JPENDERGRAST
Contributor
Aloha from Memphis,
For all the non-readers, the pictures are at the very bottom.
I recently returned from a two week vacation to the Big Island and Oahu. I went along with family and we had a wonderful time despite a few hangups getting there caused by Christmas day weather.
I posted on here several weeks prior to the trip and several members were kind enough to extend an invitation for me to dive with them. Luckily, I was able to meet up with one of the members in Puako, about an hour north of Kona for a shore dive that reminded me how much and why I enjoy boat diving. We met up around 0715 and as we were chatting and gearing up, a Humback whale made a nice surface breach just past the reef we would be diving on- absolutely awesome! That was the first time I've ever seen a whale in person. Excitedly, we hurried to the water and began our swim to the markers. Exhausted from the swim, I buddied up with the closest person to me and we began our decent to the reed which was, at least to me, teeming with life. Colorful fish which scurry back in forth in front of you were everywhere, but still seemed a little camera shy. We swam about 70 yards to a large arch and found a Trident's Trumpet clinging to the underside of the arch. After a few pictures, we swam on to a turtle cleaning station. We saw two or three Honu lounging under rocks and one waiting on his bath. While there, my buddy pointed to his ears repeatedly. I signaled "Up?" to him twice, but he pointed to his ears again and then pointed further out into the water. I listened and about 10 seconds later heard two whales talking, or whatever it may be called, back and forth to one another. Once again, absolutely amazing! We saw a Spotted Eagle Ray which wanted nothing to do with us and also went looking for Garden Eels which were hiding from us. We ended the dive with a max depth of around 65' and a bottom time of 43 minutes. On our surface swim back, we saw a nice swarm of Spinner Dolphins. Of all the dives, I really think this was probably my favorite.
The next day, I had hoped to meet up with another SB'er who I had talked to. He was planning on diving the Place of Refuge but when the time came, I couldn't get anyone out of bed... What kind of vacation is this??!!?? It actually worked out ok. We kayaked to Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekua Bay which is a great place to dive and snorkel. I took my dive gear in the simplest form and tooted around the reef with divers from one of the cattle boats. Unfortunately, I forgot to put my camera card back in after viewing pictures from the previous dive and only got one picture out of my camera
.
On the third day of diving, I had scheduled to do the afternoon snorkel and Manta Ray night dive. Due to several factors (my budget, timeframe, and my desire to support small business) I chose to go with Dive Makai. I met up at the marina around 1500 and filled out all the appropriate forms. It was a six pack boat and the crew seemed to have a lot of experience. I had a great first dive, we saw some garden Eels and I found a Spotted Snake Eel but I don't think the Divemaster beleived me. She told me
'they aren't supposed to be here'. OOOOKAY. The second dive was the Manta night dive and we didn't see any mantas but saw some other cool stuff. A large Puffer as well as a Whitemouth Moray which was chasing a Squirrelfish. I posted a video of it on my pictures page, but I couldn't figure out how to embed it on the post
. Overall, I enjoyed the trip, but I (as well as most of the other divers) was treated like a baby the entire trip. Understandable for the most part, since the majority of the other divers only had 1-5 dives under their belt(s), but I don't know that I would recommend this charter to a diver who logs dives on a regular basis. However, the cookies were great!!!
To fight off boredom, I'll summarize the remaining dives.
Place of Refuge: Saw a lot of fish and were lucky to have relatively calm water on entry and exit. When exitiing, several young whales were jumping and playing about 300 yards out, giving everyone a great show. I got a video, but the humidity had fogged my camera lens and the whales are barely visible. First dive- 84' for 28 minutes, second dive 53' for 44 minutes.
We only had a few days on Oahu so the North shore and Pearl Harbor took up two whole days. I did get out one day, however, with Breeze Hawaii Diving. We had planned on diving the Corsica and the Sea Tiger but Kona winds were pushing 7-10 foot waves in and forced us to cancel the dive. On our trip back in we saw a sail boat which was beached on the shore, half full of water. The dive shop cancelled the dive and I will definitely go with them next time I go out. They were very polite and accomodating.
Below are a few of the raw, unedited pictures I took. I'm still trying to find a good program to use for editing, without editing all the money out of my bank account - post with suggestions if you have them!!!!
P.S. I tried loading the pictures as thumnails but I still can't figure that out.. You would think I could get it right since I work for a major computer company, but they never show up!!??
