Dolbie
Registered
My dive buddy and I recently returned from a quick trip out to Maui for three days of two tank dives. The weather was absolutely perfect for diving and we both had a great deal of fun.
Background:
Prior to this trip I had 5 dives in my logbook. I got my ccard in January 2008. My buddy has been diving for years and has ~150 recorded dives. He did a great job slowing himself down for me as I attempted to gain experience over this trip.
Day 1 - Maui Dive Shop - Molokini and Turtle Town:
I realized shortly after we departed from the dock that I had not even stuck my foot in the water since we got to Hawaii the previous day, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect when I hit the water on that first leap from the back of the boat. The water was wonderful! As is my history it took me a while to get down to 30' with the rest of the pack due to my problems equalizing, but I eventually made it down with everybody. I didn't take my camera with me on the first two days of diving because I wanted to get more comfortable and avoid information overload. This was one of my better choices through the trip.
Molokini did not disappoint plenty of fish to watch. Before I knew it, it was time to go back to the boat.
It is easy to see where Turtle Town got its name. We saw five turtles (although I believe we saw the same pair twice and them one loner). We also saw a couple of Moray Eels and what I believe were some lion fish hiding in the folds of some coral (I'm still waiting to get copies of my dive buddy's photos). I got to last a bit longer on the second dive even though there was a little bit of a current. I must have been getting more comfortable and better at my breathing.
Day Two - Extended Horizons - Monolith and 2nd Cathedral
During our pre-dive briefing we were told that there were some impressive fish beyond the base of the Monolith formation. Our DM wanted to take us to ~110' to see these fish and asked if anyone was going to prevent that from happening. I couldn't raise my hand after that even though my previous deepest was ~65'. I tried to reassure myself by telling my buddy that if I could get past 40' I shouldn't have a problem with the pressure. I was right. I couldn't believe I was at 110' on my 8th recorded dive. I couldn't wait to call my folks (who encouraged me to get certified in the first place) and tell them about it. We saw some Bandit Angels and some other fish that our DM said would be there and a decent sized lobster way back in a crack in the monolith.
2nd Cathedral was another first for me. This is a lava tube and is a mostly enclosed area underwater. This time I spoke up in the pre-dive and asked if I needed more certification than I had to make this dive. Our DM assured us that even though the area was technically a cave type area, there are plenty of ways to get in and out and there was not a large amount of silt on the floor I'm guessing because the surge current. Inside was a very large and impressive Black Coral formation and a bunch of fish hiding in little pockets in the walls of the chamber.
One of the EH DMs, Victoria, gave me a hint for a breathing rhythm to try to extend my dive time which seemed to help a little on these dives.
I really enjoyed our two dives with EH. The capt and crew were great and their boat ran on Bio Diesel so they encouraged all us divers to go out and have a deep fried dinner so they could keep getting fuel from the restaurants around the island.
Day Three - Maui Dive Shop - Molokini and Red Hill
Our last day of diving had us watching the sunrise over Maui's East Peak and chatting up with the rest of the divers as we waited for the boat to get ready. I had also decided that I was ready to take my camera with me on these dives. After jumping in to the water near the eastern tip of the island where we were mored I dropped down to the bottom right along with the rest of the divers and had absolutely no problems equalizing on the way. After a minute of swimming along the bottom I was really happy I had decided to bring my camera because I looked to my left and spotted a ~4' White Tip Reef Shark resting on the bottom near our boat's mooring line. I may have been the 1st in the group to spot it because as I was swimming over to my buddy to tell him, our DM started banging on his tank and pointing to alert us. I snapped a couple of pictures which I wish could have been closer, but I wasn't too sad. I was thrilled to have seen my first shark on dive #10.
We had hoped that our 2nd dive would be over an artificial reef made of tires and to a wreck in about 65' of water but we were taken to Red Hill. This was a pretty good workout due to a strongish current. We saw some turtles, a huge male barely visible in the distance and a smaller female who swam right through our group. Everybody appeared to give the turtle plenty of space except for the boat's photo/videographer who did actually get some good shots and footage. I tried harder to use Victoria's breathing hint with the current and it seemed to help. My buddy and I were some of the last divers to return to the drag line for our three min safety stop.
I was so happy with how this trip turned out. I would certainly do it again if the opportunity presented its self. I think we both agreed that we would spend more time with Extended Horizons because the DMs seemed to practice better reef preservation techniques. To be honest, I had one fin touch the reef that I can remember and I did touchdown on sandy bottom on a number of occasions, but the MDS DMs were pushing off the reef with their hands and looking under rocks a bit more often than I thought was appropriate. This behavior more than anything made an impression on me.
I'll get some of my photos on this posting if I can. I am still getting used to using the camera while underwater so they're not the greatest. I also decided I need to get a strobe for my camera setup to light up my shots. Everything I took where the flash did not go off is completely green and I haven't been able to figure out how to nicely liven things up with Photoshop yet. So bear that in mind when viewing my photos.
On the way out to Molokini.
My first shark sighting.
Our everpresent escort around Molokini
This guy swam in front of me and posed like this long enough for me to get my camera out and snap this picture. Then he just swam off. I thought that was really nice of him.
