ISLAND DIVERS HAWAII DIVE REPORTS

The Perfect Oahu Morning

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Weather: Clear sky, light and variable winds

Dive Sites: LCU to Baby Barge drift and Sea Cave to Baboon Nose Drift

Dive Conditions: Moderate current and 100 ft viz

It was a wonderful day on the water off Oahu today. We had light winds and almost glassy surface conditions as we headed out to the Barges for our first dive.  We decided on a Drift over a few of the wrecks with the strength of the current and great conditions. We dropped in on LCU and right away found a frogfish on the wreck. Shortly after we came across a white tip reef shark hiding out under the wreck. We then headed off to New Barge, with whale sound clearly being heard, where there were damsel and butterfly fish along the way and around the next wreck. As we were coming to the end of the dive we drifted over Baby Barge and again had fish life all bout the area.

For the second dive we drifted Sea Cave and again the viz was perfect. There was a turtle resting inside the cave and a few more swimming about outside it in the current. There were also eels all about the area and milletseed butterflyfish following us along the reef. The reefs off of this area are some of the best on Oahu with great coral growth and fish everywhere. The current moved us along at a good pace, so much so that we ended up infront of Hanauma Bay by the end of it. A great day for being out on the water.

Frogfish off LCU

Frogfish off LCU

New Barge

New Barge

Baby Barge

Baby Barge

Back of Sea Cave

Back of Sea Cave

Milletseeds everywhere

Milletseeds everywhere

Young turtle cruising outside Sea Cave

Young turtle cruising outside Sea Cave

Amy Bossler

Dive Report 3/4/14–Corsair and Sea Cave

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Nose with divers

Navy F4 Corsair–Nose with divers

Weather Conditions: NE Trade Winds 15 knts, seas 1-3 ft, Sunny

Dive Sites: Corsair, Sea Cave

Diving Conditions: Light current, 100 ft. vis

Aloha! Thanks for joining Island Divers for a great morning of diving.  Captain Kendall  led us out to the beautiful Navy F4 Corsair wreck.  Once we were moored up, we headed down the 108′ to the Corsair and explored the wreck’s structure, eels, octopus, and soldier fish.  Swimming over the sand we watched the garden eels dancing in the sea currents.  After :20 we ascended, completed our safety stop, and prepared for our next dive.

For the second dive we dropped in Sea Cave for a drift.  We swam around the perimeter of the cave and checked out the resident school of needlefish, gold lace nudibranchs, white margin nudibranchs, hairy-legged hermit crabs, and a large green sea turtle.  After :20 in the cave we headed east towards Hanauma Bay! We saw tons of schooling reef fish: sergeants, damsels,and moorish idols. We were greeted by more Hawaiian green sea turtles and located one nice sized Frog fish.  Overall, great day of diving!  Thanks again for choosing to dive with IDH!  Until next time, dive easy!

Aloha,

Amy

DCIM100GOPRO DCIM100GOPRO DCIM100GOPRO

Kendal Vercoe

DIVE REPORT- Maunalua Bay Diving at its Best

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Weather Conditions: NE Trade Winds 15 knts, seas 1-3 ft, Sunny

Dive Sites: LCU, Fantasea Reef

Diving Conditions: Light current, 100 ft. vis

After watching the whales on the ride out to LCU with Capt. Joe and crew members Max and Megan, divers Ponje, Alex, Ryan, Mayuki, Drew, Austin and I descended down 90 feet to LCU and explored the wreck’s cavernous underside (technically the top… it’s upside-down). Swimming amongst the teaming schools of goatfish we came upon a friendly octopus, and later in the dive got to watch some eagle rays as they passed the wreck on their way west. After some farewell swim throughs we ascended and prepared for our next dive.

For the second dive we dropped onto Fantasea Reef for a drift, and immediately were overrun by giant Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles. After watching some yellowtail coris flip over rocks hunting for brittle stars and taking pictures of the nudibranchs we came across another, larger octopus who was very grabby, and got to stare down some yellowmargin and whitespotted moray eels. Towards the end of the dive we were also visited by a massive ulua as he stalked by the eastern end of the site to investigate the streams of bubbles coming from our group. Good times in Maunalua Bay!

 

MAX ATTACKS!

MAX ATTACKS!

Changing Color Turtle 8 Coral Community Reach Out Can I help you? Preparing for the drop Tickling Tacos Under LCU

on the ride out

 

DIVE REPORT 03/02/2014

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Weather Conditions: Overcast, showers, light and variable winds

Dive Sties: LCU, Skimmins Reef, Sea Cave

Dive Conditions: Clear, calm waters, 80-100 ft viz

It was a beautiful day out on the waters of southeast Oahu today even with a little rain and cloudy skies. Maxine, Darrell,  and I had a great group of divers this morning on the 3 tank trip as we left the dock with light, variable winds and little surf. We headed for the LCU for the first dive with crystal clear water and light current on the bottom. There were schools of goatfish around the site as well as a large red frogfish haning out near the mooring. We also had a few spotted eagle rays swimming around the wreck.

