Makena Caverns: photos taken w/mid price camera

[MauiScubaSteve]

There have been quite a few photo sets posted lately that could not really be duplicated by the everyday diver. Whether it be scooters, dual strobe dslr's or semi-technical diving, most divers just can't come up with images like that.

Here is a dive photo set that is within the realm of the average ScubaBoard diver. First, the camera story:

Last year I lucked out on an afordable Oly 5050 rig from ebay. I was practice bidding, to check refresh rates for the last second rush on another item, and bid on a UK camera w/ oly housing, dual epoque strobe and WAL. My bid was well below reserve and I did not pursue it further. Days later the owner contacted me asking if I still wanted it at that price. With exchange rate and international shipping the total was ~$800 usd. I've since lost the WAL but still manage to get decent photos.

Now the dive story:

Yesterday I spent over an hour just in the area of the bubble cave and lava tube taking nearly 90 pictures, mostly of the ~5' female white tip reef shark that lives there. She has become very accustomed to divers and if you stay calm and low in the lava tube rubble she will circle around you for quite a while. When she or the other resident white tips are not around, there are other interesting subjects to shoot.

My 38 photo Makena Caverns set can be viewed at Flickr; enjoy :14:

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Great shots Steve!! The lava tube is a perfect spot for shots! Was she hanging out around there too?

Does she have a hook in her mouth?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/halemano/1666226917/in/photostream/

Keep 'em coming!!

Sean

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Yes, she has a small hook in her mouth. She also shows what I think are recent mating injuries; her right pectoral fin looks nibbled on, which I believe will eventually grow back.

I have been documenting hooks in Maken Landing sharks for many years. Here are a couple shots of a young (<4') resident 10 years ago. I have a couple years worth of pics of this shark, from 18" pup to 4' after the hook fell out. This was back in my breath-hold Nikonus V / 35mm lense / SB-101 days, and the hard drive with the full scans is not currently operational.

Film, powerful strobes and high res scans is still pretty fantastic and I still have a killer retro rig. Notice; there was sand in the lava tube back then, and less algae.

 

[zen_man]

Is that Spot? Off Lanai?

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

That's off South Maui off Makena Landing...

Amazing shots Steve! I'd love to see some of the baby photos!

Sean

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I am starting my own trend with the name Makena Caverns. I am tired of typing Makena Landing/5-Graves/5-Caves/Turtle Town.

Makena Landing is in Makena, Maui; it is a natural boat ramp where cattle shipments used to off-load and very small boats still put in and out. It is a State Park, with bathrooms and one of the coldest showers on the leeward sides, if not the entire island. Many divers I've seen recently seem to head left from the landing beach to the much closer but less interesting reefs toward the Prince Resort.

The graves (more than 5?) are on the North side of the point and some chose to enter in a rocky cut down the path from the graves. Between these two entries and a couple hundred yards out to sea are many turtle cleaning/sleeping/feeding areas, two volcanic dykes and many caverns/caves. The maximum depth at the end of the dykes is ~40' and a knowlegable diver who is good on their air while proficiently finning can circumnavigate the entire area on an 80cft tank.

My 50cft tank dive yesterday had a max depth of 24' and I only moved infrequently between two adjacent caverns.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I'd love to see some of the baby photos!

I have the origional 4x6's (and negs) of three non-swimming pups from two different days of freediving the bubble cave. Don't have my film scanner running, but may in the near future.

That's right, one time there were two in there at the same time; no way to know if they were siblings and with limited bottom time I was unable to get them in the same image.

By the time they are 2' and swimming around they look pretty much like any shark, just smaller. Here is the old pre-hooked shark when it was ~2' (full image, I was really close).

 

[kidspot]

Great Shots! Especially nice seeing the cavern "back when"...

Mahalo, Tim

 

[sea nmf]

Wow, perfectly framed shot in the tube! I want to dive there when I come over in March. Will it be shore divable then?

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Wow, perfectly framed shot in the tube! I want to dive there when I come over in March. Will it be shore divable then?

Mahalo (to everyone); after pulling the trigger 90 times it's nice to hear some were successful!

Maui's South Shore is adversely affected by N, W & S swells to varying degrees. The other Maui county islands block the swells from some directions, but many swells do a kind of pinball wrap. That said, shots similar to this are possible in the bubble cave nearly every day of the year.

These shots were a couple weeks ago on a freedive day.

The shark pictures this day had lots of backscatter, one of the motivating factors for the recent dual strobe dive.

The lava tube is not always so photogenic; North swells line up pretty well and getting all the way through sometimes requires a scooter, but even in 15' vis and NW 2-5' it's a cool place to surge.