Crystal Clear Visibility (April 15)

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!