Kona Aggressor II Captain's Logs

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report June 8 – 15, 2013

Weather: Sunny days, balmy nights
Water Temp: 78-80 degrees
Seas: Flat
Log Entry by Capt' Todd

The weather forecast this week? Not much happening, just the way we like it. No swell and light breezes out of the southwest, just enough to make it comfortable. Summer is officially here next week and along with it comes warm water and even warmer air, so, breeze if you please! We have an interesting combination of America's finest this week with Ken (law enforcement) and Karyn (forensics) from Phoenix, Bob (law enforcement) from Chicago, Zack (law enforcement) from New Jersey, Erin (law enforcement) also from Phoenix, (all by coincidence) and then there's Randy from Phoenix, Phil from Missouri, Patrick and Cathy from Texas, Jeff from Pennsylvania, and finally, Yukari from Tokyo!

Day one we headed to Kalakos Arches for some nice, relaxing "get wet and get set" diving in preparation for the week. Weight adjustments, new gear break-in and general re-acclimation were the order at hand. Once everyone was comfortable, we set about looking about and saw a spotted eagle ray, some moray eels and an octopus - all right there at Kalakos Arches. A great way to start the trip. We started south right after lunch and found our way to Chimney's for the 2:00 dive where we saw a white tip reef shark. Keahou Sheraton was our next dive site and where we were at for the rest of the afternoon. Later the entire day boat fleet joined us for the ‘Mantafest’; and it was quite an ensemble. We made sure to get in late, so everyone else would be gone by the time we surfaced. “Avoid all unnecessary confusion” I always say, and six gentle beasts joined the fray this night fulfilling our "Manta-Fanta" seas!

Monday we had new crewmember Adam leading on the morning dive at Meadows where he actually got lost! But not for long as he returned everybody safely and unruffled, but not before they saw TWO Octopus sitting like bookends on a rock - beginner's luck? We next tried the group out on a ‘live dive’ at City of Refuge. It turned out to be a piece of cake and they saw two more octopus too! We did Paradise Pinnacle for the 2:00 "indigestion dive" after chef Vern's massive "Mexican Monday" lunch buffet (happens every week!) The Hive was the place to be for the evening. It was alive with cusk eels and the smallest conger eel I've ever seen. Voracious little guy and I actually saw him eat two fish in a row. Divemaster Adam stumbled upon a titan scorpionfish while exploring the site and made sure everyone saw it, good job rookie

Tuesday we awoke at our mooring to find a spotted eagle ray on the surface circling around behind the boat - and not far off a large hammerhead shark cruised by. Normally a predator /prey situation as hammerhead sharks LOVE eagle rays - they taste like chicken! This unlikely couple seemed unfazed by each other (something's amiss!) We shook that eerie episode off and proceeded to Milolii Bluffs for a ‘live dive’. No hammerheads sighted here this time, but about 40 spinner dolphins cruised overhead and Karyn likened the experience to diving in someone's aquarium! Land of Oz was next where I showed everyone my "fave" fish in these parts - the rock mover wrasse in its various stages of development, from cute little leaf-like lads to the colorful and brawny reef re-arranging adults. After the dive I noticed Yukari in the salon with the critter book open to the dragon moray - apparently she saw one at Land of Oz! We spent the entire afternoon at Manuka Bay. I mentioned ahead of time that there was another dragon moray that lived here, and, you guessed it, she found it and got pictures this time! These rare predators must be enjoying their notoriety, because TWO more were seen on the night dive. There is simply never a dull moment around here.

As day broke over the bay the next morning a few hardy souls; Patrick, Yukari, Erin, Bob, Phil, Jeff and Ken arose for a Manuka Bay dawn dive, only to be visited by our old and long time missing friends the spinner dolphins. They showed up this time in large numbers and were quite feisty, doing flips and charging about, almost like they were happy to see us. A drift dive followed and then a stop at Au Au Crater for the evening.

Next door to Au Au is the shattered remnant of an ancient volcano; it's blown out caldera empties into the sea. An intriguing sight, we decided to explore it. I dropped everyone just outside of the reef it forms and let them peruse the ruptured topography and array of sealife that calls it home, including a zebra moray and an octopus. Late morning it was another ‘live dive’ at City of Refuge and then lunch was enjoyed at Kealakekua Bay where afterwards Erin and Patrick swam ashore to check out the Capt. Cook Monument. I then led another ‘live dive’ at the entrance to the bay where we swam through a few arches and saw a 7-11 crab. Amphitheater preceded a pelagic dive that evening.

Friday morning began with a ‘live dive’ at that cluster of day boat dive sites known as Kaiwe Point. They got lucky and saw a spotted eagle ray at the beginning of the dive and another before they surfaced, wow. The Predator Wreck wrapped up a pretty full week of diving.

