Manolo Cabasal

A night under the stars *10*27*2014*

/in /by

On the evening of the 27th, the Sea Fox was boarded by 4 first time night divers: Angie, Mara, Jillian, & Logan. Eager to take the plunge into darkness, the four intrepid adventurers assembled their gear and eagerly waited to arrive at the first dive site: the LCU.

IMG_0187

*The LCU*
87ft – 30min

Descending on the line, the divers were met with a very strong current. After pulling themselves down the line, superman style, the divers spied a 3ft. white tip reef shark under the wreck. Making repeated appearances around the divers, the white tip wasn’t bothered by our presence. Hoping to watch the shark eat another fish, the divers knelt down in the sand and watched the shark elegantly swing around. Needless to say, the shark didn’t eat anything, at least that we didn’t see.

*Angler’s Reef*
46ft – 44min

Angler’s Reef never ceases to amaze. The current was manage able and the clarity was as far as your dive torch could shine. Numerous sleeping parrot fish, squirrel fish, crabs, and a crazy starfish littered the dive site. After some extended exploration the divers delighted in a short blackout session with glittering plankton luminescence.

Congrats to everybody on completing their first night dives. It was a pleasure leading you.

Shout out to the crew: Capt. Kendal, Lil’ Chris, & Dave

Manolo Cabasal

A Laid back afternoon *10*22*2014

/in /by

This afternoon on the Sea Fox we were joined an international cast of first-timers, students, and advanced divers. Surface conditions were glass-like with minimal trade winds and virturally no swell.

20141022_130910 20141022_130939 IMG_5601

The bottom conditions were even better: 90ft visibility and minimal current. As close to a pool as you can get in Hawaii. The dive destinations today were Koko Craters and Angler’s Reef. Tons and tons of creatures came out to play today: Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, a HUGE octopus, blue dragon nudibranch, giant green morays, reef crabs, and pennant monarchs.

IMG_5625 IMG_5602 IMG_5609

Congratulations to Marti on completing her Discover Scuba Diving experience and Alex on completing his first two training dives.

Shout out to the crew: Capt. Joe, Danny, Marnie, Davy, & Manolo

Dive Stats:

Koko Craters & Angler’s Reef
38ft – 46min & 46 ft – 50min

David Sanchez

Studious Tuesday! Oct 21

/in /by

DCIM100GOPRO

The crew of the Sea Fox set out on Tuesday afternoon to begin Matt’s Open Water Certification adventure, finalize Holly’s quest for certification, refresh and welcome back Roger to the undersea world, and to introduce certified Magdalena to the wonders of our shallow reef sites. Robin and Laurie joined us for an afternoon of snorkeling.

Our first site… Turtle Canyon. Both Matt and Holly accompanied me for skills while Roger and Magdalena were escorted around the site by Jessica. The vis was so-so (40 ft) and there was a small surge, but both students came through their skills with flying colors. During a brief dive around the site many fish were observed feeding: Pennant Butterfly, Reef Trigger, Achilles Tang, and the Hawaiian Sergeant to name a few…

After a brief surface interval our divers geared up and the POOL WAS OPEN at back crater (Koko Crater) for more skills and a chance to encounter a sea turtle. Vis improved to about 60 ft, once again both Matt and Holly showed great skills and perfect buoyancy during our dive, and of course on cue in dove a turtle from overhead and sat down right in front of them. A perfect photo op for Holly. Later on in the dive an octopus made an appearance, more fish, and an eel.

A great day of diving for all and a thank you to them for all diving safely and conserving our reef and its inhabitants for future divers… ALOHA!

Lead Dave Sanchez

Support Jessica Fett

Captain Joe

Crew Ashley

Turtle Canyon 40 ft

Koko Crater 37 ft

Manolo Cabasal

Post Hurricane Clarity 10*20*2014

/in /by

Today at Island Divers a mixture of students and certified divers boarded the Sea Fox under a sunny skies and a light breeze. A complete change of pace from the 24 hours of rain courtesy of Hurricane Ana. Anxious to see the conditions under the water, the boat set out to Koko Crater & Angler’s Reef.

Greeted by a mild swell left over from Hurricane Ana, the divers were met with 80 ft visibility and a mild current at both dive sites. The aquatic seemed to carry on like normal. Armed with GoPros and other underwater cameras the divers get up close and personal with several local celebrities: Hawaiian green sea turtles, porcupine fish, trigger fish, 7-11 crabs, massive trumpet fish, an octopus, and a numerous assortment of eels.

224786789_f88d1d051e 10-hawaii-green-sea-turtle-dave-fleetham Snowflake-Eel

Dive Stats:

Koko Craters & Angler’s Reef
40ft – 47min & 46ft – 50min

Congratulations to Alex for completing his PADI Open Water Certification! We wish you good skill as you move on to your Advanced Open Water Diver class!

20141020_160810

Big shout out to the crew: Capt. Joe, Max, & Brad (the new guy)

David Sanchez

Calm before the Storm! Oct 17

/in /by

 

DCIM100GOPRO

Another beautiful day before Tropical Storm Ana makes its presence known on Saturday. We departed with divers Jason and Jonathan, a group of ZX divers, and a few IDH divers and friends. As we tied up to LCU it was noted that a significant Diamond Head current was ripping by the site, so all divers used the line and made their way down to the wreck. 6 white tip sharks were sleeping lazily underneath the ship, an eagle ray flew bye, and an octopus made an appearance! Alot to see for all our divers…

DCIM100GOPRO Jason showing great form

After a 45 minute surface interval Capt Joe parked next to China Wall for a drift dive. Perfect entry by all our divers and we started a calm and relaxing drift… turtles, grouping frog fish, and eels all welcomed the group as we glided bye… all had a great time and thanks to all our diver for diving safely and responsibly…

 

DCIM100GOPRO A trio of frog fish

LCU Depth 89 ft

China Wall Depth 50 ft

Water Temp 77 *f

Mark Savel

Cruising the Shallows 10/10

/in /by

It was a nice afternoon on the Sea Fox today with some wind but great viz and wonderful dives.  We tied up at Koko Craters for the first dive and had fish all over the reef.  There were wrasses and damselfish swimming about us and soldierfish hiding under the ledges. We didn’t have any larger animals but had a nice dive before heading for the next site.

