Great shots and reviews, what are you shooting with?
Kona, Hawaii Trip Report - Jan 19-Feb 2, 2006
- Thread starter mer
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OP
Camera is:
DC500 Reefmaster and housing (5 MP, auto focus and white balance, exposure 1 step down)
On some shots: Reefmaster Wetmate Wide Angle lens
ATP 2GB 150x card
Sea & Sea YS90 Strobe with fiber optic link (cable retrofitted to work with the Reefmaster)
Sea & Sea Multi-Stay and Extra long Loc-Line Arm
DC500 Reefmaster and housing (5 MP, auto focus and white balance, exposure 1 step down)
On some shots: Reefmaster Wetmate Wide Angle lens
ATP 2GB 150x card
Sea & Sea YS90 Strobe with fiber optic link (cable retrofitted to work with the Reefmaster)
Sea & Sea Multi-Stay and Extra long Loc-Line Arm
OP
Day 12 Highlights
The greatly anticipated long range day. And you gotta love the ratio today: 5 crew to 2 guests… 2 of Dive Tek Hawaii’s Captains, 3 DMs, all jonesing to get South and get in the water.
It’s just under a 2 hour ride from the harbor to Au Au Crater at 16-17 kts on Kahanuola. The Southern sites have much different bottom topography to them and can be rather easily affected by surge.
Au Au Crater is a submerged crater with one side that has collapsed. This translates to dramatic, several-hundred-foot drop-offs and probably some of the only true wall diving in the state other than the Back Wall of Molokini off Maui. The shallowest part of the crater floor is 80ish feet and slopes off quickly from that with crater walls rising on either side. The swim, over the blue, from one side of the crater to another, was absolutely amazing. It would definitely take a few dives here to get fully familiar with the terrain. This is also a site used for deep tech training or other tech dives, as there is interesting topography much deeper than normal for Hawaiian dive sites.
You can recognized Au Au Crater by the small pinnacle, rising 20’ out of the water, just off land, where the locals have a cable run from the shore. On the weekends, they will wince themselves across this cable to fish off the pinnacle for deep-water fish. Au Au in Hawaiian means “bath,” and there is a tide pool that forms next to this pinnacle from which it’s name is derived.
Au Au Crater is not the best site for seeing tons and tons of fish. Visability was amazing at over 100’. The sheer walls are the main attraction; however, we did see some pretty neat stuff. Right after decent, we got up close and personal with a very laid back turtle. Also saw a big Spotted Puffer Fish, a Lion Fish, Gold-lace and Fissured Nudibranchs and the largest Titan Scorpion Fish the crew has ever seen (24-30” long).
For the second dive we scooted north a bit to Paradise Pinnacles, named for two massive pinnacles off the village of Kona Paradise. Cute little town, rises up from the water in a swath of land defined by a single, steep road dropping down to the water, and nothing but wilderness around it. Paradise Pinnacles is known for a more fish, but still has interesting topography, mini-walls and canyons to explore. Saw some black coral and a Hairy Hermet Crab, but the highlight of the dive was watching a Triton’s Trumpet come a good ways out of it’s shell in an attempt to eat a Crown-of-Thorns Sea Star and the subsequent hauling-***** of the normally-sluggish sea star. Oh, and don’t forget about the appearance of the Great Spool Bandit (don’t challenge the crew that they can’t steel something from you during the dive, cause they can, and they will.)
For the third dive, we went a bit more up the coast to Three Room, just south of one of Rob’s, one the Kona Aggressor dive sites. Three Room is notable for its multi-roomed cavern that extends back under dry land quite a ways and potentially has connecting lava tubes to nearby caverns. Very much impacted by surgy conditions and with the potential for overhead environment, it’s an advanced dive. The cavern is very pretty and saw some great stuff including 3 Spanish Dancers, many large Tiger and other Cowries, Cowries with their mantle (what makes the shell) out, Crabs eating a Cowry, 4 different types of Lobsters, tons of sponges, big Soldierfish, a massive Porcupinefish, and a massive Peacock Grouper.
Man do these guys love to dive... most of them were on their day off. I wished I had a picture of DM Tim in water before the Three Room dive, 10 minutes before the rest of us were ready, grinning from ear to ear.
Less than 90 minutes later we’re back at the dock.
Day 12 Pics: Au Au Crater
Turtle Close-up
Turtle in Morning Sun
Interesting Topography
Amazing Walls – Owner Keith off in the Distance
Lion Fish
Massive Titan Scorpionfish 1
Massive Titan Scorpionfish 2
Massive Titan Scorpionfish 3
Gold-lace Nudibranch
Day 12 Pics: Paradise Pinnacles
Black Coral on underside of a little overhang
Hungry Triton’s Trumpet
Triton’s Trumpet close-up
Triton’s Trumpet vs Crown-of-Thorns Sea Star… the Sea Star eventually escaped
Amazing Canyons
Small Hairy Hermit Crab
Day 12 Pics: Three Room
Dancing Spanish Dancer
Lobster Type #1 – Hawaiian Lobster
Lobster Type #2 – Hawaiian Spiny Lobster
Lobster Type #3 – Bullseye Lobster (rare)
Lobster Type #4 – Slipper Lobster (?)
