gracefully towards the plane.

Or next dive was Fantasy Reef. Current was minimal, so we moored up. Once again, visibility was beautiful. We saw so many turtles right off the bat! A few were gliding along, while others were getting cleaned. We went through a few swim-throughs in the reef and had an octopus waiting for us at the end of one of them! Eels slithered about, searching for a mid-day snack. We even saw a small white-tip reef shark hiding out in a cave!

Kevin and I had a great time diving with everybody today in near-perfect conditions! A big congratulations to Miche who finished up her Advanced Open Water, Nitrox, and Fish ID certifications today! Can’t wait to see you all again!

Corsair: max depth 107ft

Fantasy Reef: max depth 56ft

Awesome divers: Miche, John, Josh, Mike H., Heather, Emilie, Mike N, Shane, Claire, Dustin, our fantastic divemaster candidate Dave, and our great instructors-to-be Karl, Alex and Vincent!

Amazing staff: Capt. Joe, Instructors Chelsea and Kevin 🙂

BEST DIVE IN 52 YEARS OF DIVING !!! 26 april

April 27, 2016/in Dive Reports, Uncategorized/by Larry Hogan

that is what John said to me after out second dive of the day! At the age of 70, he has been an avid diver since his high school days, so he knows what he is talking about! And that dive was a site we call SPITTING CAVE, so named after a cave at the surface that spits out water after being hit by the right wave. And he has an undeniable point, as this dive site has so much to offer! marine life runs the spectrum from large to small, humpback whales (nov – march) to blue dragon nudibranchs. as well as sharks, seals, turtles, octopus, shoals of reef fish, eagle rays, frog fish. . . ok, you get the picture. Oh, and don’t forget the spectacular volcanic topography – canyons, caves, soft lava rock, shaped by centuries of strong currents. i have been around the world diving, and it is one of my favorite dives also! thanks to all for safe diving, larry, courtnie, and captain matt

Koko craters 38 ft 43 min 120 viz

Spitting cave 50 ft 47 min 150 viz

Baby Barge and Fantasy Drift, What a day! 4/26

April 26, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

The tradewinds were blowing slightly keeping the day nice and comfortable. The seas had a little chop but nothing our seasoned group of divers couldn’t handle. Baby barge had a slight current today but it was manageable. We had so much fun exploring the wreck, making our way to the shark cave and then taking a quick look for shark teeth in the sand. Most people came back with a couple of them. The turtles were really out today, swimming all about us. Got to see a couple of big moray eels also. It was a super dive and we all had lots of fun.

Fantasy reef is such a nice second site to dive. We did a nice slow drift, making it through the chimney, then to the swim thru. At least a dozen different turtles there today. Sometimes it is so amazing to do a rotation in the water and see turtles every way you look. They really love this site and it’s one of the reason we love to go there. We have a shark that we have been seeing quite a bit on our sites and today we got to see her pretty up close. She finds a place to rest, and she is almost ready to have her pups. She is such a fatty now, hard to believe she can still swim around. We made our drift all the way to “Larry’s Ledge”. Another smaller reef, that has some nice relief.

Awesome Divers: Jennifer, Jeff, John, Brandy, Beth, Stephanie, Erik, Ben, Mike and Shane!

Amazing Staff: Captain Matt N., Dive Instructors Mary and Sarah, and boat Crew Marisa!

Dive Sites: Baby Barge, max depth 85 feet, viz 100+, Wreck, and Fantasy Reef, max depth 55 feet, viz 100+ Drift

Thank you all for joining us today and making this a fantastic dive day for all!!!

Earth Day Under the Sea!

April 22, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Chelsea McLaughlin

Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystem on Earth, with more species calling them home than the rainforest! Earth Day was the perfect day to set out and explore these fantastic rainforests of the sea. We had a great variety of divers and courses on the boat this afternoon. Winds were light and seas were relatively flat,making for excellent underwater conditions. Heath, Conner, and Colby tried diving for the very first time and did wonderfully! Meanwhile, Silvia finished up her Advanced Open Water and Justin and Lauren joined the wonderful world of SCUBA and became Open Water certified! Congratulations!

