in the last week i have been lucky enough to find a juvenile peacock flounder on two separate dives.  today was one! they are the size of a quarter and blend so perfectly with the sand that it is a rare treat to spot one (check the photo above!).  other masters of camouflage such as rock fish and frog fish cannot hold a candle to the hiding power of these flounders! nice day today, with the big swell still lingering, but good viz and sunny skies.  baby barge offered a strong current along with a large hawaiin day octopus, multiple turtles, as well as sharks and loads of reef fish!  locals sam and roshel, david and crystal, joined me along with dave’s mom Klare , tyler, and Per from Denmark.  all good divers!  2nd jump was a drift of spitting cave, and we had a blast,  despite the mild surge from the swell!  so much to see out there, awesome walls, canyons, and caves, as well as 3 frogfish, multiple turtles, more sharks, scorpion fish, plus large schools of various reef fish!  thanks to all for safe diving.  Larry, joe, kelsea, max

baby barge – 80 feet, 35 minutes

spitting cave – 50 feet, 50 minutes

 

Despite the rainy morning that we had, the weather was nice when it came time for our afternoon dives. We were off to a bit of a late start but we didn’t let that stop us from having a lot of fun aboard the Sea Fox this afternoon. Once we had our briefings, we were ready to dive into some warm waters and check out the bay. We had a bit of a swell going on at the surface and today it carried down to the bottom of our first site, Koko Crater.

    

We had rather small groups today and had the chance to hang around the bottom for a rather long time today. All of the divers were experienced which made for a relaxing afternoon. We check out all of the overhangs that were filled with eels and even came across a large helmet conch!

     

A lot of the fish were out and about along the reef edges and were moving along with the swells in unison. The sand was a being stirred around a bit but that didn’t stop us from coming across a lot of really neat things under the waves.

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Over at our second site, Angler’s Reef, we dropped down on much calmer waters which made the visibility a bit better then our first site. The surge was still very much present but divers were awesome with their buoyancy and handled it like professionals. It was really a lot of fun to see in all the little holes to discover what we could along the wall.

    

There are so many different species of fish that inhabit this particular site that it had become one of my favorite to dive in Maunalua bay. Each of these types of fish have very different aspects to their way of life that makes each and everyone of them unique. Its really enjoyable to see them in their natural habitat and understand what roles they each play in the ecosystem.

    

We got to see some of the wildlife up close and personal and it was a lot of fun to explore with this group of divers. Many of which have been diving recently or those who were a bit rusty didn’t really clash, but instead we had a great time checking our the wall this afternoon.

   

Thanks so much to everyone who came out diving with us this afternoon aboard the Sea Fox! We had sunny skies and wonderful weather and a great group of divers to make a fantastic afternoon of diving!

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CREW: Marnie (instructor) Larry (instructor) Manolo (instructor) Steve (crew) Kendal (captain)

WEATHER CONDTIONS: Light rain, Moderate Breeze, 84*F, Moderate SW current, Strong surge

DIVE PROFILES: Koko Crater: Bottom time 36min, Max depth 40ft, 81*F water temp, 60ft visibility

Anglers Reef: Bottom time 38min, max depth 46ft, 81*F water temp, 80ft visibility

MARINE LIFE OBSERVED: slipper lobster, pencil urchins, trumpetfish, wrasse, nudibranch, helmet crab, green sea turtle

 

There was a strong current out there today but we had an awesome group of certified and first time divers that were not deterred by the conditions!

 

We saw an octopus at Anglers and got up close and personal with a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles at KoKo Crater!

Our staff Jessie, Dave, Marnie, Kendal, Brent and Manolo thank all for making our day so wonderful!

Yet another great day for diving on the island of Oahu. Everett and I (Marnie) geared up the boat for an awesome three tank dive off the southern coastline of Oahu. With 13 divers on the boat, we had the ability to see a lot of the reefs here on the island. At our first site, LCU shipwreck, we dropped down into some rather strong currents, but none the less, had a fantastic dive at 88ft.

Aboard the sea Fox, we had an advanced student who required a few skills to compete his dives. Under close supervision of the staff, he was very well prepared to handle the conditions that the ocean gave us. He was thrilled and so pumped to complete his first wreck dive!

We were even lucky enough to spot a white tipped reef shark under the deck of the LCU! He was just crusing around, which gave the divers a first hand experience with one of the oceans most profound creatures.

We surfaced after 36 minutes and again boarded the Sea Fox to head to our next dive site. We enjoyed a light snack and tea while enjoying the summer sun.

At our second dive site, the YO257 shipwreck, we encountered a slight current and dropped down to see some really cool features of Waikiki’s most famous shipwreck. There were schools of fish and turtles covering the deck and divers got to enjoy some swim-through parts of the ship.

We spent some time checking out both the YO257 and the San Pedro shipwrecks (which for those who don’t know, are located close enough to each other that you can see both in one dive) at a max depth of about 98 ft. Once we hit our deco time or remaining air time, divers made their way back aboard the Sea Fox once again and enjoyed a nice lunch as we made our way to our final dive site.

After our surface interval, we made our way back into Maunalua Bay and headed over to Spitting Caves which is one of my favorite sites here on Oahu.

There is so much to see and potentially see at this site that it makes it a rather popular dive on the island. The current was definatly ripping around the wall which made it rather easy for the divers to navigate the site.

Once we were done diving around the wall, we sent up our surface marker buoy and the Sea Fox came and picked us up. It was such an easy way to board the boat and a fantastic way to end an awesome Sunday of diving.

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CREW: Marnie (instructor) Everett (instructor) Lauren (crew) Joe (captain)

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny 86*F, slight breeze, strong surge

DIVE PROFILES: LCU Shipwreck: max depth 86ft, bottom time 34minutes, strong east current, 79*F water temp

YO-257 Shipwreck: max depth 98ft, bottom time 36minutes, strong east current, 78*F water temp

Spitting Caves: max depth 57ft, bottom time 32 minutes, strong west current, 81*F water temp

MARINE LIFE OBSERVED: white tipped reef shark, green sea turtle, crown of thorns, butterfluyfish, trumpetfist, urchins, scorpion fish