We haven't had such an enthusiastic group of divers in awhile, with six divers - Erin, Patrick, Karyn, Ken, Yukari and Jeff - earning the "Iron Diver Award" and most of the rest just barely missing it! Well done everyone!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report June 15 – 22, 2013

We started off this week with a checkout dive at Driftwood in the Red Hill area south of Kona. Our group of experienced divers had no problems and we were off to a great start. On the morning dives we saw a pair of leaf scorpions, a yellow margin moray, some slipper lobster, and a pair of very amorous day octopi. We moved over to Meadows for the next dive and spotted a white mouth moray, a 7-11 crab, and a divided flatworm. As we cruised towards Mantaville we got very lucky and saw a large group of short fin pilot whales that were on the move. Very exciting! We did the next dive at Mantaville to get our divers familiar with the layout for the manta ray night dive. A daytime manta graced us on the 4:30 dive! We had an excellent manta showing for the night dive and our guests were very impressed by how actively the mantas feed on plankton inches away from us.

Monday morning we did a couple of dives at Amphitheater and explored its lava tubes and ledges. Aside from the great topography, we also spotted a Commerson’s frogfish, some eels, and a shark in the distance. We spent the rest of the day at Rob’s Reef. Some highlights were a very rare Henshaw’s snake eel, an endemic Hawaiian conger eel, and a pair of endemic red-stripe pipefish.

Tuesday we headed south to a crew favorite, Never Neverland. We were greeted by a massive school of pyramid butterflyfish under the boat. On the second dive we watched for about 10 minutes as a banded coral shrimp did some dental work on a very willing white mouth moray. We spent the afternoon and evening at Au Au Crater. We saw some long-handed lobster, a spotted eagle ray, a leaf scorpionfish, and another rare treat because as Peter was trying to take a picture of an orange mouth lizardfish, it launched out of the black sand and chomped down on a long-nose butterflyfish right in front of him! See the photo for the aftermath. :shocked2:

Wednesday morning we trekked over to Lion’s Den to start the day. A pair of ghost shrimp, an endemic Hawaiian red lionfish, a turtle, a curious octopus, and a rare snowflake moray graced us. After lunch we moved over to The Hive for the remainder of the day. The guys were very excited to come up and tell us about the hammerhead shark they saw cruising along the slope! The night dive delivered big too with a crazy looking mole cowry walking about, some decoy scorpions, many lobster, and a tiger snake moray.

Thursday morning we headed over to Paradise Pinnacle for a couple of dives. We checked out a couple of rare long nose hawkfish perched upon some black coral, a dwarf moray, and some red-stripe pipefish. At lunch we headed back up north to the Red Hill area and did a couple of dives at The Dome. Sharks, sharks, and more sharks! There were at least 5 white tip reef sharks all going in and out of the same cave for both dives. We just sat and watched as they cruised the reef, then headed back into the cave, then back to the reef. Amazing stuff!

Friday we finished off our week of diving at Kalokos Arches. Under water the divers saw an assortment of eels, a day octopus, and a horned helmet shell and a collector urchin facing off. On the surface a big pod of spinner dolphins passed right next to the boat, bidding our divers aloha!

A big Mahalo to our divers: Santo, Peter, and Bob. A special thanks to Peter for this week’s photos!

Captain James

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report June 22 – 29, 2013

We started off this week with a checkout dive at The Dome in the Red Hill area south of Kona. Everyone hopped in with no problems and we were off to a great start. On the morning dives we saw a dragon wrasse, peacock razor wrasse, a divided flatworm, and a white tip reef shark cruised through The Dome on dive 2. We swung by The Chimney for a quick dive after lunch and then continued on to Mantaville. We had a great showing on the night dive and had a big group of active mantas feeding for the whole dive. Definitely the group’s favorite dive of the trip!

Monday morning we did a couple of dives at Amphitheater and explored its lava tubes and ledges. Eels, eels, and more eels. We also saw another manta while there. We spent the rest of the day at Rob’s Reef. Some highlights were a pair of endemic red-stripe pipefish, a big yellow margin moray, and a white tip reef shark hanging out in a shallow cave.

Tuesday we headed south to a crew favorite, Never Neverland. A massive school of pyramid butterflyfish under the boat greeted us. We also saw some milkfish and a pair of large jacks cruised past the edge of the crater. We spent the afternoon and evening at Au Au Crater. We saw some long-handed lobster, an octopus, and a very big white mouth moray.

Wednesday morning we started the day at Paradise Pinnacle. A friendly octopus, along with a trembling nudibranch was discovered and we had a nice turtle encounter in the shallows. We spent the afternoon at Lion’s Den. Some highlights there were a green sea turtle, an ulua, a pair of saddleback butterflyfish, and an endemic titan scorpionfish. After dive 4 we headed way out to sea for a Pelagic Magic dive. Our divers dangled below the boat in deep, deep water and watched in awe as plankton migrated to the surface.