Shrimp (Hingeback?)
Cowry with Mantle Out
Crab vs Cowry
Capt Chuck gets to sneak in a dive
The greatly anticipated long range day. And you gotta love the ratio today: 5 crew to 2 guests… 2 of Dive Tek Hawaii’s Captains, 3 DMs, all jonesing to get South and get in the water.
It’s just under a 2 hour ride from the harbor to Au Au Crater at 16-17 kts on Kahanuola. The Southern sites have much different bottom topography to them and can be rather easily affected by surge.
Au Au Crater is a submerged crater with one side that has collapsed. This translates to dramatic, several-hundred-foot drop-offs and probably some of the only true wall diving in the state other than the Back Wall of Molokini off Maui. The shallowest part of the crater floor is 80ish feet and slopes off quickly from that with crater walls rising on either side. The swim, over the blue, from one side of the crater to another, was absolutely amazing. It would definitely take a few dives here to get fully familiar with the terrain. This is also a site used for deep tech training or other tech dives, as there is interesting topography much deeper than normal for Hawaiian dive sites.
You can recognized Au Au Crater by the small pinnacle, rising 20’ out of the water, just off land, where the locals have a cable run from the shore. On the weekends, they will wince themselves across this cable to fish off the pinnacle for deep-water fish. Au Au in Hawaiian means “bath,” and there is a tide pool that forms next to this pinnacle from which it’s name is derived.
Au Au Crater is not the best site for seeing tons and tons of fish. Visability was amazing at over 100’. The sheer walls are the main attraction; however, we did see some pretty neat stuff. Right after decent, we got up close and personal with a very laid back turtle. Also saw a big Spotted Puffer Fish, a Lion Fish, Gold-lace and Fissured Nudibranchs and the largest Titan Scorpion Fish the crew has ever seen (24-30” long).
For the second dive we scooted north a bit to Paradise Pinnacles, named for two massive pinnacles off the village of Kona Paradise. Cute little town, rises up from the water in a swath of land defined by a single, steep road dropping down to the water, and nothing but wilderness around it. Paradise Pinnacles is known for a more fish, but still has interesting topography, mini-walls and canyons to explore. Saw some black coral and a Hairy Hermet Crab, but the highlight of the dive was watching a Triton’s Trumpet come a good ways out of it’s shell in an attempt to eat a Crown-of-Thorns Sea Star and the subsequent hauling-***** of the normally-sluggish sea star. Oh, and don’t forget about the appearance of the Great Spool Bandit (don’t challenge the crew that they can’t steel something from you during the dive, cause they can, and they will.)
For the third dive, we went a bit more up the coast to Three Room, just south of one of Rob’s, one the Kona Aggressor dive sites. Three Room is notable for its multi-roomed cavern that extends back under dry land quite a ways and potentially has connecting lava tubes to nearby caverns. Very much impacted by surgy conditions and with the potential for overhead environment, it’s an advanced dive. The cavern is very pretty and saw some great stuff including 3 Spanish Dancers, many large Tiger and other Cowries, Cowries with their mantle (what makes the shell) out, Crabs eating a Cowry, 4 different types of Lobsters, tons of sponges, big Soldierfish, a massive Porcupinefish, and a massive Peacock Grouper.
Man do these guys love to dive... most of them were on their day off. I wished I had a picture of DM Tim in water before the Three Room dive, 10 minutes before the rest of us were ready, grinning from ear to ear.
Less than 90 minutes later we’re back at the dock.
Day 12 Pics: Au Au Crater
Turtle Close-up
Turtle in Morning Sun
Interesting Topography
Amazing Walls – Owner Keith off in the Distance
Lion Fish
Massive Titan Scorpionfish 1
Massive Titan Scorpionfish 2
Massive Titan Scorpionfish 3
Gold-lace Nudibranch
Day 12 Pics: Paradise Pinnacles
Black Coral on underside of a little overhang
Hungry Triton’s Trumpet
Triton’s Trumpet close-up
Triton’s Trumpet vs Crown-of-Thorns Sea Star… the Sea Star eventually escaped
Amazing Canyons
Small Hairy Hermit Crab
Day 12 Pics: Three Room
Dancing Spanish Dancer
Lobster Type #1 – Hawaiian Lobster
Lobster Type #2 – Hawaiian Spiny Lobster
Lobster Type #3 – Bullseye Lobster (rare)
Lobster Type #4 – Slipper Lobster (?)
Shrimp (Hingeback?)
Cowry with Mantle Out
Crab vs Cowry
Capt Chuck gets to sneak in a dive
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