It's been quite a while since my last South Shore dive (recently moved back), and Makena Landing welcomed me back spectacularly.
My BDB BeannieBrew needed to rinse off some Alaska Winter rust before a Lanai Trip next week, and she brought a very full 80 cft. I retaliated by renting a very full 100 cft (Maui Dreams).
The weather and swell were just arriving but this was our only opening to get Jeannie wet before Sunday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon sounds like it will be ugly. There was a healthy wind chop but the vis looked decent outside the 5 fathom mark (deeper than 30' for you land lubbers).
We were so ready to dive we only did half our normal surface swim and the 20' vis of the shallow beginning was better than the surface chop by a long shot. The plan was to nearly get to the Five Graves entry, circle around and out to the North reef tip, drift down to the South reef tip and hopefully have enough air to check out the first two caves again on return.
I didn't even bring the strobe or a dive light, which was questionable planning considering the caves and surge; distance (air) was the first objective. Should have brought the strobe! (Note to self - take strobe at Five Caves!)
Spent more time (air) than planned in the first two caves, so we skipped the big cave entrance on the North finger, diagonaling straight over the top to look in the back exit. Continued as planned and had good turtle encounters all along the South finger. (Note to self - put the WAL back on more often!)
Not a bad dive even by my admittedly high standards; 9 sharks (most ever at this site), more than 20 turtles and at least 10 big porcupine puffers on the shallow side of the big lava tube (a couple real monsters - strobe?). After untying the flag and making it back to within 75 yds of the Landing, I chose to surface with ~300 psi, instead of waiting for 90 minutes to show on my 'puter (rented tank and all).
Explaining that to Jeannie, she laughed and showed me a 250 psi gauge; the first psi victory ever for me (yes I know I had 20 cft bigger tank - I quite diving the same size as her a long time ago). All our extremities were numb and blue; water temp 72, full foot fins, Jeannie is going to finally order a 5 mm suit and only wear the fleece lined skin on shorter/warmer dives.
My BDB BeannieBrew needed to rinse off some Alaska Winter rust before a Lanai Trip next week, and she brought a very full 80 cft. I retaliated by renting a very full 100 cft (Maui Dreams).
The weather and swell were just arriving but this was our only opening to get Jeannie wet before Sunday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon sounds like it will be ugly. There was a healthy wind chop but the vis looked decent outside the 5 fathom mark (deeper than 30' for you land lubbers).
We were so ready to dive we only did half our normal surface swim and the 20' vis of the shallow beginning was better than the surface chop by a long shot. The plan was to nearly get to the Five Graves entry, circle around and out to the North reef tip, drift down to the South reef tip and hopefully have enough air to check out the first two caves again on return.
I didn't even bring the strobe or a dive light, which was questionable planning considering the caves and surge; distance (air) was the first objective. Should have brought the strobe! (Note to self - take strobe at Five Caves!)
Spent more time (air) than planned in the first two caves, so we skipped the big cave entrance on the North finger, diagonaling straight over the top to look in the back exit. Continued as planned and had good turtle encounters all along the South finger. (Note to self - put the WAL back on more often!)
Not a bad dive even by my admittedly high standards; 9 sharks (most ever at this site), more than 20 turtles and at least 10 big porcupine puffers on the shallow side of the big lava tube (a couple real monsters - strobe?). After untying the flag and making it back to within 75 yds of the Landing, I chose to surface with ~300 psi, instead of waiting for 90 minutes to show on my 'puter (rented tank and all).
Explaining that to Jeannie, she laughed and showed me a 250 psi gauge; the first psi victory ever for me (yes I know I had 20 cft bigger tank - I quite diving the same size as her a long time ago). All our extremities were numb and blue; water temp 72, full foot fins, Jeannie is going to finally order a 5 mm suit and only wear the fleece lined skin on shorter/warmer dives.