Thursday morning we headed to Turtle Pinnacle for a couple of dives. A massive Commerson’s frogfish awaited us in the sand patch near the pinnacle. We spent the rest of the day at Kalokos Arches and explored the beautiful lava formations.

Friday we finished off our week of diving with a couple of wrecks! We started on the Naked Lady. Some bi-colored anthias were hanging out as well as some endemic domino damselfish. We moved over the The Predator and had an amazing dive! We saw one of the rarest reef fish in Hawaii, a male Whitley’s boxfish. A spotted eagle ray swam past to say hello, and an octopus poked his head out to greet us as well. A wonderful end to a great week of diving.

A big Mahalo to our divers: Robert and Teresa, Jason and Jessica, Tom, Rudi, and John. Congratulations again, to Robert and Teresa on 35 years of marriage! Thanks for spending your anniversary with us!

Captain James

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report June 29 – July 6, 2013

After most of our guests boarded and enjoyed a lovely locally caught Ahi tuna dinner and a good night's sleep, we woke up Sunday morning and headed north to Turtle Pinnacle for our check out dive. Everyone looked great and loved what the pinnacle had to offer. The dive site lived up to its namesake and delivered a green sea turtle being cleaned by a school of yellow tang. We had a few late arrivals, and as we brought 4 guests out from the harbor in the skiff we had a massive tiger shark swim right next to the skiff at the surface. Not a bad start to a week of diving! During lunch we moved the boat over to Hoover's Tower for our first afternoon dive. The divers saw an endemic red-stripe pipefish, a giant moray, and a puffer fish. We spent the rest of the day at Kalokos Arches. We were greeted by a large bait ball under the boat and also saw a divided flatworm, an endemic gold-lace nudibranch, and a school of pennant butterflyfish.

Monday morning we started our journey south and stopped by Driftwood first thing for a couple of dives. A couple of dwarf morays peaked out from their hiding spots, as did an octopus and a sharp-nose wrasse. After lunch we swung by Chimney to check out the cool lava formation that the site is named for and found a friendly octopus right under the boat. We finished the day at Mantaville. After making us wait for what seemed like forever, the mantas showed up and gave us quite a show! We even had one follow us back to the boat and did back flips next to the boat all through the night, and was still there when we woke up the next morning.

We started at Amphitheater Tuesday morning to check out the lava tubes. In addition to the neat topography, we also had a visit from a green sea turtle, a porcupine puffer, and saw an assortment of nudibranchs. After a couple of dives we headed further south to Rob's Reef. Tuesday was also our guests Dave and Shelley's 19th anniversary and they asked to see something big. The turtle we saw at the beginning of the dive wasn't enough so we headed out to the slope in front of the boat. We barely made it past the boat when a massive ten-foot hammerhead swam right at us! We got a great look before he turned and swam off into the blue!

Wednesday we made out way down to Never Neverland. We had our second bait ball of the week, this one right inside the crater. We watched in awe as the mass of mackerel scad balled up all around us. We were visited by a couple of extremely curious sea turtles as well. We finished the day at The Hive. Some highlights there were an assortment of lobsters, a grouping of blue dragon nudibranchs, an octopus out in the open, and an endemic Hawaiian conger eel. We also spotted a couple of leaf scorpionfish right under the boat.

Thursday we started the day at Paradise Pinnacle. The divers loved the deep-water pinnacle and had a blast working their way through the canyons closer to shore. At lunch we headed back north to check out The Dome. A white tip reef shark got our divers excited as it swam in and out of the actual dome. We also saw a peacock razor wrasse, and a dragon wrasse out in the sand. After a couple dives there we headed back to the mooring to enjoy a Fourth of July fireworks show right in front of our mooring. You could not have asked for better seats to such a beautiful show.

Friday morning we started the day on the Naked Lady, a sunken sailboat. Underneath we saw the biggest moray our divers had ever seen. For dive two, we headed back to Turtle Pinnacle because everyone had so much fun there the first day of the trip. We were rewarded with a spotted eagle ray fly by and many beautiful fish!

A big Mahalo to our divers this week: Bryan and Tom, Shelley and Dave, Dale and Debbie, Tony and Bonnie, and Allan and Mary.

A special thanks to Dale for this weeks photos. Also a very happy 19th anniversary to Shelley and Dave and a happy 30th anniversary to Dale and Debbie! Thanks for spending your special day with us!