For the second dive we dove Turtle Canyons and it was awesome.  There were tons of reef fish and even a few eels hiding about the reef including a couple large white mouth moreys.  We also found a couple green sea turtles resting on the bottom. We had a great day and great job to all the first time divers today.IMG_5446 IMG_3210 IMG_3214

Whitemouth Moray

Whitemouth Moray

David Sanchez

The Three Amigos!

/in /by

DCIM100GOPRO

Another beautiful day out in the bay! Chris (DSD), Chris (Cert) and I decided to check out Koko Crater as neither had ever dove in Maunaloa Bay before… and the site didn’t let us down! Turtles, turtles everywhere! We started at back crater and were met by 4 turtles, 3 eels, and a host of reef fish… on to Big Buddha and more of the same! The visibility was great, but we had to contend with a bit of current, but both divers dealt with it like champs…

DCIM100GOPRO

Let sleeping turtles lie…

DCIM100GOPRO

Back on the boat and on o Pa’ava… where the fish near the main rock were being their usual feisty selves… especially the Sgt. Majors! Again a bit of a strong Koko Head current so we stayed somewhat close to the boat so we wouldn’t have to fight it coming back. During our search of the area a Taco made an appearance… and then time to head back to the boat.

DCIM100GOPRO

A great day of diving was had by all… thanks for a safe and enjoyable day Chris and Chris…

Koko Crater

Depth 35 ft

Pa’ava

Depth 40 ft

Lead: Dave Sanchez

Capt: Joe Curcio

Crew: Steve

David Sanchez

“Current” events!… Oct 8

/in /by

DCIM100GOPRO

The passengers and crew set out on a beautiful “HUMP” day to explore some wrecks in Maunaloa Bay… Don (beginning his wreck specialty), Angela, John, Jason, Jungug, Lauren, Brad, Michelle, John, Jared, Hollis, Davey (who was awesome as my support staff) and I all looked forward to a great day! We decided to drop in on Baby Barge… where we were met with beautiful visibility but a very strong CURRENT.  Everyone descended safely using the mooring lines and we began our dive. We were met by a lone turtle resting cruising around the barge, Don did an excellent job on  Day 1 of his specialty, and all divers completed a safe and fun dive and returned to the boat.

DCIM100GOPROAngela doing some reef cleanup!

Our second site was just to the east of China Wall where we dropped in on a group of turtles at a turtle cleaning station, then drifted towards the wall. Much to see… Turtles, eels of all shapes and colors, and finally an eagle ray made an appearance just as we started our safety stop. A great ending to a great Wednesday of diving… thanks guys!

DCIM100GOPRO

Baby Barge

80 ft

China wall

51 ft

Lead Dave Sanchez

Asst Davey Granados

Capt Joe Curcio

Crew Dan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Negaard

Circling Sharks – 10/4/2014

/in /by

What an amazing day to be out in the waters of Maunalua Bay! For the morning aboard the Sea Hound, we had Peter and Rick out for fun, Robert and Jesse working on their Advanced Open Water Certifications with their Instructor Juan, and DMC Jarrod was there helping out. At our first dive of the morning, LCU, conditions were fantastic and we found five White Tip Reef Sharks hanging out inside the wreck being their usual mellow selves. Just outside were a pair of baby Spotted Eagle Rays cruising around and a large school of Mackerel Scad. Second drop was a drift at Spitting Caves, a little surgy, but still great conditions. We explored a few caves and drifted along the wall accompanied by a couple Green Sea Turtles, a Stout Moray Eel, and some colorful Squid. It was another beautiful dive to end a memorable morning. Great times with a fun group of Divers, Mahalo to all..

The Shark Circle

Squid

Squid

Rick and Peter

Rick and Peter

Who's Hungry?

Who’s Hungry?

Honu

Honu

Weather: Mostly Sunny, 85 F., Wind Calm, 2 ft. SW Swell
Dive Sites: LCU, Depth 90 ft., Visibility 100 + ft., Mild West Current, Dive Time 30 mi
Spitting Caves, Depth 50 ft., Visibility 80 ft., Surge and West Current, Dive Time 40 min.
Staff: Capt. Kellan, Crew Kelsea, Instructor Matt

David Sanchez

Surgin on Wednesday! October 1

/in /by

blog1a

The excited crew of the Hound set off for adventure on the surgin seas… Tamika (OW3/4), Sina (AOW) , Catalina, Hanna, Sandy, Andrew, Raymond, Lils all ready to test their mettle in the open water. We tied up to Koko Crater and dove down to Little Buddha where the divers were met with a swirling ocean. Tamika and Sina flew through their tests with flying colors while the fun divers dealt with the surge with equal abandon. Lead by Pete K all enjoyed the limited views of turtles and assorted fish. Soon all were back on board and off to Anglers Reef for our next dive.

The visibility was a bit better and we were met by a variety of fish hanging close to the wall. A squid made an appearance and also quite a few Puffer fish swam in formation. All in all a great day of diving and congrats to Tamika for Certifying Open Water and Sina for Certifying Advanced Open Water… Great Job Guys!

Koko Craters

Depth 35 ft

Anglers Reef

Depth 43 ft