Trip Report: Big Island Divers and The Black Water Night Dive

[Doubler]

Back in the 80's when I had my own boat in Oahu we use to do this crazy crap too. I'd drop the anchor down to 50 FT and you would sit on it while we drifted. We called it "Live Bait Diving" One pass of an Oceanic cured us of that. The tank banging is probably what attracted them. Not real smart to bang at night in deep water. Oceanics look at that as a dinner bell. THey are attracted for miles by underwater sound. They are usually the first at a sea disaster because of the noise. And they always come from behind. And Close. And over and over. That one photo with the pecks down looked like posturing to me.

 

[yohnis]

Cool! I've got to do this.

 

[WVDiver]

cool! I've got to do this.

:d:d :d:d

 

[DiverDave65]

An incredible report!!! I was tempted to try this myself a couple years ago over in Kona. Sounds like quite the thrill.....thanks for letting me dive vicariously through your report and pics!!

 

[JLambus]

Great report, and glad you had such a good time!! I remember that night vividly.... easily one of the tops 5 shark encounters I've had on that dive.

 

[WVDiver]

Great report, and glad you had such a good time!! I remember that night vividly.... easily one of the tops 5 shark encounters I've had on that dive.

Josh I got the Blanket Ocotpus print framed. It looks fantastic.

For those of you who do not know. My wife bought me this print from Josh for my birthday. I had it framed and matted locally and it came out very nice.

Though we did not see this particular animal on our dive it is typical of the types of animals found and experienced on these Blackwater Dives. This guy is about two inches long including tentacles. Amazing!!

Thanks for a great dive and a wonderful experience Josh. I hope you are able to do these dives for many years to come. Don't lose your edge. :cool2:

 

[TSandM]

We did this dive in February, and we really enjoyed it. We didn't have anything as exciting as Mike's whitetips, though. We did see a number of fascinating and bizarre creatures, though. I will say I found the dive hard on my ears, because I was following the sea life up and down through about a twenty foot range over and over again, and eventually my ears just wouldn't take it any more (third dive of the day). So I got back on the boat, and Peter came up not much after me because apparently there were two silkie sharks in the water.

Josh is great, and his ability to photograph those translucent and very mobile critters is amazing.

 

[GreaseM0nkey86]

looks like i'll have to add this into my trip come june!
thanks!

 

[WVDiver]

On page 58 of this months issue of Sport Diver Magazine is an article entitled "Midnight Rambler". It talks about a Black Water Dive and the Manta Ray Dive off Kona Hawaii. Having been there and done both dives I personally feel the article leaves much to be desired and does not do either dive justice.

I'm just sayin. There was so much more to say to lure potential customers to the island and the dives. I guess I will attribute my personal feelings of the article's short comings to having had the experience and the small space given for the article by the magazine.

 

[selytch]

Thank you so much for sharing the experience!!! Anything similar happening on Maui?