Here's another one of my trip reports (although a bit belated).... I suppose I could just plug in one of the previous ones... feel free to skip over this if they are getting boring for you!
A non-diving friend and I ventured off for a quick visit to Maui. My friend Julie decided that she was going to try to complete the open water certification, and I was there just to dive!!
August turned out to be a VERY busy time in Maui, and I had a few challenges getting as much diving as I wanted.... but, then, I am a true addict, and there is almost no such thing as enough diving!
Again, I used the folks at Maui Dreams Diving as my base point. You can find them at http://www.mauidreamsdiveco.com. They're great!! Super friendly, knowledgeable and helpful! My friend, Julie was very apprehensive, but with Rachel and Terri's patience and Tom and Brian's cheering section, Julie made it!! She's now got the diving 'license to learn'!!!
I started the trip with a night dive with Terri off Ulua Beach in Wailea. It was great to be in the water again. We saw wonderful critters - a couple of tiny shrimp on the spines of a spiny urchin. A pair of big stocky hawkfish. Tons of plankton. Many, many crustaceans! -- all kinds of crabs, a Harlequin Shrimp (in only 10 feet). And, if you aren't seeing eels in Maui, you had better use some do-fog! We also saw an extremely large green sea turtle (there were rumors of a run-away Volkswagen Beetle) in the shallows.... just out for an evening cruise. At the very end of the dive we also saw a box jelly fish -- a first for many of us.
The next day I did two dives with Brian. The first was off the left side of Ulua Beach and the second was off the left side of White Rock Beach. Both were great dives, a turtle trying his best to climb up a shear coral ledge -- he allowed me to come in close to watch and cheer him on!! Brian found two zebra eels together in one hole, and they were necking!!! Of course, with eels it's hard to tell where necking ends and full body frottage begins!!! Brian got a picture to prove it! Over the course of the dive we saw another three zebra eels, making for a total of 5 in one dive. Several other varieties too including a snowflake. Then I found the tale of a BIG eel... I was keeping my distance as Brian scoped out the other end.... it turned out to be a conger eel, and this thing was MFUGLY!!!!! We also saw single Saddleback Butterfly-- a nice treat!! It turned out to be a great day for shells, I usually only collect the cast offs from collector urchins... I tend to leave other shells for the creatures who might be able to use them. But I found two nice cowries (which are of little use to the hermit crabs... and then, there was a 4-5" auger shell -- it was empty, and lying out in the open.... clearly had been there for a bit as it was no longer clean and shiny, well, I just couldn't resist!!! I also saw improvement in my air consumption and better buoyancy control. All in all, a great diving day.
The next day, I found myself without diving plans... Oh No!!!! After some consultation, I decided to try my first solo dive.... (Please, no flames.) I was diving off Ulua Beach, a dive I have done many times before, it has a nice gentle beach entry and exit. The beach is well populated with swimmers and snorkelers, and it is also the main SCUBA training beach in the area, so at the time I was diving there was no fewer than four groups of training on going. Anyway, it was a fabulous experience. I had great air consumption, I was able to be really relaxed, while also being very careful. I constantly checked and cross checked my navigation. I watched my air, and began my return with an extra margin of safety. I got some wonderful photos. Two different eels came out of their caves and swam in the open for me. I found a great collection of Pencil Urchins in a gorgeous patch of sunlight. There were lots of banded coral shrimp, and of course the wonderful assortment of reef wish -- wrasses, butterflys, and groupers. This dive really helped improve my confidence -- Don't get me wrong, it's still safer with a buddy, and I would never try a solo dive in an area that I don't know well... but in familiar territory -- what a joy!!
The next day I did a two tank charter with Ed Severn's Diving. We did the first dive on the back side of Molokini! Awesome... I was just struck with the beauty as I hung there in the depth with the wall behind me and deep blue all around me. Just breath taking!!! We found two small reef sharks on a ledge who seemed very willing to pose for our cameras. One of the most remarkable things about this dive was noticing the life changing as we ascended and the fish life was much more active. The second dive was at a sight called St Anthony's Wreck -- Many years ago a number of old tires were fastened to concrete blocks and sunk to facilitate reef development. Later, a small fishing boat was also sunk at the site. The disaster of this dive was the flooding of the camera (Sorry, Rachel!! Just charge my credit card for the repair.) And, since I didn't have a camera to prove it, this was the dive where I found a leaf scorpion fish -- really neat to watch it swaying back and forth, trying to pretend it was a piece of old tire.
My last day of diving -- ( I was flying the next day. <sigh>) Brian took me out, and we got an early start, hoping to squeeze in two tanks before my cut off time. We started at Ahihi Marine Preserve. The fish ball was spectacular. It looked as if it had some how been disturbed, and had broken up into several parts, but, with some gentle herding, we got it all back together. We also saw a HUGE discarded lobster shell the tail alone was more than 12 inches long!! Interestingly, we saw only one eel on this dive. After we surfaced, we hustled over to the Five Graves site just in time for one more tank. We saw four wonderful turtles, sadly two of them had pretty serious fish hook injuries. They were both hooked in one of their front fins, up near the joint...one was favoring that fin. We also saw many different nudibranchs and flat worms and ended the dive with the sighting of a Titan Scorpion fish.
Another awesome dive trip! The only question is how soon can I get back in the water? I'm back at home, training in the pool to get ready for the 800 yard swim for the Rescue Diver Certification. I've got the distance, but I need to do better with the time. Of course, I'm heartily recommending Maui Dreams Dive Company! Tell them I told you about them! I'm also excited; in celebration of my 40th birthday, hubby has booked a trip on the live aboard Nekton in Belize at Christmas time!! Only three and a half months to go.... hmmmm... I'm wondering if I can last that long!
