Scuba Dive Reports Oahu - Page 72 of 96 - Island Divers Hawaii

Beautiful Afternoon dive!

July 8, 2014/in Dive Reports/by David Pinilla

Another amazing day of diving on the East side of Oahu! We went out to the Koko crater for our first dive of the afternoon, we all went in the water to be face to face with a huge yellow moray eel, right after that we encounter 4 more morays and then right in to the Turtle cleaning station to enjoy the “turtle wash”.

After enjoy the sun and view during our surface interval we went to the turtle canyons for our second dive of the afternoon. There the conditions were favorable and we had a dive surrounded by juvenile surgeon fish, juvenile wrasse and of course a huge bone fish came to get clean at the famous

‘mooring #2 cleaning station”. We had a great dive.

Congratulations Aaron, Claire and Brooke on your first open water dive !!!!! and of course special thanks to Mary for being a great role model for the newer divers!!!!

Sea Conditions: moderate

Visibility: 50+feet

Current: slight current onKoko crater, Slight Westerly Current at Turtle canyon

Crew: David Pinilla (me), Capt Kendal, boat crew Brent

TURTLE RESCUE ! 7 july

July 7, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

awesome day today as our 11 divers headed out to Baby Barge to check out the wreck and all the sea life there. and we were not disappointed, spotting several huge green sea turtles on and around the wreck, plus big morays and a rare sight – two whitetip sharks who were out swimming around us, instead of sleeping somewhere. current was mild, and the viz was spectacular. chris and his two sons, connor and quinlan were out for fun, as were raymond and silas, from Switzerland, plus their friend Toko, from Japan. also along were robert, goody, dene, hollis, and greg. a great group of divers. 2nd jump was a drift of spitting cave, and the viz was again spectacular, as was the whole dive. we were mesmerized by the beauty of the wall and the incredible sea life there. 1000’s of fish schooling, more turtles and sharks, two frog fish, and an octopus all appeared along the way. the highlight being the removal of a nasty hook from the fin of one the turtles, who also had the metal leader wrapped around his neck. i was able to block him into a small cave, unwind the metal leader from around his neck, and, with a lot of effort, pull the deeply buried hook out of his fin. my good deed for the year! yay! thanks to all for safe diving, larry

baby barge 82 feet 35 minutes

spitting cave 50 feet 45 minutes

Triple Tanking for the Holiday Weekend, 7/6/14

July 6, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Amy Bossler

Weather Conditions: Sunny, slight breeze
Dive Sites: Baby Barge, YO257, and Fantasy Reef
Dive Conditions: Slight Koko head current
Marine Life Observed: Sea turtles, white tip reef sharks, eels, and schooling reef fish
Staff: Capt. Jo, Amy, Larry, Dave, Lauren (crew)

Aloha,

Thanks for choosing to dive with Island Divers Hawai’i. We had absolutely wonderful conditions out on the water today. Brenna, Michael, Jason, Patrick, Nick, Mary, Tanya, Max, David, Ashleigh, Sean, Mike, Liz, and Jen joined us from all over the country and world. Yev was working with Larry on his Wreck specialty an d needed to hit up some wrecks. This lead us to our first stop at Baby Barge. This dive was about 90′ max depth and most divers had a :35 bottom time. We swam around the wreck and then headed to the shark cave in the hopes of gaining a glimpse of our majestic hunters. No luck time time, but we were hopeful for the day. After our surface interval, Capt. Jo cruised us into Waikiki to dive my personal favorite the YO257. My team chose to visit the San Pedro as well as the YO. Two for the price of one, score!!! We saw lots of turtles, eels, and schooling reef fish, but no sharks….We had a max depth of 100′ with a total run time of about :30. While the divers had lunch, we leisurely made our way to Fantasy Reef. Our mission was to find some friendly sharks! On this site we hit a max depth of 55-60′ and had a bottom time of :46. Positive thinking rules the day! We were rewarded with not one, but THREE white tip reef sharks!!! There were also tons of turtles, a great variety of eels, and nudis. But I’m in love with our sharks and did my little happy dance for each shark. We are so lucky to get to see these graceful predators. Overall, it was a fantastic day on the water. Thanks again to all the divers joining us today. You totally made our Independence day weekend! Thank you again. Until next time, dive easy!

Aloha,

Amy

Little Bigmouth.

Dry people..

