We had a small group of divers this afternoon on the Sea Fox with Marco and Joanna coming out for some fun.  We headed to Turtle Canyons for the first dive and had some nice conditions as we started the dive.  Right away on the bottom we found a yellow margin morey hiding in the reef. There were reef fish all around the area and even found a few turtles resting on the bottom.  There was also a large helmet snail and a few cowreys found around the reef.

For the second dive we decided on Spitting Caves with the great surface conditions. We had nice visibility and little current as we got in the water.  Along the wall we found more sea turtles swimming about and a few resting among the rubble.  We found a couple scorpionfish blending in with the reef and even a frogfish sitting on the reef.  There were also a few eels found around the area and tons of reef fish swimming about the site.

Tuesday – The first sight we went to was Turtle Canyon, a super place to do a bit of compass work and some tank band fix, and full mask removal and replacement — all things that are part of the PADI Open Water Course. We also saw a stargazer eel, and an Eagle Ray! It was just wiating for us to return to the boat. After that we went over to Koko’s where in back crater we found a ton of slipper lobster where, try as I might, could not catch a single stinking one. We made our way over to secret crater where I almost had a fit trying to get people to look at what seemed like a fat snorkeler on the surface, but was actually a super rare monk seal. Cool as a cucumber, one of Pete’s divers snapped a photo. Well done, and congrats to our new Open Water Divers!

Is that a reg?

Shammy?

Sleeping?

Weather conditions: Warm, sunny, and slight breeze, small swell
Dive Sites: Turtle Canyon 1:19 pm 40ft 28min and Koko Craters 2:05 pm 35ft 30min
Dive Conditions: 60+ viz, 82F
Marine Life Observed: Spotted Eagle Ray, Hawaiian Monk Seal, Stargazer Moray, Slipper Lobster
Staff: Capt. Kendall, Kellan, Pete, Greg crew

haha, a scorpion fish of course !  often called a rockfish or a stonefish, cuz they look a lot more like a rock than a fish! we saw several of them today so i thought i would post a few photos which may or may not have a fish in them.  see if you can tell!  first dive was koko craters, and conditions were spectacular.  we headed out from the back crater to the big fat chinese buddha statue which had a big fat turtle sleeping right under it!  several more turtles, and lots of eels, plus jane, marco’s partner, snorkeled above us the whole time. a turtle swam right up to her for a breath!  james and chris were doing open water dives one and 2, and they did great.  plus old friend melissa came and joined us, a great diver, she didn’t want to surface!  2nd jump was turtle canyons, and we saw tons of eels and reef fish, plus all these scorpion fish, check out the photos!  thanks to all for safe diving,  larry and pete.

according to Webster’s it’s octopuses,  which is what we saw today – lots of octopuses!  which means a great day of diving.  3 open water students, alex, will, and solomon joined us for dives 1/2, working with David and his 5 DMCs!  they got lots of attention.  and ward, kelly, and dana joined me for some cruising in the blue. first stop was Koko craters, and Flora led us over to Secrets ledge , spotting eels and turtles along the way.  the current starting picking up significantly, so we headed over to the back crater mooring, did some more turtle watching and found an octopus peeking out of his little puka.  he came out for a swim around with us! Fantasy reef was jump two, and it is always beautiful there, so much to see!  despite some strong current we saw more turtles, big eels, an huge octopus, sponge crabs, slipper lobster, and coral shrimp!  we just had a blast!  thanks to all for safe diving!  larry, david, flora, joe, and kelsea

koko craters – 38 feet 43 minutres

fantasy reef – 53 feet 41 minutes