Mark Savel

Manta Ray spotted on the New Barge Wreck Dive Site in Oahu

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It was just a perfect day this morning diving off the Sea Fox. We had a smaller group of divers and decided on something a little different today. We headed to a little dove wreck as we have no mooring on it and it is a small area. We dropped in with a bit of a Koko Head current and right away found a turtle resting on the wreck, there were also uluas hiding out under the cover of the wreck.  There is great coral on the site but soon we were off in the current as we drifted to New Barge. There was great fish life all along the area but the biggest thing came along on the safety stop.  As we were hanging on our stop a good sized MANTA RAY came cruising by and stayed for a bit for everyone to get a good look of it. And a big thanks to Bill for the video.

For the second dive we drifted Fantasy Reef and had a great time.  There were a few turtles about the area and reef fish everywhere. There were also a few eels including a large yellow margin morey hiding in the reef. It was an awesome way to start the day and ending the week.

Sarah Moore

Living The Dream

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It was another beautiful day on the water this afternoon! We had a pretty full boat as we headed out to our shallow reef sites to find some turtles. And turtles we did find! The first site we went to was Koko Craters. We dropped down 38 feet into the crater. We found some sea turtles sleeping, as usual, under the ledges. We also found a few large moray eels! We saw both small and large marine animals today as we found turtles and eels but also a few tiny nudibranchs! We swam around with lots of small reef fish such as moorish idols, Sargent majors, butterfly fish, and trumpet fish to name a few. We also saw a pretty big file fish! After 44 minutes of swimming with the fishes we headed back up to the boat to motor over to our second dive site.

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The second dive site we went to was called Turtle Canyons. Our maximum depth on this dive was 33 feet. Turtle canyons is rolling hills of reef so we spent the dive floating just above the reef looking at the coral and fish and morays. We were able to find a scorpion fish today which looks oddly identical to a rock, except for the eyes and mouth! After a relaxing 42 minute dive we ascended back up to the surface to be greeted once again by gravity. I am reminded everyday how awsome my job is. I get to go scuba diving with sea turtles and soak up the Hawaii sun on a boat. I most certainly am living the dream and all my divers were today too!

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Crew: captain Kendal, instructor Sarah, instructor Mary, instructor Matt, crew Ashley

conditions: water temperature 75 degrees Fahrenheit, visibility 70+ feet

 

 

 

Lauren Smith

Don’t kiss the scorpion fish! March 18

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Today was fun in the sun at Island Divers HI! On the 2 tank morning advanced charter we had return vacationers and first time advanced divers.

Our first dive site of choice was Baby Barge. With a maximum depth of 79 feet, we made an easy descent with light current down to the top of the wreck. Below we quickly spotted a scorpion fish and a blue dragon nudibranch.  Visibility was awesome today! Zebra Morays and Lizards fish were also hiding around the wreck today.

The second dive site we picked was a fun reef named Anglers Reef. Down below we found more scorpion fish and a huge tiger cowry! On the ledge of the reef our divers spotted s whitemouth morays and a very large trident trumpet!

Current was very light today and visibility was great, which made an easy swim and exploration for everyone

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W: Bradley (instructor) Joe (captain)

CONDITIONS: Sunny, mid 80’s*F Air, 75*F water, visibility 80+ft

DIVE PROFILES: Baby Barge: 79ft max depth, dive time 43 minutes. Anglers Reef : Max depth 47ft, dive time 50 minutes.

MARINE LIFE: Trident Trumpet, Tiger Cowry, Parrot Fish, Pennant Fish, Nudibranch, Moray Eel & Scorpion Fish!

Larry Hogan

SMILING CAVES !! 15 march

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i think that’s what we should call Sea Cave and Spitting Cave, two of our dive sites on the Portlock – Hanauma Bay wall.  Why? because everyone comes back smiling from those dives – they really are fantastic, spectacular, enthralling dives.  before we hit the wall, we did tie up at Baby Barge, and there were great conditions there, clear blue water, several large turtles, eels, ulua, lots of reef fish, and a cruising eagle ray! very nice, but then onto those world-class sites on the wall.  first we did Spitting cave, as we had to catch the end of the incoming tide, and we timed it perfectly!  clear blue water, and a gentle push guided us all the way around to china walls.  along the way we delved into the canyons and caves, spotting white tip sharks, huge green sea turtles, scorpion fish, and an octopus that (somehow) landed on top of a frogfish. that was amusing!  third jump was another drift, this time Sea Cave – and it was perfect!  great viz inside, with turtles and white tip sharks, and a gentle push towards Hanauma bay after we exited the cave.  a perfect day, lots of smiling divers!  thanks to all for safe diving,  larry, max, joeIMG_0020-imp IMG_0039 IMG_0050

Manolo Cabasal

You’ll be Green with Envy… *3*17*2015*

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…When you see this view from the boat!

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That’s the view from Palea Point, outside of Hanama Bay! Today’s weather was fantastic, as usual. The winds were negligible and the swell was nonexistent allowing for a trip to the Eastern side of Oahu. This morning we were joined by a mixed bag of certified divers and divemaster/instructor candidates from Hawaii Scuba University. Today’s diving agenda consisted of two drift dives at Skimmon’s Reef and Palea Point.

