Marine debris rapid response team
Matt Zimmerman

Marine Debris Rapid Response Team

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Marine Debris Rapid Response Team makes its debut

Marine debris rapid response teamOceans Defenders Alliance (ODA) and Island Divers Hawaii have teamed up to form the Rapid Response team.  These partners, while a team of dedicated volunteers, have been doing cleanups in Maunalua Bay since 2017.  The Rapid Response team is new.  The idea comes from the occasional drifting net that is observed during the daily Island Divers boat charters. These things are marine life killers.  We are removing them!

How it works

Basically, Island Divers (or anyone really), reports a new to team leaders Ken Staples or Glenn Roberts and Island Divers finds a captain for one of our dive boats.  The time frame is short as these babies are often time on the move.  Ken and Glenn make some calls to organize a group of volunteers and the boat gets underway.  Ocean Defenders Alliance and Island Divers Hawaii team up to defray the boat operating costs.  Thank you ODA financial supporters!

Recovering the ghost net in Maunalua Bay

ghost net in Maunalua BayIn this case the net was spotted on the morning charter from Island Divers.  Bonus, it was snagged on the bottom so we were fairly confident that it would be there at the end of the day.  Captain Tim grabbed the GPS coordinates and put the team into action.  It being a holiday week and it being the first time, there were limited folks available, but the net wasn’t too huge for a small team.  The boat was ready to go just before sunset and the divers were equipped to dive at night.  That ended up being a good thing as it definitely ended up being at least part night dive.  Here is a link to the rapid response team entering the water and seeing the underwater portion of the debris for the first time.

By the time the net was recovered it was fully dark and the boat made it way back in. Island Divers Hawaii has made some initial contacts with state representatives regarding disposal of the nets.  There is rumor of a grad student that is actually studying them.  Hope to get that contact soon.  Reaching out at 4:30pm on a holiday week didn’t work to well this time.

All in all it was a successful outing.

Monthly marine debris cleanups

Want to get involved?  We have been doing monthly single dive cleanups along the popular fishing spots along the Portlock wall since 2017.  These are somewhat challenging dives as they involve drift diving in currents from the boat, handling of lead weights that effect buoyancy, and using lift bags to float debris.  Lead fishing weight, abandoned fishing line, and some trash is the usual haul.  To participate, you need a rescue diver certification from a recognized training agency and we ask for a $10 donation to Ocean Defenders Alliance (the majority of cost is covered by major ODA donors).  Check here for the schedule.

 

Matt Zimmerman

Oahu Scuba Diving – Baby Barge and Turtle Canyons Drift Dive

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Oahu Scuba Diving drift diving the Baby Barge and Turtle Canyons

In this post COVID-19 world Oahu Scuba Diving goes on.  Today I had some friends from Texas join us for their first of 4 days of diving.  Their story about getting here was good to hear.  They had filled out there “hawaii safe travels” Hawaii travels form prior to getting on the plane and got their negative covid test results.  Once they got to Oahu Hawaii they showed their QR codes on the app and were delayed only 5 minutes at the airport.  It is good to hear that visiting Hawaii isn’t that hard.  So this Oahu Scuba Diving is for them and our other guests, but it for the rest of you too.  Because we are open and doing some awesome Oahu Scuba Diving!

Starting the Day

We showed up at the shop for the advanced wreck and drift dive about 7:15am, a bit early as Terry and Cody needed to size rental gear for the boat charter.  After getting on board captain Tim and crew gave us our boat diving safety briefing and we got underway at 8am.  The day started out pretty dang cool, we got a light rain and a double rainbow coming out from under the bridge.  The wind was pretty standard for Hawaii, about 10-15 knots out of the NE, with swells about 1-3ft.  After a brief discussion on what Oahu scuba diving sites people were interested in, we decided to go for the Baby Barge dive site, as it is one of the shallower wrecks so you get a little more bottom time.  After a dive briefing in route and then about a 25 minute boat ride to the Baby Barge we were ready to dive.  Didn’t spot any whales yet, even though we are moving into whale season.

 

 

The Baby Barge

baby barge bowbaby barge sternThe Baby Barge is one of the smaller barges that was sunk in the 80’s for an artificial reef.   It has definitely come apart over the last 20 years, but it lies along a really nice reef ledge, so it is a great dive site.  After a current check Kevin, instructor of the day, told us that the current was moving toward the new barge.  Since we had only 5 guests and 3 instructors on board (2 fun diving) we decided to split up into small groups and do the first dive as a drift dive as well, in the direction of the New Barge.  Our group ended up a little low on air, so we didn’t hit the New Barge but hung a right and drifted over rock piles.  Rock piles isn’t found on the dive site list as there is no mooring there, but basically it is a large collection of Z blocks made of concrete that were also sunk as artificial reef.  We had a great dive.  Visibility was about 100ft.  We had an epic turtle encounter right up close and covered a lot of area.  We also passed by the memorial stone for Larry Hogan, who passed away in his bed some years back.

Right at the end of the dive while we were doing the safety stop we got to watch a Hawaiian stingray go by underneath us.  Now this is not a big deal in the rest of the world, but the Hawaiian on is rare and we don’t see them very often.  This was a small one and sometimes they get huge, like 5′ across huge.  hawaiian stingray

Drifting Turtle Canyons

Both groups surfaced at the same time after the Baby Barge drift and there was a delay picking up the first group (my reel unspooled), so a couple people were feeling it a bit by the time they got picked up.  We headed to Turtle Canyons which is a highly under rated drift dive in my opinion.  With 30′ average depth you get great bottom time. It is protected from the wind from the most part so it is not too choppy there as well.  Viz was probably only 50′ here, but we saw some great sea life.  The best part was the 67 minute bottom time.  Cody found an octopus too, but it was shy and we really did not get any good pics.

A big thank you

Thank you to everyone that is coming out diving with us these days.  We understand the getting to Hawaii can be a bit more complicated that it used to be, so it means even more when you choose to dive with us.  And thank you to Terry and Cody, who got the owner in the water for the first time since the Palau Trip in January!  It is good to get wet and remember why we do it!  Here’s to a better 2021!