Sharky shark shark shark

The West-Side Story-7/5

July 6, 2014/in Uncategorized/by Matt Negaard

We had a great time for our first charter aboard the South Seas II out of Waianae. Captain Mike knows all the dive sites in the area and the boat is well rigged for up to 23 divers. Since we only had 9 diving this time, there was plenty of room and we set out with calm conditions and really nice weather. First stop was the Mahi wreck at 90 ‘ with 100 ‘ visibility and a mild current. Since having the bow tilted over during a winter storm, the wreck looks a little different every time we go there. Resident Spotted Eagle Rays came cruising and the ever present Pufferfish were hanging around the mast. A Yellow Margin Moray Eel came out for a swim and lots of other fish could be seen all around.

Local Guy..

Does my Margin look Yellow from this angle?

With the tide changing and the wind up a bit, we chose Turtles for the next dive. Right outside Pokai Bay, this site has lots of beautiful reef with overhangs to hide the local critters. Ryan, Amanda, and Michael hung out with Karl, who found a bunch of old ammo. That left Ana, Max (4 days in a row?), Aaron, and Shannon to cruise the area with Me. We found another Yellow Margin Moray here, plus a friendly Longspine Porcupinefish, Stripebelly Puffer, Crowned Toby, many more Morays, and a variety of juvenile reef fish. Nice vis and summer temperatures made it a fantastic second dive.

Not so shy..

Another large Moray

Back on the surface, the BBQ burgers were especially good after a couple beautiful dives. Cookies, chips, and sodas rounded the end of day meal before heading back to Waianae to disembark. Mahalo to you all for making it such an awesome day of diving..

Conditions: Mahi Wreck – Depth 90ft., Vis. 100′, Temp. 77 f., Mild Current
Turtles – Depth 35ft., Vis. 60′, Temp. 77 f., No Current
Weather: Calm Seas, Wind 5-10, Temp. 82 f., Partly Cloudy
Staff: Captain Mike, Instructor Matt, Crew/DM Karl

Dive Adventure on a Personal Level 7/5

July 5, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Mark Savel

Due to the events of the day we ended up with just one diver on the afternoon Sea Fox trip and had some nice relaxing dives. Mike and I headed for Anglers Reef for the first dive and had great viz with a bit of a current as we dropped to the bottom. There were a couple large yellowmargin moreys hiding in the reef and a few large helmet snails in the sand off the reef. There were also reef fish everywhere with schools of tangs, butterflyfish, and damsels swimming around the site.

For the second dive we drifted Hawaii Loa Crater and again had some nice viz as we moved along the reef. On the reef there were sergeant damsel fish everywhere with groups of wrasses and butterflyfish trying to eat their eggs. We also found a green sea turtle resting on the bottom trying to wedge itself into the reef to be stable in the surge. We found a few more eels about the area as we came to the end of the dive. It was a great afternoon.

A Foxy Fourth-7/4

July 5, 2014/in Uncategorized/by Matt Negaard

For our Independence Day afternoon dives, we had a small group of 6 adventurers, including 2 who stayed on after the morning charter. We stopped at LCU first, finding a school of Bluestripe Snapper in and around the wreck. We didn’t find the elusive Frogfish that hangs out here, but there were a couple Nudibranchs on the top (actually the bottom) of this upside down military landing craft.

After a bouncy exit, we headed in to calmer waters. The Stars and Stripes framed our negative entry to drift Anglers Reef. Light current and nice visibility allowed us to search the edge of the reef for critters hiding out. There were several large Moray Eels, a couple small ones, a dark red Frogfish (thanks for finding this Max), a few helmet snails, and lots of juvenile Trumpetfish. Mahalo to all for celebrating at Island Divers Hawaii.

Nudibranchs are cool.

Puhi

Dats a cool color!

Little Bigmouth.

Dive Sites/Conditions: LCU, Moderate Surface Current, Depth 90 ft., Temp. 77 f., Vis. 100′
Anglers Reef, Mild Current, Depth 45′, Temp. 77 f., Vis, 80′
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Temp. 84 f., Light Wind, Seas 4′
Staff: Captain Joe, Crew Rachel, Instructor Matt

COOL STUFF !! 5 July

July 5, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Larry Hogan

fun day today!! so much cool and unusual stuff to see as well as the usual cool stuff! ! monk seals, trident trumpets, helmet conchs, scorpion fish, 3 legged starfish, plus sharks, turtles, and a huge school of juvenile damsel fish (we think). literally 5,000 little guys swimming around us. very heartening to see, as it bodes well for the continued health of Maunalua Bay. nice group of divers today, the last day for Kim from Seattle, who has been here all week. Jim the submarine office was off the boat but needed to get back underwater! local favorite diver jon is being shipped to kansas, so today was his last dive with us for a while! we will miss that smiling face! Baby barge had some ripping current, so we didn’t visit the shark cave, but the wreck itself was fun, with seven or eight turtles hanging around, plus some big morays! 2nd jump was a drift at Spitting Cave, where the current decided to subside, and actually began to go in the wrong direction! but we had a blast, seeing that huge school of fish surround us, plus a full grown monk seal hanging in the A frame cave. very curious and mellow today! also more turtles and sharks. cool stuff! thanks to all for safe diving,