One of the many turtles we saw through the course of the trip.
There is actually a barracuda in there if you look REALLY hard.
Background:
Prior to this trip I had 5 dives in my logbook. I got my ccard in January 2008. My buddy has been diving for years and has ~150 recorded dives. He did a great job slowing himself down for me as I attempted to gain experience over this trip.
Day 1 - Maui Dive Shop - Molokini and Turtle Town:
I realized shortly after we departed from the dock that I had not even stuck my foot in the water since we got to Hawaii the previous day, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect when I hit the water on that first leap from the back of the boat. The water was wonderful! As is my history it took me a while to get down to 30' with the rest of the pack due to my problems equalizing, but I eventually made it down with everybody. I didn't take my camera with me on the first two days of diving because I wanted to get more comfortable and avoid information overload. This was one of my better choices through the trip.
Molokini did not disappoint plenty of fish to watch. Before I knew it, it was time to go back to the boat.
It is easy to see where Turtle Town got its name. We saw five turtles (although I believe we saw the same pair twice and them one loner). We also saw a couple of Moray Eels and what I believe were some lion fish hiding in the folds of some coral (I'm still waiting to get copies of my dive buddy's photos). I got to last a bit longer on the second dive even though there was a little bit of a current. I must have been getting more comfortable and better at my breathing.
Day Two - Extended Horizons - Monolith and 2nd Cathedral
During our pre-dive briefing we were told that there were some impressive fish beyond the base of the Monolith formation. Our DM wanted to take us to ~110' to see these fish and asked if anyone was going to prevent that from happening. I couldn't raise my hand after that even though my previous deepest was ~65'. I tried to reassure myself by telling my buddy that if I could get past 40' I shouldn't have a problem with the pressure. I was right. I couldn't believe I was at 110' on my 8th recorded dive. I couldn't wait to call my folks (who encouraged me to get certified in the first place) and tell them about it. We saw some Bandit Angels and some other fish that our DM said would be there and a decent sized lobster way back in a crack in the monolith.
2nd Cathedral was another first for me. This is a lava tube and is a mostly enclosed area underwater. This time I spoke up in the pre-dive and asked if I needed more certification than I had to make this dive. Our DM assured us that even though the area was technically a cave type area, there are plenty of ways to get in and out and there was not a large amount of silt on the floor I'm guessing because the surge current. Inside was a very large and impressive Black Coral formation and a bunch of fish hiding in little pockets in the walls of the chamber.
One of the EH DMs, Victoria, gave me a hint for a breathing rhythm to try to extend my dive time which seemed to help a little on these dives.
I really enjoyed our two dives with EH. The capt and crew were great and their boat ran on Bio Diesel so they encouraged all us divers to go out and have a deep fried dinner so they could keep getting fuel from the restaurants around the island.
Day Three - Maui Dive Shop - Molokini and Red Hill
Our last day of diving had us watching the sunrise over Maui's East Peak and chatting up with the rest of the divers as we waited for the boat to get ready. I had also decided that I was ready to take my camera with me on these dives. After jumping in to the water near the eastern tip of the island where we were mored I dropped down to the bottom right along with the rest of the divers and had absolutely no problems equalizing on the way. After a minute of swimming along the bottom I was really happy I had decided to bring my camera because I looked to my left and spotted a ~4' White Tip Reef Shark resting on the bottom near our boat's mooring line. I may have been the 1st in the group to spot it because as I was swimming over to my buddy to tell him, our DM started banging on his tank and pointing to alert us. I snapped a couple of pictures which I wish could have been closer, but I wasn't too sad. I was thrilled to have seen my first shark on dive #10.
We had hoped that our 2nd dive would be over an artificial reef made of tires and to a wreck in about 65' of water but we were taken to Red Hill. This was a pretty good workout due to a strongish current. We saw some turtles, a huge male barely visible in the distance and a smaller female who swam right through our group. Everybody appeared to give the turtle plenty of space except for the boat's photo/videographer who did actually get some good shots and footage. I tried harder to use Victoria's breathing hint with the current and it seemed to help. My buddy and I were some of the last divers to return to the drag line for our three min safety stop.
I was so happy with how this trip turned out. I would certainly do it again if the opportunity presented its self. I think we both agreed that we would spend more time with Extended Horizons because the DMs seemed to practice better reef preservation techniques. To be honest, I had one fin touch the reef that I can remember and I did touchdown on sandy bottom on a number of occasions, but the MDS DMs were pushing off the reef with their hands and looking under rocks a bit more often than I thought was appropriate. This behavior more than anything made an impression on me.
I'll get some of my photos on this posting if I can. I am still getting used to using the camera while underwater so they're not the greatest. I also decided I need to get a strobe for my camera setup to light up my shots. Everything I took where the flash did not go off is completely green and I haven't been able to figure out how to nicely liven things up with Photoshop yet. So bear that in mind when viewing my photos.
On the way out to Molokini.
My first shark sighting.
Our everpresent escort around Molokini
This guy swam in front of me and posed like this long enough for me to get my camera out and snap this picture. Then he just swam off. I thought that was really nice of him.
One of the many turtles we saw through the course of the trip.
There is actually a barracuda in there if you look REALLY hard.
