We couldn’t have asked for better conditions for our night dive! With such a small group, we had the ability to dive any site that we wanted. After discussing our options, we had decided that our twilight dive would begin with a deep dive to check out the Corsair.

After we figured out our dive plan, we began to gear up and prepare to hop in the water just before the sun set. The conditions at the Corsair were fantastic and there was barely any current. It allowed us all to enjoy what ended up being a 17 minute dive at 103ft.

The sun was setting just as we surfaced and we got to enjoy the last bits of  sunlight during our surface interval.

After the sun finally went down, we had finally decided that our night dive would be a shallower dive to Angler’s Reef. This site is known to be fantastic at night and crawling with all different kinds of marine life. It was a great place for us to enjoy some of the creatures that come out after the sun goes down.

Some of the more common sea creatures were out, like this urchin, but the reef was covered in them! We had to make sure that we had great buoyancy to avoid some of the more dangerous nightlife.

Some of the more elusive sea creatures were covering the reef as well, like this brittle sea star, but were shy when we put our torches in their direction.

My favorite, the Spanish dancer nudibranch, was even spotted! This is the world’s largest nudibranch and is spotted in the evenings. they can grow to up to a foot long! As we surfaced, we were able to turn off our torches and experience some of the bioluminescence in the water. It was a really great way to end a fantastic night dive.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Crew: Instructor Marnie, Captain Joe, Crew Max

Conditions: 76*F water temp; 82*F air temp; slight surge

Dive Profile: Corsair max depth 103ft, 17 minutes; Angler’s Reef max 43ft, 40 minutes

 

It was a wonderful Sunday for the three tanker today. We had great weather and and awesome group of people as we headed out to the LCU for the first dive.  There was some current as we got down the line but viz was wonderful.  We had a frogfish right away on the bottom under the mooring and a large school of goatfish swimming about. Cruising around the wreck we found butterfly fish and moorish idols but sadly no white tip reef sharks today.

For the second dive we motored around Diamond Head and dove the YO-257. It was spectacular down there with over 100 ft visibility but there was again some moderate current. The fish were everywhere with pennant butterflyfish and blue stripped snapper swimming about as well as a spotted eagle ray just off the wreck in to blue water. We also found a couple turtles resting on the bottom near the bow of the wreck. It was a fun dive with the Atlantis sub cruising around and great marine life.

For the final dive we decided on a shallow reef dive as the winds had picked up and bit and the surface was getting a little choppier. We tied up at Turtle Canyons for the last dive and had a nice relaxing final dive. We found a lot of eels about the area as well as a couple more turtles. It was a nice mellow way to end the dive day.

Last day in May and we had some beautiful conditions today. Trying to tie up at Kahala Barge I ultimately decided the current was too strong. So I proceeded with our large group to jump in at the Shark cave to the west of the Baby barge. The moment we got in, Captain Joe and his crew member Kelsey, dropped us on two incredibly curious spotted eagle rays. They stayed with us all the way to baby barge. Cutting in front of us every so often, we also were pleased to see several turtles emerge from the Baby Barge, after which we drifted along to New Barge, we glassed over the wreck and proceeded to come up completing a thirty minute dive. A bit choppy on the surface so we decided to head in to calmer water. We dove Angler’s reef the second dive and we again did a drift. After seeing 6 pairs of mating helmet conchs we were nearing the end of the reef so I brought the group to some off shore coral heads. I saw a frogfish on top of the coral head I put my hand down close to an eel home underneath the coral head where he then bit my hand. I apologize to all my divers and also thank them for understanding you can’t win them all. A special thanks to Dennis and Danica for providing the pictures show. As well as a big thanks my whole dive group for following proper diving procedure even in an emergency and doing a safe accent. Thank you for all of your patience today and I look forward to seeing each and everyone of you diving with us again, next time I’ll have some gloves! Mahalo!

Our friendly spotted eagle ray pair!

The Common Longnose Butterflyfish swims under Marcus, schools of Yellowfin Goatfish swim ahead, Marcus flies behind with his free time.  LCU had some treasures on it today, two frog fish, one blueish black the other looked like pink brown reef.  They were beautiful to watch hunting with their mouths agape ready to strike.  Although frog fish have no spines or poison they can catch food with their lure above their mouth and eat it in about six milliseconds. It was wonderful flying around the wreck and breathing underwater. Today felt like it did the first time on scuba, magical.

Weather: Sunny and breezy
Dive Sites: LCU 90 FT & Anglers 42ft
Dive Conditions 100ft & 60Ft
Water Temp: 77 F- Awesome for shorties
Marine Life Observed: Frog Fish

Safe Diving,

Davy