It was a wonderful morning off the southeast side of Oahu. There was a bit of wind and a small south swell but the water was crystal clear out at the LCU for the first dive.  We had 100+ft viz and little current as we made our way down to the wreck. Right away we found a red frogfish on the wreck and had a large school of goatfish swimming about.  As we swam about the wreck we found another frogfish and had a great relaxing time before heading back to the surface.

For the second dive we drifted Fantasy Reef and again had a great dive.  The viz was down a bit from the first dive but there was life all over the area.  We found turtles all around the site with a lot of them just cruising about in the current and a couple resting on the bottom.  There were also a few eels hiding about the reef and colorful reef fish swimming all about. We had a great morning and a perfect start to the week.

Sunny blue skies, with wind and big waves gave us some great buoyancy practice on our dives today.  Heading out we saw Koko craters was too busy, so we checked out Turtle Canyons.  it was a bit green due to the surge, but not bad viz, about 80 feet. current was running west, so we swam into it, seeing lots of eels, octopus, and large schools of juvenile reef fish, and then turned around and had a relaxing drift back to the Fox. 9 divers today, and special treat was 11 year old Tyler, who had a blast zipping around and checking out everything!  great young diver!!. joining us were isabella and dad chris from LA, locals ken and vanessa, plus tim and joe.  2nd dive was back over at Kokos to check out the green sea turtles, and they did not disappoint. the water was much bluer, with a fair bit of floating plankton, so very nice viz.  we also saw more eels, a plethora of cone shells, as well as the cool statues that live there.  thanks to all, Larry and Flora

Turtle Canyons – 35 feet, 40 minutes, viz 70

Koko craters – 40 feet, 44 minutes, viz 90

 

Friday – BUT IT WAS SMOKING.  We maybe shouldn’t have even tried it.  But we did and it was actually pretty nice on the bottom.  The Kahala Barge was good as ever lots of swim throughs to be had, and tons of marine life to see.  I managed to balance a conch on my head for a good bit of the dive. I found out later it was trying to suck out my brains through my hood.  From there we got back on the boat and had some snacks. Note to self: don’t let seasick people eat Red Vines. When it comes back up it looks like internal hemorrhaging. Good stuff. Big waves forced us to the inside where we saw tons of eels, some frog fish, a weird toothed fish doing what I don’t know, and I balanced three conches on my head at once. Nice work errbody, and I’ll see you again.

Weather Conditions: Windy and Sunny, large south swell
Dive Sites: Kahala Barge & Angler’s Reef
Dive Conditions: 90 FT 32 min & 40 Ft 52 min Temp 79 F
Staff: Capt Joe, Dive Lead Kellan, Crew Maxine

We set out and the Ocean was rollin…  We had of course, the most qualified captain in Oahu, 25 year vet of the Coast Guard Capt Joe.  We moored up at Baby Barge and had no worries getting in…  What a great group of divers!  Baby Barge was murky but the animal life was still plentiful!  Loads of Morays and Turtles, and no current so it made the dive super chill!!

We headed over to Fantasy Reef  and during this time a pod of spinner dolphins were showing their skills all around us!  When we enter the water we headed down and what a plethora of Morays!!!  We drifted along the reef and saw loads of Acropora coral beds… Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Sea Conditions: Choppy

Visibility: 50+feet

Current: slight current on Baby Barge, Slight Westerly Current at Fantasy Reef

Crew: David Pinilla (me), Larry Hogan, Capt Joe, Dennie

 

Such a beautiful morning to be out on the southeast side of Oahu today. We had a larger group of divers today mostly with a group of divers from another company sharing the boat with us but plenty of room and a wonderful couple of dives. We headed to the LCU for the first dive and with little current and good visibility we all got down the line. There were a couple of white tip reef sharks under the wreck right as divers were getting down to the bottom. But as more divers got down the sharks decided to get out from under the wreck and swim about the area to find a more relaxing spot. We kept herding the sharks from one area of the site to another as the divers spread about the area. Soon the found themselves back under the wreck as most of the divers were heading back to the surface.  We also had a large, red frogfish on the wreck and large schools of goatfish and Heller barracuda swimming around the site. Right at the end of the dive we saw a spotted eagle ray cruise by as we made our way to the safety stop.

For the second dive we drifted Spitting Caves. It was a little choppy on the surface but we had excellent viz and a nice current to pull us along. There were turtles all over the reef from large ones resting in caves to little ones swimming about. There were also a few eels hiding in the reef as well and a few more frogfish and even a couple octopus.  It was a great relaxing dive among all the colorful reef fish.