Our first dive today was at Koko Craters (max depth of 40ft). There was a slight current and a bit of a surge underwater. Right off the bat, we found an octopus hanging out right by the mooring, setting us up for a fantastic dive! Many Hawaiian Honu (green sea turtles) were lounging under the craters’ ledges, while others were getting cleaned as they hovered in the water. We saw several small eels slithering along the edges of the craters and one large moray hanging out in his hole in the side of the crater. As we made our way back to the boat, we watched a large octopus change both color and texture (a beautiful display of camouflage) to try to hide from us. We also saw a small nudibranch hidden on a rock in the middle of a school of blue striped and yellow long-nosed butterfly fish; orange saddle wrasses; and sergeant majors.

The second location we visited was Turtle Canyons (max depth of 40ft). We found more octopus, a few more nudibranchs, and a large school of gold-ring surgeonfish. Eels were nestled in the reef and a turtle was dozing under a ledge. Silvia found a helmet conch munching on a sea urchin for lunch. The coral was very bright and colorful as explored the inner reef.

While being so amazing and diverse, coral reefs are also one of the most threatened ecosystems on our planet. Despite looking like rock, corals are actually living organisms and are very fragile. They face a multitude of threats with the most serious stemming from climate change (ocean acidification, warming oceans, and coral bleaching) and humans (overfishing and pollution). As divers, we’re in the unique position of being able to help combat these issues and being able to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Please don’t touch the reef, even if you’re wearing gloves. Corals are very sensitive and die extremely easily. Master your buoyancy and learn more about the marine environment with us. Don’t leave any debris at the bottom of the ocean and participate in clean-ups when you’re able to. A lot of trash goes unseen because it’s on the ocean floor. We want to keep enjoying these amazing reefs.

Take only photographs and leave only bubbles! The Earth will thank you! Happy Earth Day!! 🙂

Amazing divers: Heath, Conner, Colby, Justin, Lauren, Silvia, Ylenia, Esmeralyn, and divemaster candidate Dave!

Amazing Staff: Capt. Joe; Instructors Chelsea, Tommy, and Sarah!

Splish Splash Afternoon Fox

April 21, 2016/in Uncategorized/by Kevin Cloud

What a great day for your first time diving in the vast Pacific, so I want to take this time to applaud Jackie on her first time going under the blue and thank you choosing us to help you get there. And hey, lets not forget Justin and Edward on successfully completing their first open water dives 1/2, only 2 more then you’ll be one of the many people who enjoy the big o blue.

Today’s dive sites were Koko Craters: its depth was 37 feet, visibility was 50-60 feet with no current.Turtle Canyon: it’s depth is 40 feet,visibility was 40-50 feet with a slight current, however there was a huge gathering of Achilles Tangs, rather a enjoyable and random sight to see.

Bucketlist!, An Engagement!, and a 21st Birthday at 107 Feet! 4/18

April 18, 2016/in Dive Reports/by Mary Christensen

This was an EPIC day on the Sea Fox. The sun was peeking through the clouds, the wind was blowing and the Bucketlist request from Greg was the beautiful Corsair. It was a little bumpy getting there but everyone was super excited. Greg and Christy have been to the island three times, yes, three times to do the Corsair wreck. We had a good current but everyone followed the rope system down and had a great dive.

Corsair, Max depth 107, viz 150+

Nicole went to the airplane thinking this was just another dive….boy did Aaron have something planned for her. He was pretty sneaky and while Nicole was planning the trip with Mary at Island divers, Aaron was planning the proposal!! We made it down the line and he pulled out the slate. She said YES!!

Yep that just happened!!

Newly Engaged!

Alexa was celebrating her 21st birthday at the Corsair with her Sister and Brother in Law. Everytime a checked on them they seemed to be really enjoying the dive!

It was still a little bumpy on the boat but everyone was a chatter about what they saw, what happened and how excited they were. We laughed a lot and told some pretty corny jokes to pass the time. Our next dive was at Spitting Caves, max depth 50 feet, viz kind of varied on this from 50 feet to 80 feet. Everything I talked about in the brief we ended up seeing. It was pretty amazing. Shark, two frog fish in different spots, 3 free swimming octopus and about 6 turtles. Not to mention the uncountable reef fish and eels. It was such a nice relaxing dive we made it last for awhile. It was such a relaxing dive, I am not sure anyone really wanted it to end.

