2 Mantas! 100 Turtles! 1000 Slugs! AND a Kitchen Sink

[VBlueV]

Sun shined thru early Sunday (after a very rainy Saturday)
The Sunny Dee graced us and took me and "bcyber" Dave..
out to Dave's new site: now named "The Kitchen Sink"
(for a kitchen sink Dave found at 40 fsw.. durr)
Site is an awesome lava-wall which tops at 20fsw..
then dramatically drops to 50fsw at the sand.
(reminiscent of Haleiwa Trench.. tho' not as deep)

tons of turtles with their heads parked in all the nooks along the wall..
(no pictures because didn't want to wake 'em with a flash)

and a myriad of nudibranchs everywhere you looked!

including a bunch of these black-n-blue ones we'd never seen before.. (ID please?)..

but the highlights of the dives were a couple Manta Rays..
a 6-foot wide Manta capped off a great first dive!

then a much larger Manta with at least a 10-foot wingspan greeted us
to start off our second dive!
(apparently, rare sightings around Oahu.. St. Patrick must've been smiling )

here's video..



finally.. this Porcupine was "stuck" under a sky-light..
(the lighting worked great! and the Puffer was very cooperative)



Thanks for finding this site Dave!
(i'm sure the 100 turtles floating on top didn't help you mark it )

 

[bcyber]

JJ the blue nudi is a Gloomy Nudibranch...yeah yeah...turtles gave it away. My new favorite dive site

Here are my pics...got some decent shots of the table sized Manta Rays!

Gloomy Nudi

Here is the kitchen sink ;-)

Here is the small one--

This is the airplane!

All pics here: http://scubadave.sugarsync.com/albums/thumb/148843_13076?variant=large&idx=0

Awesome Dives! Thanks Bra!

Dave

 

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

wow. Unreal...these are the days that i have to miss...of all the days.

 

[deeper thoughts]

very nice thnx for the pix

 

[DMJulie]

Great Shots! Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a great dive!

 

[VBlueV]

..Here is the small one--

Dave

SURREAL!
can hardly believe i was just swimming with 'em.

incredible stills Dave!
i think "kidspot" has the website/link for the Hawaii Manta Ray Database.. ask him.
it has a photo catalogue of the local Mantas..
apparently.. they're ID'd by the black-spots/patterns on their under-sides..
if you find a new one.. you get to name it!

again, great job capturing what we saw!
mahalo.

 

[bcyber]

Thanks all...they were some good dives. Viz could have been a little better but that is probably why the Mantas came in...to eat. Dive site was near where the Port Royal ran aground. Seen a boat near the bouys for a while. Maybe DLNR is still checking out the reef damage. Anyone hear how much the Navy will be fined?

Also funny why a C17 landing with gears up is out shadowed by the ship crash?! The press hardly mentioned this: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/c-17-gear-up-landing-in-bagram-images/

 

[Daiika]

Nice shot of the manta. This site is called "Kitchen sink" or "Port Royal" ?

 

[bcyber]

It was too far away from the Port Royal site to name it the Port Royal and after much deliberation we decided to call it The Kitchen Sink since we found a sink while diving ;-)

Thanks!

 

[scottitheduck]

Wow.... I'm back in Oahu for 48 hours and this post pops up. You guys ROCK!

I think I get the credit for the Gloomy on Keoki's site:

Marine Life Photography Gloomy Nudibranch

Great subject to shoot, huh?