Pinnacles and Red Hill, Oct 12, 2007

[ScubaSeanMaui]

I went out with BBscuba.com again Friday. We headed to the pinnacles which were some lava formations that rose to about 100 feet with a max depth going deeper... When we dropped into the clear blue waters we could see the area we were going to dive right away. There was a agitated school of Bluestripe Snappers who were swimming hard around the pinnacle. I saw a White-Tip Reef shark on the bottom and sadly a parrotfish swam over in his direction and he was startled.. I did get a few photos but wish I had been closer. I was pretty narked since I haven't dove below 80 feet in a quite a while and it was excellent!

We headed closer to the island and dove Red Hill for our second dive. We saw a Mantis Shrimp, 4+ Green Lionfish, another large Frogfish, some shrimp and some Morays. When we arrived at a cool patch reef that had tons of fish on it, we saw some White-stripe Cleaner Shrimp on the coral. I was playing with them since they are so friendly and suddenly a very large Moray pocked his head out of the hole right near my hand. Blesi was going to grad my hand but I pulled it back in time... We had a good laugh about it.. She told me "those shrimp are always with Morays" after the dive.. I'm just glad I didn't try to have it jump into my mouth before the Moray arrived! We saw lots of cool stuff... A very good dive.. Blesi was an awsome guide.. she knows this site like the back of her hand... amazing!

Here are my photos:

At the end of the 1st dive I saw this:

Anyone know what it is? It was floating around in the water at about 20 fsw.

Sean

 

[VBlueV]

cool!.. a dark-orange frog-fish!.. 'never seen one that color.. 'will have to start lookin'

i like that funny lookin' short-nose mantis shrimp too :biggrin3:

how big was that amoeba lookin' thing?

 

[friscuba]

What kind of camera setup are you using? These are great shots.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

cool!.. a dark-orange frog-fish!.. 'never seen one that color.. 'will have to start lookin'

i like that funny lookin' short-nose mantis shrimp too :biggrin3:

how big was that amoeba lookin' thing?

It was aboout 1 inch long I would say. I have no idea what it is

What kind of camera setup are you using? These are great shots.

Thanks friscuba! I have a D200 with an Ikelite Housing and 2 small Ike Strobes (DS-50 and DS-51)... I've been having a fun time with the camera!

Sean

 

[kidspot]

Great pics once again Sean - wish I could have joined you all

See you soon I hope.

Aloha, Tim

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Tim, I really wish you could have made it too! The good news is Brad thinks we dove too deep for the "pinnacles" so we'll have to do it again! We dove Reef's end drift today which was so cool watching the structure go from tons of coral to sheer rock wall!! We also had a few White Tips and a really large Jack cruise by a few times... The 2nd dive we did Jodies' Garden( I think that's the name) which was at about 55 fsw and had a few boulders and lots of fish out there... We saw some cool Nudis and had an excellent time as usual! I know we'll be getting out there very soon... It would be amazing doing some scooter dives along the Molo backside!! WOW!

Sean

 

[bcyber]

Great pics...love the Frog!

 

[SusanWH20]

Hi Sean,

Okay, so we were on the same boat, did the same dive and man, do I wish I had been following you guys! LOL

Seriously, we were more than happy to be getting our Nitrox cert with Stan (and we did see a good amount of cool stuff).

As for the amoeba-looking creature, I think that is called "Venus' girdle" or something like that. I don't know the official name but that's what a different dive guide told me when I encountered something similar on a different dive trip.

Cheers!
Susan

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Hi Susan!!! I was looking for Venus' girdle but that's another name for a comb jelly. I don't think it's a jelly... Anyway I heard your group saw a White Tip on the 2nd dive which we didn't see...

Anyway thanks for chiming in! I'm glad you had a good time on the bbscuba boat! I think Stan was the DM on my first boat dive in Maui many years ago (for another boat op lol)!

Sean