larry, marnie, joe

Celebrating the 4th in Style 7/4

July 4, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Mark Savel

It was a wonderful morning on the Sea Fox and a great kick off for the 4th of July weekend. We started the day off diving on Kahala Barge. There was a bit of a current but nothing to strong and wonderful viz. We had fish all over the wreck with soldier fish hiding in the darker spots and butterflyfish and wrasses swimming about the outside. There were also a couple ulua swimming around the back of the wreck but swam off as divers came around the area. And to bring an end to the great dive we had a couple bottlenose dolphins cruise by as we sat on our safety stop.

For the second dive we drifted Fantasy Reef and again had wonderful viz and a nice current taking us along. There were reef fish everywhere but the big thing is all the turtles around the area. We had a few of them resting on the reef and a couple swimming about the site. We also found a few eels about the reef including a large yellowmargin morey swimming about. There was also an octopus hiding out under a large rock trying hard not to be noticed. All in all it was a perfect start to the weekend, Happy Independence Day everyone.

July 3rd- Eagle Ray Charge

July 3, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Davy Eleen Vercoe

Wow, what a day of scuba diving with some incredibly memorable moments. Our Hawaii Scuba University divers and a hand full of courageous guests had some big swells roll through us today. Our strong team of divers had 100+ viz, sea life fly bys, and lots of fun, all at “Sea Cave” and “Turtle Canyon.” Let’s do it again HSU!

Along the wall we headed East and encountered a charging and curious Spotted Eagle Ray. At one point during the dive I hear a tank banger go off, I look left, fast. I’m face to face with an Eagle Ray coming in hot. It veers off only 10 ft away from my nose. So amazing!
In my minds eye I can still see its funny white snout pointed directly at me. Normally, you are chasing the Eagle Rays and all you can see, is tail. Its face reminds me of a cartoon character I saw as a kid. Anyways, upon surfacing we were face to face with some whites water and swells. Everyone was magnificent riding our foxy lady through the rolling and pitching both on and off the boat. Please come back for more soon.

Thanks guys,

Davy

Fins go Pro

Laughing so hard they clear

Pete, I see you

Staff: Captain Kendal, Lead Davy, Crew Steve

Pre-4th Fun diving!

July 3, 2014/in Dive Reports/by Amy Bossler

Weather Conditions: Sunny with a slight breeze
Dive Sites: LCU and Angler’s Reef
Dive Conditions: 100+ viz, medium to strong current
Marine Life Observed: Spotted eagle rays, Kahuna nudibranch, green moray eels, gold lace nudibranch, horned helmet shells, frog fish, octopus
Staff: Capt. Kendal, Amy, and Steve (crew)

Aloha,

Thanks for choosing to spend your afternoon diving with Island Divers Hawai’i. We had a small boat today with Kim and Dave joining for a second day of diving/snorkeling, Chester, Johnny, and Jason (fresh out of his OW course!!!). My men requested a wreck so we headed to the LCU (my personal favorite). The currents were surprisingly strong, but they brought us excellent visibility. After tying up, we headed into the water in search of the “big” stuff. Right off the bat we found the resident frog fish, followed by a cheeky vyper moray (nearly got a nip to the bottom!), under the wreck we found two tiny Kahuna nudibranchs, and some schooling reef fish. Upon exiting the wreck we were greeted by a curious trio of spotted eagle rays cruising in the currents! They are always a welcome surprise. I love how they graceful glide through the water! After that we headed back to the boat. We had a max depth of 90′ with :33 and :36 bottom times. During our safety stop, Steve provided us with Famous Amos cookies, Red Vines, and Tea/Hot Chocolate. Our group decided to head to Angler’s Reef for dive two. We had a max depth of 55′ with a :46 bottom time. We saw tons of eels: green, giant, pencil, snowflake, three gold lace nudis, two horned helmet shells, an octopus, AND another spotted eagle ray!!! We were so lucky to be blessed with eagle rays on both dives today. Thanks again, Kim, Dave, Chester, Johnny for joining us. And congrats to Jason!!! We were happy to convert you into an ocean water diver. Welcome to the dark side, friend. Hopefully, we’ll see you all out again this weekend. Until next time, dive easy!

Aloha,

Amy