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Skimmon’s Reef (drift)
70ft – 36min

On top of the fantastic weather the current was dead and the visibility was a stellar 100 feet. Skimmons, teeming with pristine coral and reef life, was a sight for sore eyes ( I hadn’t seen the site in a while). Some of the highlights: a giant green moray, a massive octopus, and a huge school of pennant butterflyfish.

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Palea Point (drift)
56ft – 44min

Conditions continued to stay pristine with visibility increasing to over 100ft. The current picked up lightly, but everything continued to remain chill. An often missed dive site, Palea Point yielded bigger schools of fish than Skimmons. Large schools of hawaiian sergeant fish, teardrop butterfly fish, and bluefin trevally littered the dive site. Also spotted were numerous dragon nudibranchs and a massive crown of thorns starfish. You could also hear the song of nearby humpback whales.

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A special SHOUT OUT goes to the crew! Many thanks to Capt. Joe and Imran for making today’s adventure easy.

Larry Hogan

EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE IS REAL. . . 12 march

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so said Pablo Picasso.  He must have been a scuba diver!  not a lot of Cubism down below, but when you scuba dive a dive site like Turtle Canyons, you really feel someone or something has a real imagination!!  the beauty and intricacy of a single coral head is just profound!  the shapes and colors, the living coral and the sea life which lives in and around it is truly phenomenal!  Turtle Canyons is filled with rolling hills, covered with coral, and packed with sea life.  there is so much to find in the macro world there – frogfish, scorpion fish, all types of eels – green, zebra, spotted snake, snowflake, and my fav, the viper moray.  lots of fish – puffers, butterfly, goat, big eye.  just a ton of amazing stuff.  NOW on top of all that we saw a manta ray cruise right by Instructor Dave!  amazing day!  our first dive was over at Koko Craters, and the turtles put on their afternoon show, with goofy looks, and trips for air. congrats to bethanie and sarah on their new OW certification!  thanks to all for safe diving!   larry, dave, joe, ashley

kokos  38 ft  44 min

turtles 40 ft  47 min

 

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Larry Hogan

FLAT AS A PANCAKE !! 9 march

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I love to find those pancake flat peacock flounders that slide around on the sand at Koko Craters. I have seen them range in size from the size of a dinner plate at Maxine’s house (huge) down to the size of a good old american quarter!  great example of evolution and adaptability!  I like pointing them out and watching the diver look up with a puzzled look on their face, “what, what, i don’t see anything!”  then it’s very cool when the flounder slithers along the sandy bottom, blending perfecting, visible only when they move.  amazing ! check out the photo below. So  Kokos was great, mild current and good viz, and we saw at least 10 turtles and some huge moray eels.  2nd jump was over at turtle canyons, which is so fun these days because there are some baby turtles growing up right before our eyes!  cute little guys!  no eagle ray today, but we saw eels, frog fish (with Tim, photo below), octopus, and lots of reef fish!  thanks to all for safe diving,  larry, kendal, mark

 

kokos 38 feet  100 viz

turtles 35 ft     100 viz

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Sarah Moore

Funnest Class You Will Ever Take

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Today was the day to learn how to dive! We had six students on the boat this afternoon all working towards their open water diver certification. There was also a pair of certified divers who came out. It was an amazing day out on the water, the sun was shinning and the water was flat. All of the students did amazing learning about open water scuba diving. The first site we went to today was called Koko Craters. We dropped down to 35 feet and went for a tour to find some fish! We found quite a few turtles hanging out around the dive site today. After a 31 minute dive our students completed all their skills and swam with some turtles so we headed back onto the boat.

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We switched over to new tanks and headed over to Turtle Canyons for our second dive. Here we found some moray eels, lots of butterfly fish, trigger fish, and a blue dragon nudibranch! Our bottom time was 30 minutes and our maximum depth was 40 feet at turtle canyons. After two awesome dives we soaked up some rays and headed back to the shop. The students learned lots today and had fun doing it! Dive on!

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Crew: Captain Neal, Instructor Sarah, Instructor Mary, Instructor Mark

Conditions: Water temp 73, visibility 50+ feet

Larry Hogan

ME TARZAN, YOU TURTLE ! 7 march

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well, i’m not really Tarzan (except occasionally in my dreams), but sometimes when we dive Koko Craters there are so many big green hawaiin sea turtles there, that it’s like Tarzan released a stampede of turtles and we’re swimming for our lives!  fortunately the turtles generally move pretty slow so they are rather easy to avoid.  But such great fun to see!  i love seeing the faces of divers when they see their very first 5 foot, 200 pound turtle cruising right next to them!  in fact, part of my briefing is, hey newbies when you see your first turtle don’t follow him up too high in the water column and end up doing a unintentional buoyant ascent.  but that is how mesmerizing they are to see, especially the first time! divers just follow them anywhere!   our standard joke when we get back on the boat, and divers are talking about the size or how many there were, we say incredulously, “what, you saw a turtle?!’  we laugh and laugh!!  our first dive was actually at Turtle Canyons, and that was fun.  mild current and good viz, loads of reef fish, some big eels, and that solitary huge eagle ray!  great diving today!  thanks to all for safe diving!  larry, max, JP, cap’n joe

 

turtle canyons  35 feet  40 minutes

koko craters 38 feet     40 minutes

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