Something Different.

[ChimChim75]

Conditions have been awesome for Blowhole and Lanai Lookout this week. Did 5 dives there this weekend. Portlock is on the other side of Hanauma towards town. One of my buddies and I have been wanting to do Hanauma to there as a drift... but have to be the correct conditions.

Good point. Don't do pickup dives at Blowhole or Lanai Lookout. They ALWAYS end up bad. For Lanai, don't go without someone that really knows the site either. Gets super hairy.

Makai pier supposedly sucks unless you're bug hunting. Never done it, but everyone hates it that has done it. Seen checkout dives done there.

I've dove Kaaawa before. Was about 3 foot vis and strong currents. Wouldn't recommend it. HUGE turtles popping out in front of you constantly and dark shapes circling you... probably large hammerheads, but you can't see anything but shadow. Would not recommend it. Spookiest dive I've ever done. My buddy and I get laughing at each other because we kept getting startled by the turtles buzzing us in the murk.

Hanauma makes for an interesting night dive on the certain Saturday nights that it is open. There are some super rare fish there you never see at other sites. Can be a little dull during the day.

 

[Scuba_HI]

We did hanauma bay yesterday besides the $8.50 it cost for parking and ride down and back up the hill, it was a nice dive. I'm going to do it a few more times to get to know the site then do a night dive there, which is the second saturday of every month, so this saturday they are open until 10pm.

 

[smellzlikefish]

That whole side from Portlock to Blowhole is where I go to play every weekend. The entries and exits tend to be rough and exciting, while the underwater wildlife never disappoints. I have had the best luck sighting unusual life at Portlock. Maybe I've just had good luck. I always try to do it on an incoming tide since the outgoing current carries a slug of Hawaii Kai harbor water right past the wall.

At Hanauma I usually don't drop until I make it to one of the points (Palea or Pai Oluolu). Its a heck of a swim, but worth it. The currents outside keep the points in good viz and the sealife out there can't be beat. These two points are about as close as you are going to get to Kona diversity from Oahu's shore.

Lanai Lookout is one of the prettier dives on the island. Think a combination of the clean water at Palea Point with incredible lava and coral formations. At first I thought it was pretty but not a lot of unusual stuff to see, but after a bit of poking around I have managed to find some interesting life there. I was recently saddened to find a familiar fish collector barrier netting fish on one of my favorite reefs there. I don't mind aquarium fish collecting so much except when it is done in a public dive spot.

I have heard a lot of praise about blowhole, but haven't found it as interesting myself. There is a lot of Hawaii's soft coral Sinularia densa covering a wall there, but otherwise I tend to see a lot of the norm. As a result, I haven't been there a lot, but haven't found it to be particularly challenging, deep, and nothing particularly rare under the water.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

There is a lot of Hawaii's soft coral Sinularia densa covering a wall there, but otherwise I tend to see a lot of the norm.

Just looked at Keoki Stender's site and wondered if Leather Coral should just be described as "one" of Hawaii's soft corals? Keoki shows lots of pictures of Blue Soft Coral, proposes a Brown Soft Coral and also shows Bicolor Gorgonian, which Bishop Museum also lists under Octocorallia.

 

[smellzlikefish]

I meant to say Hawaii's only leather coral, Sinularia densa the dense leather coral. Not sure where you got brown soft coral.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

glitch

 

[smellzlikefish]

Did YOU look at the link you were pretty obviously referring to in your last post?

"Sinularia densa-DENSE LEATHER CORAL
Occasional in areas exposed to surge. Appears bluish gray when tentacles are retracted. Has a rubbery texture."

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

glitch

 

[smellzlikefish]

Chill out Hale, its only 9 am.

-Leather corals=soft corals because if you touched them, they'd be soft. It is a simplified classification often used in the aquarium trade to distinguish from the polyps (Zooanthids) and stony corals.

-The caps were copy/pasted from Keoki's website and not intentionally put in for emphasis.

-As far as the brown soft coral ID, I fail to see on that page where the common name "brown soft coral" connects with the scientific name Sinularia densa.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

glitch