Captain James

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report July 6 – 13, 2013

This week we started off by heading south Sunday morning for a checkout dive at Driftwood. The divers looked great and so did the reef. We were graced by a white tip reef shark, a green sea turtle, a rock mover wrasse, and a zebra moray. During lunch we headed over to The Chimney for a dive. We checked out the neat lava formation and then slid over to Mantaville for the rest of the day. We got some daytime manta ray action on the late afternoon dive, so we knew we were in store for a great night. We had a wonderful manta ray night dive, which is what Kona is famous for. We had mantas feeding on plankton in front of us for a whole hour!

First thing Monday we checked out the lava tubes at Amphitheater. After one lovely dive there we stopped by Ridges. Ridges delivered big with a divided flatworm, a puffer fish, lobster, and a crowned tobie. At lunch we cruised all the way down to Rob’s Reef. We spent the afternoon and night here and saw lots of great stuff. Some highlights were a huge conger eel in the cave and a Spanish dancer that was out and about during the day!

Tuesday morning we showed our divers the beauty of Tubastraea Tunnel. Sunbeams came down through the natural skylights and lit up the coral majestically. There were nudibranchs everywhere: fried egg, white margin, snow goddess, and Tom Smith’s. Next we checked out Land of Oz. Down in the sand channel we had a couple of peacock razor wrasse and some milkfish. We spent the rest of the day at beautiful Manuka Bay. Karl took the divers out deep to see some rare bi-colored anthias on the first dive. We also had an assortment of morays, including a yellow margin that ate a yellow tang right in front of the group!

Wednesday morning we started the day at Thompson’s Reef. Above the arch was a big school of Thompson’s butterfly fish that the site is named after. We also saw two white tip reef sharks circling under a large boulder. We did the next couple of dives at Never Neverland and had perfect conditions. There were huge schools of butterfly fish, a turtle, and lots of macro life. We spent the rest of the day at The Hive, which delivered big, as always. We saw many scorpionfish including leafs, decoy, and the endemic titan scorpionfish. We also had a conger eel, endemic red Hawaiian lionfish, and a pair of Spanish dancers mating inside the cave at night.

Thursday we spent the morning at Paradise Pinnacle and had some very rare fish. There was a pair of extremely uncommon green Hawaiian lionfish sitting together on one coral head. Joe and Lori were able to track down a rare eel, the dragon moray, see Joe’s photo. Great find! After lunch we checked out Meadows and saw some flame angels, a frogfish, and a hawksbill turtle. We finished the afternoon at The Dome and checked out the cool skylight and cracks and crevices of the cave. We finished the night with a Pelagic Magic night dive a few miles off shore. Our divers were amazed at the plankton migration that took place before their eyes. Lots of pretty jellyfish and odd shaped critters were all making their way to the surface.

Friday morning we finished off the trip at Turtle Pinnacle. We saw an endemic harem of psychedelic wrasse including the male. On the last dive we had an eagle ray sore by to bid aloha to our divers!

A big thanks to all of our divers this week, they made it a very fun and easy week! Mahalo to Lionel, Mike, Brad, Dillon, Glen, Rick, Krista, Fred, Myra, Joe, Lori, Daniel, and Phil!

Captain James

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report July 13 – 20, 2013

This Saturday we welcomed our guests aboard and took them out to the mooring for a nice Ahi tuna dinner. After a good night’s sleep we headed north Sunday morning and stopped by Turtle Pinnacle for our check out dives. Everyone was off to a great start. We saw some octopus and large moray eels. During lunch we continued north and stopped at Garden Eel Cove. During the afternoon dives we had great luck as some of the many finds were a juvenile frogfish, a pair of scrawled filefish, a devil scorpionfish, and a peacock flounder. A couple of divers and I skipped a dive to snorkel with some spinner dolphins which let us get close enough for many photos! After dinner was the world famous Kona Manta Ray night dive! We were graced with over a dozen of these magnificent creatures feeding on plankton right in front of us for the whole dive!

Monday morning we headed south to Amphitheater for a couple of dives. In addition to the beautiful lava tubes, we saw a dwarf moray, a rainbow swimming crab, and an assortment of colorful reef fish dancing above the coral. During lunch we headed way south to Rob’s Reef. On the first dive we explored the lava tube that goes way into the island. We spotted a couple of endemic Hawaiian conger eels resting up for the night dive. We also saw a peacock razor wrasse dive into the sand as well as an assortment of shrimp and other crustaceans.

Tuesday we continued south to Never Neverland. All the rare fish were out today. Over the course of two dives we saw the extremely rare Tinker’s butterflyfish, as well as a couple of bandit angelfish! We also tracked down a couple of tiny wire coral shrimp camouflaged on the strands of wire coral. We spent the rest of the afternoon and night at The Hive. As always, The Hive delivered big on sea life. We saw leaf scorpions, decoy scorpions, titan scorpions, a massive sleepy sponge crab, some Spanish dancers, and every species of crab and shrimp you could imagine! The divers were very impressed with their finds.