For the second dive we drifted Skimmins Reef outside the Sandys/ Blowhole area of Oahu. We had fish everywhere with large schools of pennant butterflyfish and milletseed butterflyfish all about the reef. There were also a few eels about and even a turtle resting on the bottom.

For the last dive We drifted Sea Cave and had a great dive. The water was clear and calm and we had loud whale song throughout the dive.  We had a few turtles about and lots of fish life. There were a few more eels about and nudibranches all around the reef.

Sea Cave drift

Sea Cave drift

Skimmins Reef

Skimmins Reef

Frogfish @ LCU

Frogfish @ LCU

Yellow stripe goatfish @ LCU

Yellow stripe goatfish @ LCU

Dive Report 03/01/2014

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Weather conditions : Little south Wind, slightly cloudy
Dive Sites: Corsair, and Keanu Reef
Dive Conditions: Koko Head Current, 80 ft visibility
Marine life observed: Octopus, Sea stars, Garden eels
Days event: We departed on 8:30 Maxine and David were the Instructors on Board Captain Joe and the Crew was Kelsey we got to the Corsair the weather was rough when we entered the water but coming back up the weather completely changed turned into a beautiful sunny calm day. Where we drift dive at Keanu and arrived back at the dock at 11:30

Kelsey and Krystan Rost

Kelsey and Krystan Rost

Giant Strides at Keanu Reef

Giant Strides at Keanu Reef

Nose with divers

Nose with divers

Corsair - Aerial View

Corsair – Aerial View

DIVE REPORT – Maui – Lanai – Molokai Wrap Up

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Sunrise over Lahaina.

Sunrise over Lahaina.

All aboard.

ALL ABOARD

 

20140225_142458

Lunchtime!

Frogfish

Frogfish

Bow

Carthaginian bow

Carthaginian stern

Carthaginian stern

Carthaginian sideview

Carthaginian sideview

Carthaginian porthole

Carthaginian porthole

Purple star

Purple star

Floating Island

Floating Island

We left Oahu at 4pm Monday in near perfect conditions, ran into a little weather on the way but were safely moored in Lahaina by midnight. On the first day we dove the Carthaginian (Video Above) and both Cathedrals in Lanai. On the 3rd dive of the day a Manta Ray glided by the bow while we were gearing up. A few lucky dives got to see it in the water. We were treated to a seamlessly endless show of Humpbacks all day.

On day 2 we set out for Molokai and the impressive sea cliffs. Knocked out three solid dives before it got nautical. Were were a little late getting back (9pm), but the trip was another big success.

Thanks to everyone who attended or contributed. If you got a picture of my Barracuda or Mahi Mahi, please send it!

Dive Report – Inter Island Day 2

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Molokai

Molokai

Enroute Molokai for Hammerhead dive.

Dive Report – Inter Island Trip Day 1

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Whale show between dives.

Heading out to dive the Cartheginian off Maui, and Cathedrals off Lanai.

All aboard.

All aboard.

20140225_142458

Lunchtime!

 

Captain Joe

Dive Report 2/23/14

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Weather conditions: Light trades, Sunny, Calm Seas
Dive sites: Corsair – Spitting Cave – Sea Cave
Dive conditions: :Light Koko Head current, 60ft vis, water temp 76 degrees
Marine life observed: Turtles, White Tip Reef Sharks, Sergeant Majors, Viper Moray Eels, Octopus, Frogfish
We had 11 divers in near perfect conditions.

The Corsair was first, we saw a number of Humpbacks, and stopped for about 10 minutes to watch them breach.
At Spitting Cave and Sea Cave were enjoyed with minimal current and the beautiful Hawaiian humpback whale song.

SEA FOX THREE TANKER
Captain – Joe, Dive Staff –  Larry & Maxine, Crew – Dene.

Humpback Whale Video

Photos by Larry Hogan

Sea Cave

Sea Cave

Corsair

Corsair

Frog Fish

Frog Fish

Starfish

Starfish

Maxine was amazing getting the camera up so fast to catch this series
double humpback whale breach
double humpback whale breach

Epic Whale Watching Trip on Oahu

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We run whale watching trips on every day except Tuesday and Thursday. We leave at 4:30pm and almost always see whales, in fact we haven’t been skunked yet this year. However, some whale watching trips are good, and some are GREAT. Whale watching was a little slow on this trip, but in the distance we spotted some spouts, and as we were motoring nearer in the direction that the whole boat was watching, we say this. A triple breach. I’ve be doing this for years and I’ve seen a couple double breaches in the past, but this was a first. A great trip on Maunalua Bay, in Hawaii Kai, Oahu. Thanks whales, and way to go Maxine for getting the shot!