Capt. Matt Z. and Crew Sam had fresh pineapple for us on the boat and hot towels to freshen up with. This always makes the day even better! Today was one of those days that makes us happy to do what we do. Many Happy Happy People on the boat all making a special memory.

Awesome Divers: Nicole, Aaron, Christy, Greg, Juan, Ariel, Alexa and DMC Dave!

Dive Sites: Corsair, max depth 107, viz 150+, wreck. Spitting caves, Max depth 50, viz 80ish, drift.

Amazing Crew: Captain Matt Z., Dive Instructor Mary, Boat Crew Sam.

Crystal Clear Visibility (April 15)

April 15, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Chelsea McLaughlin

We set out this morning with a small group of divers bound for Baby Barge. The wind and seas had calmed down and it was a smooth ride out. Robert G and Clinton decided to give Nitrox a try today, which extends bottom time, shortens surface intervals, and your body absorbs less nitrogen. It even makes divers feel less sluggish after the dive! When we arrived at the wreck, we could see it from the surface! Visibility was absolutely spectacular. As we descended, we watched turtles cruise along the reef and settle themselves on the wreck. Today, we saw a few white-mouth morays poking out of their hiding places. Instead of a white-tip reef shark in the Shark Cave, we stumbled upon several large Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles sleeping in there. The current began to pick up as we made our way back to the wreck over the reef. Baby Barge was being swarmed with turtles when we got back. Three were sitting in the sand off the wreck being cleaned, while several others explored the wreck with us.

Our drift dive site today was Spitting Caves. Once again, visibility was stunning. As we entered the water, we descended through a school of black and white butterflyfish. Once we reached the wall, we saw several green sea turtles cruise by. We quickly spotted a scorpionfish completely camouflaged on a ledge. Later on, an octopus made his way along the wall. There were so many little damselfish out and about. As we continued our drift, we encountered two more octopus wedged into a crevice along the wall. They were changing colors right before our eyes! There were no sharks in the A-cave (but there were so many sweeper fish and soldierfish hiding in the dark), but we did find a white-tip reef shark in another smaller cave. Right before we headed out for our safety stop, we found another octopus (our fourth) and a second scorpionfish! The visibility was so spectacular today which made the dives absolutely incredible!

Things That Go Bump in the Night…

April 15, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Chelsea McLaughlin

We had two amazing night dives last night! It was still a little choppy on the surface as it had been for the last few days, but the wind was dying down. We set out at dusk for our first dive at Fantasy Reef! There was minimal current, so we could explore the entire reef at ease. While some reef fish were getting ready to sleep, others were out and about starting their nightly hunt. We ran into numerous large moray eels that were not hiding in the reef. The best sight of the night had to be three white-tip reef sharks hanging out in a cave with a giant moray bobbing next to them. Fantasy Reef also showed us several octopus roaming the reef, several tiger sea cucumbers moving about, and some very large nudibranchs.

Our next dive was at Angler’s Reef, where there was no current! As we cruised along the ledge, we saw a large variety of crabs and several small shrimp. A large moray cruised the ledge looking for dinner. Within all the crevices of Angler’s Reef many parrotfish, surgeonfish, and damselfish were calling it a night. They had nestled themselves in the little nook and crannies to sleep and hide from potential predators. Melissa and Silvia were completing the night dive portion of their Advanced Open Water, so we spent a few minutes sitting in the dark watching the bioluminescent plankton glow as we moved in the water. We had two great dives and several accomplishments: Larry started his Night Diver Specialty, Silvia made it half-way through her Advanced Open Water certification, and Melissa was an Advanced diver by the end of the night! Awesome job to all our divers!

Fantasy Reef: max depth 55ft

Angler’s Reef: max depth 46ft

Awesome divers: Melissa, Silvia, Thea, Brad, Ben G, Allison, Courtnie, Jeremy, Larry, Ben J, Mark, Brian, Brittney, Donald, Daniel, and John.

Amazing staff: Capt. Kendal; Instructors Chelsea and Matt