Wednesday we started the day at Paradise Pinnacle. We were able to track down a pair of elusive long nose hawkfish hiding on a black coral bush. There was also a pair of extremely rare endemic green Hawaiian lionfish hanging out. After lunch we checked out Au Au Crater. Here our divers saw a leaf scorpionfish, some endemic red-striped pipefish, and some tear drop butterfly fish in the afternoon. On the night dive everything came out to play. A few great finds were a very rare Tuberculose nudibranch, an orange mouth lizardfish, a Spanish dancer, a pair of undulated morays, and some endemic Hawaiian red lionfish.

Thursday morning we started bright and early at Lion’s Den. The divers spotted a pair of endemic crowned tobies and were led back to the boat by a spotted eagle ray. We headed way north at lunch to The Dome where the divers saw another spotted eagle ray! There were also some razor wrasse bobbing around in the sand. During dinner we drove way off shore for some Pelagic Magic action! Our daring divers hung on lines positioned at about 30 feet, in water that is 3000 feet deep, to watch as plankton migrates to the surface. We had a wonderful show of dozens of different plankton species, as well as a big school of squid that circled our lights!

Friday we finished off the week with a couple of dives at Kalokos Arches as the sun beamed down to highlight the beautiful lava formations of the site. The divers saw yet another spotted eagle ray. The group also witnessed a large yellow margin moray do his best to eat an octopus. A cloud of black ink was all it took to help the octopus find a safe haven and live to see another day J

A big Mahalo to our wonderful group of divers for coming out and making our week great: Bill, Mike, David, Pat, Susan, Jennifer, Craig, Audrey, Kent, Sue, and Greg! Special thanks to Bill and Mike for this week’s captain’s log photos. Aloha everyone!

Captain James

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report July 20 – 27, 2013

Weather: Partly sunny (Vog), light westerly breezes in the afternoons.
Water temp: 80 degrees!
Seas: Flat
Log Entry by Capt' Todd

Well God Bless Texas! That's right, "Gene's" dive shop: Amarillo Scuba, from - you guessed it, Amarillo Texas, brought out the lucky first fourteen to sign up for the trip. Along with Gene, it's Alan & Maria, Alan's brother Brent & "B", John & Beverly, Gary & Michelle, Roger & Ellen, Adam & Holly, and finally, going stag, it's Tom! Some of the group is new and some are returnees. So for some it will be the best trip they've ever had on this boat and for the others, a trip that will be hard to beat - so says "I”!!

A "two dive" session at Meadows started the ball rolling this week with everyone in and out and around the various arches and swim throughs. We saw an octopus, a white-mouthed moray, and John got some footage of a zebra moray that Lola spotted. After lunch, our intended destination was Rob's Reef, but we were re-routed to Paradise Pinnacle due to kayak activity there. The pinnacle was alive with activity; we discovered the resident lionfish (2) as well as the red striped pipefish and a gold-laced nudi. By 4:30 the kayakers had moved on and it was to Rob's Reef we went. Our engineer Robert led the dive while "B" and hubby Brent hung out near the stern line for their own private dive.

Monday morning we found zero current at The Maze (a rarity) and took advantage of this. We were able to explore the southern regions, which we normally avoid and were pleased with beautiful terrain consisting of large healthy coral towers and stark white sand channels. With the absence of current we dropped in next to Thompson's Reef, another seldom dived spot. Matt led and they encountered not one, but two white tipped reef sharks. That fired up these Texans! We spent the rest of the day at Manuka Bay and the night dive was right up there with the best of em'. Footage was gathered by John of a yellow margin moray feeding on a hapless yellow tang, a horned helmet putting the hammer down on a collector urchin (as a flowery flounder lingered very near by, almost like it was watching the drama unfold) and John was the hero of the evening by spotting the "golden egg" - a Dragon Moray!

Tuesday and we ventured around the corner to Catacombs where we went first thing and saw a hawksbill turtle and a large pelagic manta ray. Land of Oz provided the razor wrasses that I LOVE so much (one starts to develop little fetishes out here after awhile) It was Neverland after lunch, followed by a stay at The Hive where we spent most of one dive right below the boat searching out nudi's (there were many this day!) Tales of past "night critter encounters" at dinner lured most of the group out for the night dive where they now have memories of their own of this special place.

Wednesday started with a visit to Au Au Crater. Tom went looking for the resident turtle there, but instead found a white tip and a spotted eagle ray (that's okay!) Lion's Den was next where we saw some dolphins and then we headed on up to Amphitheater where we all worked off lunch during a very aerobic tour of the entire site, exploring both lava tubes and all parts in between. The evening had "Mantas" written all over it as we paid a visit to Mantaville. Fortunately we arrived early, because I think every boat in Kona turned out. It was quite a circus, but our skillful DM's were able to maintain a tight grip on the group and navigate through the chaos to what turned out to be quite a show with 5 Mantas!