For all the non-readers, the pictures are at the very bottom.
I recently returned from a two week vacation to the Big Island and Oahu. I went along with family and we had a wonderful time despite a few hangups getting there caused by Christmas day weather.
I posted on here several weeks prior to the trip and several members were kind enough to extend an invitation for me to dive with them. Luckily, I was able to meet up with one of the members in Puako, about an hour north of Kona for a shore dive that reminded me how much and why I enjoy boat diving. We met up around 0715 and as we were chatting and gearing up, a Humback whale made a nice surface breach just past the reef we would be diving on- absolutely awesome! That was the first time I've ever seen a whale in person. Excitedly, we hurried to the water and began our swim to the markers. Exhausted from the swim, I buddied up with the closest person to me and we began our decent to the reed which was, at least to me, teeming with life. Colorful fish which scurry back in forth in front of you were everywhere, but still seemed a little camera shy. We swam about 70 yards to a large arch and found a Trident's Trumpet clinging to the underside of the arch. After a few pictures, we swam on to a turtle cleaning station. We saw two or three Honu lounging under rocks and one waiting on his bath. While there, my buddy pointed to his ears repeatedly. I signaled "Up?" to him twice, but he pointed to his ears again and then pointed further out into the water. I listened and about 10 seconds later heard two whales talking, or whatever it may be called, back and forth to one another. Once again, absolutely amazing! We saw a Spotted Eagle Ray which wanted nothing to do with us and also went looking for Garden Eels which were hiding from us. We ended the dive with a max depth of around 65' and a bottom time of 43 minutes. On our surface swim back, we saw a nice swarm of Spinner Dolphins. Of all the dives, I really think this was probably my favorite.
The next day, I had hoped to meet up with another SB'er who I had talked to. He was planning on diving the Place of Refuge but when the time came, I couldn't get anyone out of bed... What kind of vacation is this??!!?? It actually worked out ok. We kayaked to Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekua Bay which is a great place to dive and snorkel. I took my dive gear in the simplest form and tooted around the reef with divers from one of the cattle boats. Unfortunately, I forgot to put my camera card back in after viewing pictures from the previous dive and only got one picture out of my camera
.On the third day of diving, I had scheduled to do the afternoon snorkel and Manta Ray night dive. Due to several factors (my budget, timeframe, and my desire to support small business) I chose to go with Dive Makai. I met up at the marina around 1500 and filled out all the appropriate forms. It was a six pack boat and the crew seemed to have a lot of experience. I had a great first dive, we saw some garden Eels and I found a Spotted Snake Eel but I don't think the Divemaster beleived me. She told me
'they aren't supposed to be here'. OOOOKAY. The second dive was the Manta night dive and we didn't see any mantas but saw some other cool stuff. A large Puffer as well as a Whitemouth Moray which was chasing a Squirrelfish. I posted a video of it on my pictures page, but I couldn't figure out how to embed it on the post
. Overall, I enjoyed the trip, but I (as well as most of the other divers) was treated like a baby the entire trip. Understandable for the most part, since the majority of the other divers only had 1-5 dives under their belt(s), but I don't know that I would recommend this charter to a diver who logs dives on a regular basis. However, the cookies were great!!!To fight off boredom, I'll summarize the remaining dives.
Place of Refuge: Saw a lot of fish and were lucky to have relatively calm water on entry and exit. When exitiing, several young whales were jumping and playing about 300 yards out, giving everyone a great show. I got a video, but the humidity had fogged my camera lens and the whales are barely visible. First dive- 84' for 28 minutes, second dive 53' for 44 minutes.
We only had a few days on Oahu so the North shore and Pearl Harbor took up two whole days. I did get out one day, however, with Breeze Hawaii Diving. We had planned on diving the Corsica and the Sea Tiger but Kona winds were pushing 7-10 foot waves in and forced us to cancel the dive. On our trip back in we saw a sail boat which was beached on the shore, half full of water. The dive shop cancelled the dive and I will definitely go with them next time I go out. They were very polite and accomodating.
Below are a few of the raw, unedited pictures I took. I'm still trying to find a good program to use for editing, without editing all the money out of my bank account - post with suggestions if you have them!!!!
P.S. I tried loading the pictures as thumnails but I still can't figure that out.. You would think I could get it right since I work for a major computer company, but they never show up!!??
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