The coolest thing you ever saw on a dive?

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Geeze you guys, lotsa cool stuff there. Wow.

Can't decide.

The swimming Giant Moray I followed for 5 minutes in 12' of water, cripes they are huge. I think if that was my first eel encounter I'd have walked on water to get out of there.

A Crocodile Snake Eel motionless with me helicoptering inches away looking for something to prove it was a chunk of coral poking out of the sand and just looked like the head of an eel. Even though I didn't know what kind and are one of the nasty's, some how that lone chunk of broken coral was ominous. A buddy tapped it on the head, to knock it over I suppose looking for the cool part I was insisting was there. Poof!
Its alive!

Manta Dive with a full company and a bunch of Undulated Eel, big ones, out swimming, slithering all over the divers, curling up in their laps. Most not noticing too preoccupied understandably with the boatload of Manta.
There is this one tall diver very upright on his knees with light in L hand about shoulder high and away from his body. He is looking, head and body twisted far to his R as the biggest eel goes around his body a couple of times. Swims out, and back right in front of him up to his head over the shoulder and down the back. Winding up one leg and down the other, figure eight's waist to crotch, up the chest and over the shoulder, 'tween the legs, how he missed that from how personal it appeared I just dunno. Back up round the neck and draped there like a scarf for a bit head nosing around under his chin. Headed out around the light arm, turned and came back wrapped like a gigantic arm bracelet with head in the cobra position out past his light staring him right in the eyes - if they were there.
I swear this eel was out for a lark, startle the krap out him, waiting, waiting, waiting. Finally this guy turns his head to a pretty good sized Moray Eel weaving the end of his arm about 5" from his mask doing the how far down my throat can you see thing.
Bout' near hurt my self laughing so hard.

Manta's, 5 in day time hanging out. Look 'em in the eye and them eyeballing back atcha, resisting the urge to stroke close. Not feeding, swooping or flying, just barely moving and getting to examine and observe closely for the bulk of that dive.

Hanging out in the dark on stop with I thought my light tucked away and watching two Manta on same heading coming up dead on from the main stage below. Having a fair amount of trust from previous Manta dives helped assuage it looked like I was ground zero of a head on collision. Quite a sight to see. Then three, then 5 of them now and swooped at from all directions rolling me around like a ball. Barrel rolling inside layers of circle swoops, in sync, from opposing angles, one right behind the other. Was an entirely different experience from the one dimension Circle of Light kind of ballet. Having to plow my way out and 'it' in dodge ball, several accompanying, and swooping still to the surface at the boat, can't say what part of that was the coolest.

Ran across what I'm assuming was babys and Mom, maybe Dad too, Nahackey's Angelfish. Didn't know then what they were (and not supposed to be here) but the colors stopped me dead in my tracks, transfixed by this little cloud of brilliant blue and yellow fish floating over a hollow in a coral head. The sun angle and depth must have been near to perfect as the blue would flash like nuclear fission, and just as long. Very hard to pry myself away.
 
My wife and I were diving in Moorea for several days. One day while slowly motoring along during our surface interval, a young humpback whale breeched about 30 feet from our little dive boat. Everyone screamed with joy. A few seconds later, the mama whale breached about 15 feet from the boat almost sinking us. Certainly she was trying to warn us and her calf to be careful. Unbelievable cheers and excitement. The question immediately came from our guide. Would you like to snorkel with to see if we can find them or continue onto the next dive site. Dumb questions. We were in the water within seconds.

The whales were there and stayed with us for more than an hour. Being within 10 feet of a 50 foot friendly monster just cant' be described. The eyes seem as large as dinner plates. They watch you carefully as you stare in amazement. They glide by with ease and it's like being next to a freight train but with no sound. The sea darkens as they swim by with generated current so strong they push you away. We couldn't decide to look above the water and watch the tail slaps and roles from above or below the water. This was as close to a true religious experience as I think I've ever been. This was truly an experience one never forgets.

Just our luck, a videographer was on board and he recorded much of the encounter from 40 to 60 feet below us. He could have charge $200 for the CD and I would have gladly paid. Luckily the cost was much more modest and we have the memory in our minds and well as on hard copy.
 
Jesus where to begin

1. Monk seal feeding at night ( got some film of it)

2. 2 whales Cruising by above us

3. 12ft Manta ray Cruising by

4. A yellow Margine Moray Attack an Octopus and the Octo got away

5. Several Times Been in water with Dolphins, The last time one Crapped right in front of me and the current blew it right on me ( Normally I would have Vomitted ) but it wasnt that bad and i got a picture of it.

6. I have pet 2 different white tip reef sharks( That was cool)

7. Took a vietnam vet with no legs Scuba diving. And he Did fantastic
 
Two Port Jackson Sharks "in the act" got pics
Cuttlefish with a fish in it's ummmm.... mouth/tentacles
lionfish with a fish tail sticking out of it's mouth
Playing with and tickling a very friendly octopus... best bit... got shots of them all!
 
Coolest thing?
This is a very short clip of my lovely bride.
 
For around here on the reef, I've seen 35 mantas in an evening, dolphins underwater numerous times and a couple of hammerheads a couple times, but I'd have to say the thing I really had to just stop and stare at for as long as it lasted (all of a 2-3 minutes) was a river of Naso tangs (Naso literatus) probably 5-6 feet wide and 100 feet long, probably 7-9 hundred of them at least, grazing while moving along the reef at a pretty good clip. That was before I had a camera, and I was leading intros as well so no photography anyways.... the intros couldn't figure out what I was so fascinated with. I can't recall ever seeing more than a handful of them hanging out together.

I'm still waiting for whales and monk seals. 2 minutes with a whaleshark in deep water was pretty darned cool.
 
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Bandit angelfish--one one of the rarest fish in hawaii. I heard they sell for over $10,000.
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Wow, a lot of interesting things. How do you train a dolphin to use a scooter?
1. Off of Makaha a baitball just before a school of 30# tuna crashed it.
2. Outside of Yokahama beach a 25 Foot Whale Shark.
 
Bandit angelfish--one one of the rarest fish in hawaii. I heard they sell for over $10,000.

You're thinking of the Masked Angelfish Genicanthus personatus, which is only found at 400' or so around the main islands.

Bandit angels are not uncommon around Oahu, but they're usually found below 100' and aren't often seen by divers. Occasionally the larger ones will venture into shallow water.
 
rgbmatt, you beat me to it. Kauai has Bandit angelfish seemingly everywhere. I hear that at Midway and French Frigate Shoals you can find the Genicanthus commonly. One day, one day...

I just added to my favorites. Saw about 8 hammerheads and a sandbar off from Molokai. Cool dive!
 
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