Thursday we ventured north to see what was cooking at Garden Eel Cove (I've been gone for five weeks and I just had to see what was going on up there). We first stopped at Aquarium and Kalokos Arches en route for the morning dives. Two mantas were spotted in the afternoon and spelled good odds of a successful night dive and it was! Five or six of these magnificent creatures showed up and lingered behind our boat afterward for the entire night.

We wrapped up a great week at Turtle Pinnacle where we got the "total package"- a large green turtle and a handsome young Tiger Shark!

Beverly knocked down her 500th dive with us this week, and John, Tom, Gary and Lola were our “Iron Divers “this week, and... Adam had to "one up" everyone by doing TWO additional dives this week making him...ULTRA DIVER! On top of that, he jumped off the cliff and asked his lovely Holly to marry him afterward! You big Texas stud! Well done! See you on your honeymoon!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report July 27 – Aug 3, 2013

Weather: Hazy sunshine accented w/a tropical storm!
Water: 80ish
Seas: Wind chop during "Flossie", otherwise flat.
Log Entry by: Capt' Todd

This week we welcome back our beloved family friends: Kiera, Katelyn, Kimberly and Paul - the reader. Eighteen months have passed since their last visit, and it seems like only yesterday that we certified the girls. Also onboard this week: Australian nationals Lindy and Paul, Kara and Chris (all the way from Maryland), Charles, also a KAII returnee from Seattle, and Stephanie from California.

Big manta counts lately and a looming tropical storm in the next few days spurred us to knock of the Manta dive straight away. We first stopped at the regular spots along the way, including Kalokos Arches for a couple of dives. Kimberly tracked down an octopus, we fed a horned helmet, and saw a spotted eagle ray, and that was just dive #1! An adolescent rock mover wrasse and a dragon moray spotted by Paul were the big deal on dive two. Garden Eel Cove was beautiful and calm, calm before the storm that is! Dive three was a great manta experience and several were seen. The night dive as well was filled with Mantas. Twenty plus (20+) was the official count by resident "Manta pro" Keller Laros (he posts info of the previous nights' sightings in detail online the next day). Then it was back to the shelter of Kona Harbor for the rest of the night, the storm being predicted to hit early Monday morning.

Monday morning found us securely fastened to the mighty Kona Pier, but with no storm in sight it became a waiting game and we sent the group to the movies! They saw "Pacific Rim" (great mindless entertainment I'm told, all special effects and minimal acting) "Flossie", the only tropical storm to hit the island since 2006 (when a storm of the SAME NAME drenched this place) stalled and had us all waiting around like stood up prom dates. She finally made landfall here in the form of 40+ knot winds out of the south in the late afternoon. I put everyone up in a hotel as a precaution and everyone got a night on the town compliments of the KAII!

Early Tuesday, with the storm reduced to little more than some confused clouds west of us, it was time to get back to the business at hand - DIVING. We high-tailed it south to get back on track for dive one. At Chimney, Kimberly once again flushed out a prize: a tiger snake moray, (but she couldn't get him to smile). Amphitheater opened up its lava tube to our divers and Dive Master Karl found a leaf scorpionfish (he's got an eye for those guys), another octopus, and a giant moray. We made long run at lunch on the Kona Aggressor II to Paradise Pinnacle where Paul was excited to see a red striped pipefish. The Hive was surge-less and beautiful, and it was time to do some thorough exploring of the cave this evening (my dive - yippee). We saw a "vast array" of crustaceans: regal slippers, sculptured slippers, tufted slippers (it was a shoe store!) along with banded spiny lobsters, several mollusks (including a rare sighting of both leviathan and tiger cowries fully enveloped in their mantles (photo). There was a tense moment when I was rudely nudged by an over zealous conger eel that was anxious to get into my lights beam to grab a snack in the form of a hapless little yellow tang. Gulp! And we were all transfixed by a strange translucent worm-like creature gliding in and among the nooks and crannies. We're still wondering about that one!

Wednesday it was time for these guys to try a "live dive" so I dropped them at the Cliffs of Milolii, the "Hammerhead Hangout", and sure enough, one of the old boys made a swim by appearance, right on cue! (That makes us four for five here!) We then backtracked to Neverland followed by another "live dive" at Calderas. Very interesting site, and it held some cool creatures like a hairy hermit crab that was on his way somewhere, and an angry looking viper moray with teeth this big! Au Au Crater for the evening - where Charles (who incidentally has been very dedicated to "critter board" entries) noted: a long handed lobster, octopus, undulated moray (he caught a fish!), slipper lobster and a baby conger eel among other things.

