bryceman
Registered
Hi everyone,
My wife (Michelle) and I just got back from our first trip to Maui. We were going for my cousins wedding, but our priority was diving
After checking out the posts in this forum, I decided to book with Extended Horizons. We were staying in the Kaanapali area and wanted a smaller boat to dive from. My goal was my PADI Advanced and wife just wanted to have some fun and see lots of nudi's. She seems to like the slugs...must be why she married me. Besides, she already had her advanced when we met...time for me to catch up.
My big focus was on the photography module. I am a hobby photographer (Canon Rebel XTi) on land and wanted to expand that to underwater. I didn't want to spend the $$$ on a housing for the SLR until I was sure it was something I wanted to do, and Erik from EH suggested that I rent a camera from Maui Digital Imaging. Paul was great and the Olympus 850 and housing he rented worked out very well. Even though I was used to Canon, the Olympus underwater auto settings worked quite well and some of my shots even turned out OK.
Keith handled our first two dives on Friday morning...which made for nice sleep in from our travels the night before. Keith was a fantastic instructor/dive master. It was just the three of us for the day.
The first dive was at a beach in Kaanapali...not entrirely sure of the name...I'll have to call the office to find out. The diversity in Maui is amazing, we saw so many types of fish. We also got to see a crown jellyfish and a flame wrasse...what a treat!
The second dive of the day was a Mala Pier. Another treat. Keith was a master at finding things for me to practice my camera skills. Frog fish, nudi (sadly those didn't turn out), green turtles, reef sharks and tons of other species. This was my favourite dive to date.
Day two was on the boat with Captain CJ, Steve and Maran. What a great bunch of people. This is the best organized dive boat and crew my wife and I have been on in our albiet short dive careers. We dove Wash Rock and Cathedral #1. Again, absolutely excellent dives. Steve was my instructor for the day and was a big help. Huge diversity of life, including crabs, all sorts of sargeant majors, butterflys, eels, etc. Again, even a few pics turned out!
Day three was back to Lanai, with Cathedral #2 and Sargeant Major...of course, we saw lots of SM's, snappers, crabs, spiny lobsters, stocky hawk fish? (got a good pic of that one). Loren was our captain this day, and circled back on the way home so some spinner dolphins could play in the wake.
Day four was the last dive of my advanced...the night dive! This one was back with Keith and we dove Black Rock. This was the first night dive for both Michelle and myself. I already returned the camera, so no pics...I wanted to make sure I was comfortable diving at night before worrying about the camera. Again, and awesome dive...lots of eels, including leopard eels, and a huge blue congor eel swimming out in the open...freaked Michelle out big time!. We also got to see a couple of octopii, slipper lobsters, crabs, nudi, stars, etc.
Thanks again to Keith, Steve, Maran, CJ and Loren for a great dive trip. Erik...you have assembled a great crew! Now the question...housing for the SLR or an S90?
Bryce
My wife (Michelle) and I just got back from our first trip to Maui. We were going for my cousins wedding, but our priority was diving
After checking out the posts in this forum, I decided to book with Extended Horizons. We were staying in the Kaanapali area and wanted a smaller boat to dive from. My goal was my PADI Advanced and wife just wanted to have some fun and see lots of nudi's. She seems to like the slugs...must be why she married me. Besides, she already had her advanced when we met...time for me to catch up.
My big focus was on the photography module. I am a hobby photographer (Canon Rebel XTi) on land and wanted to expand that to underwater. I didn't want to spend the $$$ on a housing for the SLR until I was sure it was something I wanted to do, and Erik from EH suggested that I rent a camera from Maui Digital Imaging. Paul was great and the Olympus 850 and housing he rented worked out very well. Even though I was used to Canon, the Olympus underwater auto settings worked quite well and some of my shots even turned out OK.
Keith handled our first two dives on Friday morning...which made for nice sleep in from our travels the night before. Keith was a fantastic instructor/dive master. It was just the three of us for the day.
The first dive was at a beach in Kaanapali...not entrirely sure of the name...I'll have to call the office to find out. The diversity in Maui is amazing, we saw so many types of fish. We also got to see a crown jellyfish and a flame wrasse...what a treat!
The second dive of the day was a Mala Pier. Another treat. Keith was a master at finding things for me to practice my camera skills. Frog fish, nudi (sadly those didn't turn out), green turtles, reef sharks and tons of other species. This was my favourite dive to date.
Day two was on the boat with Captain CJ, Steve and Maran. What a great bunch of people. This is the best organized dive boat and crew my wife and I have been on in our albiet short dive careers. We dove Wash Rock and Cathedral #1. Again, absolutely excellent dives. Steve was my instructor for the day and was a big help. Huge diversity of life, including crabs, all sorts of sargeant majors, butterflys, eels, etc. Again, even a few pics turned out!
Day three was back to Lanai, with Cathedral #2 and Sargeant Major...of course, we saw lots of SM's, snappers, crabs, spiny lobsters, stocky hawk fish? (got a good pic of that one). Loren was our captain this day, and circled back on the way home so some spinner dolphins could play in the wake.
Day four was the last dive of my advanced...the night dive! This one was back with Keith and we dove Black Rock. This was the first night dive for both Michelle and myself. I already returned the camera, so no pics...I wanted to make sure I was comfortable diving at night before worrying about the camera. Again, and awesome dive...lots of eels, including leopard eels, and a huge blue congor eel swimming out in the open...freaked Michelle out big time!. We also got to see a couple of octopii, slipper lobsters, crabs, nudi, stars, etc.
Thanks again to Keith, Steve, Maran, CJ and Loren for a great dive trip. Erik...you have assembled a great crew! Now the question...housing for the SLR or an S90?
Bryce
Attachments
Last edited:
