acooper
Contributor
Uh oh. Wife's birthday! What do I do? Present? How about a dive?
Fortunately conditions looked to be quite good. High surf warnings were in effect for windward shores, while our leeward side was forecast for gentle conditions. And despite heavy rains recently, the visibility along the North Kohala Coast was quite good, about 100', maybe more. I could easily see the bottom 80' below the boat at the first dive mooring.
The first site was Black Point, one of my favorite Kohala dive sites. fortunately there was little current when we arrived, a situation that can preclude diving this exposed site. But a buoy dropped off the boat hardly moved, indicating we were in luck. Black Point is a deep site that features a bit of black coral. We dropped to over 80' and explored the base of the reef for a few moments before working our way back into shallower water. A ridge of pinnacles and enormous boulders lies just landward of the mooring, alive with a wide variety of fish. We saw a number of species here that are rarely see elsewhere.
Deb and I were both wielding cameras, as usual lagging a bit behind the group. A couple times, finishing a series of photos, I noted Deb hovering above me looking... tolerant? She waved and pointed to where the rest of our group was disappearing over the reef. I have no issues with getting separated from the group, it happens, just so long as my dive partner is close by.
Our second dive was at Horseshoe, an excellent site that features any number of large caves. Lobster, ghost shrimp, cowries and more were common back in the caves. In one of the caves I found a perfect Leviathan Cowrie shell, fresh and glossy, but with no sign of the former inhabitant.
To properly celebrate the day I even had a birthday card for Deb. A nice card published by the North Kohala Underwater Greeting Card Company! A birthday card with a diving theme, a moray eel on the front, nicely laminated and waterproof. Hidden in my BCD pocket, I presented it to Deb sixty feet under water in the middle of the second dive.
A birthday without cake? Slicing a full cake on a dive boat may not have been practical, but cupcakes from our little local bakery, smuggled on boat when Deb wasn't looking, made a nice stand in for a real cake. A chorus of Happy Birthday rang across the water, sung by a group of tired and wet, but very happy divers.
It was a good day.
Fortunately conditions looked to be quite good. High surf warnings were in effect for windward shores, while our leeward side was forecast for gentle conditions. And despite heavy rains recently, the visibility along the North Kohala Coast was quite good, about 100', maybe more. I could easily see the bottom 80' below the boat at the first dive mooring.
The first site was Black Point, one of my favorite Kohala dive sites. fortunately there was little current when we arrived, a situation that can preclude diving this exposed site. But a buoy dropped off the boat hardly moved, indicating we were in luck. Black Point is a deep site that features a bit of black coral. We dropped to over 80' and explored the base of the reef for a few moments before working our way back into shallower water. A ridge of pinnacles and enormous boulders lies just landward of the mooring, alive with a wide variety of fish. We saw a number of species here that are rarely see elsewhere.
Deb and I were both wielding cameras, as usual lagging a bit behind the group. A couple times, finishing a series of photos, I noted Deb hovering above me looking... tolerant? She waved and pointed to where the rest of our group was disappearing over the reef. I have no issues with getting separated from the group, it happens, just so long as my dive partner is close by.
Our second dive was at Horseshoe, an excellent site that features any number of large caves. Lobster, ghost shrimp, cowries and more were common back in the caves. In one of the caves I found a perfect Leviathan Cowrie shell, fresh and glossy, but with no sign of the former inhabitant.
To properly celebrate the day I even had a birthday card for Deb. A nice card published by the North Kohala Underwater Greeting Card Company! A birthday card with a diving theme, a moray eel on the front, nicely laminated and waterproof. Hidden in my BCD pocket, I presented it to Deb sixty feet under water in the middle of the second dive.
A birthday without cake? Slicing a full cake on a dive boat may not have been practical, but cupcakes from our little local bakery, smuggled on boat when Deb wasn't looking, made a nice stand in for a real cake. A chorus of Happy Birthday rang across the water, sung by a group of tired and wet, but very happy divers.
It was a good day.