Thursday a turtle was spotted at Lion's Den and some feeding spinner dolphins eluded detection by those beneath, but were seen by those of us above! I took the group on a "live dive" at City of Refuge in search of a really neat lava tube that I stumbled upon weeks before. No luck, but we did discover some nice fish-filled grottos and swim-throughs that were holding some octopus. Driftwood was fine until a mystery current showed itself. We next took off towards the setting sun for a Pelagic Dive, where I thought I heard the girls squealing with delight afterwards, but it turned out to be dad Paul! Ha! Guess he was impressed as this turned out to be one of our most prolific blackwater dives yet!

Friday we went in search of turtles and tiger sharks at Turtle Pinnacle then finished at the Predator Wreck for a "Submarine Show" performance.

Thanks Kimberly for the photos this week.

A "well done” to our Iron Divers: Paul, Kimberly, Stephanie and Charles.

Milestones this week: Katelyn and Kiera completed dive #25 each, Paul - dive #300, Kimberly - dive #500, Charles - dive #200, and Stephanie - dive #300!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report August 3 – 10, 2013

Weather: Partly sunny with a "Voggy" accent.
Water: Holding @ 80 F
Seas: Lovely
Log Entry by: Capt' Todd

Well, "la familia Randal" had such a splendid time last week with us that they've decided to do it again, right here right now! Along with them, this week: Jim and Rick, dive buddies from "Philly", Ron and Danielle, also from "Philly" (and they don't even know each other! - not yet anyway) Joy and Bradley, Carol and Greg, and rounding out the bunch, Rainer, direct from Stuttgart Germany (can you say "jetlag"?)

I've decide to put the "pointy end" to the south right off this week, and save the ‘Manta Mayhem for later in the week (something to look forward to). Checked everyone out at Meadows, had them all in the underwater cavern in no time - all good divers. Saw a dwarf moray that started Kimberly clicking away. Joy spotted a yellow frogfish that we've never seen here before (was probably right there in front of us for months and never saw him - good camouflage!) Ridges had a cheek spot scorpionfish sitting idly by and Lion's Den was where the white tips were hanging out (2) and we saw many mollusks in the big cave at Rob's Reef.

Monday we cruised south to Tubestrea Tunnel where it was nudibranch city! (a Tom Smith, snow goddess, and gold laced to name but a few) And the famous resident hairy hermits were in place. Two spotted eagle rays were feeding on shellfish in the sand channels at Land of Oz. Stoney Mesas, a great site that we don't visit enough, was alive with Moorish idols, goatfish taunting an octopus, and one of my favorites, the unicorn fish, were milling about under the boat feeding on Chef Vern's Mexican buffet leftovers that made their way down through the garbage disposal. Lots to talk about at Manuka Bay! Even as we described the diversity of this place at the briefing, it seemed an even larger variety of life was discovered on the dives. Along with the standard fare: the big conger eel, the rock mover wrasses, tiger cowries and big lobsters in the swim-through, Paul found two dragon morays on the night dive. I found a baby stout moray, never seen one of those before and I've been here how many times? Also a tiger snake eel, a peacock razor wrasse and several leaf scorpionfish. The list goes on and on. Even had some hungry jacks under the dive lights in the wee hours of the morning.

Wednesday, Catacombs began the day followed by a drift dive (yes, a little current!) Kimberly and Katelyn saw a spotted eagle ray out in the deep blue as they waited for Second Captain Karl to come pick them up. Neverland showed its pyramid butterflyfish and the view from the edge was stunning. The Hive was a good dive, no surge and everyone got into the cave. Those pesky leaf scorpionfish were here too.

Au Au Crater was our first spot Thursday morning, the best time to be here. Bradley caught the idea of just "being" on this dive (hovering at about 60' in the center of the Crater and just taking it all in, you should try it! Just ask Bradley . A live dive at a new spot along the way north revealed nothing too extraordinary, but Ron mentioned that there was nothing more relaxing than just meandering along the reef, with no particular place to go and just enjoying the changing scenery, I fully agree! We saw some spinner dolphins at lunchtime at Capt. Cook Monument, then on to The Dome. The site was a treat to all that dove it and inside the Dome itself was like a merry go round with light surge giving everyone a nice ride. Amphitheater was our next site, the lava tube wasn't happening due to surge, but the group got a kick out of the "Nudi Arch" and crevice-filled peninsulas holding a yellow margin moray and an octopus. We continued north to Mantaville where we enjoyed what had to be the best show I've seen here yet. More mantas than we could count and they stayed right on top of us the entire dive.

After a night on the mooring, we headed further north to Aquarium. We were entertained by some very active rock mover wrasses that were hastily rearranging their local environments like neurotic little interior decorators. Next was a live dive at Kalokos Beach Park (a first) followed (not much there, but once again, nice to explore the unexplored) with an afternoon at Garden Eel Cove. The local spinner dolphin squad was putting on an unusual display of hyper activity; I swear they were trying to fly! The Manta Show was par excellence making it a double dinger this week on the ideal Manta dives. We then did an unusual VERY early morning dawn dive before we weighed anchor and were surprised by some very bold (and large) bottlenose dolphins. Rick and Jim practically landed right on top of them when they stepped off the dive platform (that'll wake you up!)

Friday it was a stop at Kalokos Arches on the way home, and we were joined by a mysterious stranger in a grey striped suit – Tiger Shark! He came and went in the blink of an eye though, but Paul still managed to get some split second footage. An actual drift dive wrapped up the week; we started at Sharkfin Rock, drifting down through the Old Airport site and then back to Sharkfin Rock (the current reversed during the dive!)

We had six individuals whose efforts garnered them the coveted "Iron Diver" medallion this week: Paul, Kimberly, Rick, Jim, Carol and Greg, you know who you are! (and so does everyone else now...)

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain’s Report August 17 -24, 2013

Weather: Same old balmy sunshine, light breezes in the afternoons
Seas: Flat
Water Temp: +-80 degrees
Log Entry: Capt' Todd

"Scuba Connection" dive shop of PA is out this week. Proprietors Sydney and George were nice enough to make the Kona Aggressor II the destination for this year’s dive trip destination. They advertised this trip online to their hardy followers and it filled in 10 minutes! Guess we need a bigger boat! The lucky few who jumped on in time (in addition to Sydney and George of course): Dave and Gail, Jim and Brenda, Art and Lynne, Katherine, Vicki, Ray, Bob and Lauralee.

We all had a nice chat after dinner on the sundeck Saturday night and everyone was "rocked" to sleep afterward. The next morning it was an early start, first to the pier to get some specially requested seltzer water for our charter masters, then on to Kalokos Arches for the whole morning. A hawksbill turtle made an appearance and an unusual crown jelly floated by. Karl and John made a foray out onto the sandy wasteland of Garden Eel Cove and set John's video camera out to catch the wily long armed octopus creeping about and the garden eels coming out in the absence of humans. Next time John's going to hit "record" though, so we can all see it! (DOH!) The Mantas were in full force and we saw a couple of eels on the way back to the boat. While I had another of my "OMG!" moments when I saw what appeared to be at first, three juvenile threadfin jacks (African pompano) flitting about. But after researching them in the "Hoover's" book I realized they weren't! Fact is I don't know what they were. It’s going to take some local knowledge and I’ll get back to you on that.

After a night on the mooring at Garden Eel Cove, it was off to Aquarium and then a "live dive" at Sharkfin Rock. At lunchtime we crossed to the Redhill area, followed by a stop at Meadows and then the night at The Dome.

Tuesday I untied in the dark to get an early start for the long run south to Lion's Den followed by another "live dive" at Caldera's. Paradise Pinnacle was our dive site after lunch and then we slid into Rob's Reef where we saw a sleeping conger eel in the cave and a tiger cowrie fully enveloped in its mantle. Three divers made the nighttime expedition and ventured to the cave again where they saw some more eels.

Wednesday we visited the Maze and it was just the men this time. Every time I dive there it seems I find new terrain, this time in the shallows along the very rugged shoreline. Neverland was led by new crewmember Hannah and then we enjoyed an afternoon/evening dive at The Hive. It was definitely a crowd favorite this week. In fact, Kathy, Brenda, Jim, Ray and Bob all got up disgustingly early to do a dawn dive here, and Lisa talked everyone into staying there for the first scheduled dive-unprecedented! (And just when those poor critters in the cave thought they were rid of us...)

So Thursday, after our unprecedented "morning after" dive at The Hive, we did a "morning service" I'm calling it, at the Crater - Au Au Crater that is (should be called "Awe Awe"), and took in the mornings' spectacular rays of sunshine down over the edge of the crater. Back up to the Redhill area we went after lunch and explored the back bay at Amphitheater where lots of yellows tangs and assorted triggerfish were moving about. We then decided on one more Manta experience, so we dropped in at the Keahhoe Sheraton for ‘Manta Mayhem’ part two and we stayed the night there.

Friday, we made an early run back to the pier to drop off our chef to shop, and then our divers finished the trip at Turtle Pinnacle. Thanks to Art, Ray, Bob and Lauralee for the pics this week, and a special Mahalo (again) to Sydney and George for choosing us as your "Scuba Connection Summer 2013" dive extravaganza!