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Hawaii, 2006: Diving |
(Click on any photo to open a larger version in a new window, or, go here for even more photos.) | ||
 Coral as far as the eye can see |
These were the first post-certification dives for Jenny, Aneel, and Charlotte, so it was fun to see them take so well to diving. As Jenny put it, "It's like swimming in an aquarium." Frederick and Merin were with me as well, and we did six dives at five dive sites during three boat trips on two different days. Our dives were with Jack's Diving Locker in Kailua-Kona, whom I would not recommend [review]. In general the conditions were good - water temperatures ranged from 79-81 degrees F (mid-August), and the visibility was about 40 to 50 feet. Of the dive sites we visited, all were simply covered in coral. We saw mostly hard corals, but you could find colonies of soft coral here and there, waving in the current. There was so much coral, in fact, that you didn't often see a sandy bottom. The fish we saw were predominately an assortment of butterfly fish and tangs with an occasional eel or invertebrate thrown in for good measure. We did see a number of marine mammals, although most were not seen while diving. As our boat was pulling out of the harbor on the first day, we came upon a pod of spinner dolphins. The pod contained two small babies, each about two or three feet long. They were amazingly good swimmers for something so small. We watched them bowride and dart around in the water until the group finally changed directions and left us. Those baby dolphins were some of the cutest things I've seen! (Aneel took some good photos of the babies.) While onboard between dives we spotted a pod of pilot whales in the distance. Our captain headed towards them and maneuvered the boat to be directly in their path. We grabbed our snorkeling gear, jumped in the water, and swam as quickly as we could to get near them. The whales stayed beneath us (not wanting to surface near people, I'm sure), and continued on their way. We boarded the boat and the captain again moved it into position, we all jumped in the water a second time, and watched the whales go by again. This was the first time I'd ever been in the water with any sort of whale, so I was pretty excited! On our second day of diving, on the third dive, we spotted four spinner dolphins swimming around, Actually, we heard the high-pitched squeaking of their sonar before we ever saw them. This marked only the second time I had been in the water with any sort of cetacean, and the first time I'd ever heard them for myself. We went on to spot a couple of manta rays crusing around (foreshadowing!), and then saw scores of urchin spawning. Very cool! Our final dive of the trip was a manta ray night dive. We signed up for it hoping we might get a glimpse of a manta or two, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect what was to come. The dive operators set up bright lights underwater in a small bay, and the divers sit in a large circle on the sandy bottom, in about 35 feet of water, with a handful of snorkelers floating just above. In the years they've been doing this the mantas have learned that the lights attract plankton (their prey), and they've also learned not to fear the humans that happen to be there near the lights. So we sit, and after about a minute a manta flies by, yay! Over the next couple of minutes another one or two cruise through the area. Then, suddenly, there are five full-grown female mantas in the middle of our circle, feasting on the plankton that's been attracted to the lights! These are immense animals, with 12 to 14 feet wingspans, weighing at least a half a ton, and they are "flying" right over us! They swim through what we've dubbed the "stage", mouths open and cephalic fins stretched wide to funnel in their dinner, and they come right at your head, adjusting their depth at the last moment so that they just graze the top of your head as they pass. Often, two mantas would be coming towards one another and then both shoot upwards, their bellies touching as they do mirror image loop-de-loops. Occasionally two or three of the rays would have a "mid-air" collision, then go immediately back to feeding. I was sitting there for a full half-hour, cold and shivering at the end, yet completely entranced by those incredible creatures; I only left because the divemaster beckoned us away. After getting back on the boat we are told that tonight was one of the best manta ray dives they've ever had. |
 French butterflyfish |
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 Mother pilot whale and calf |
 School of butterflyfish feeding | ||
 Spotted moray hiding in the rocks |
 Lei triggerfish | ||
 Moorish Idol |
 Yellow tangs |
 Cute little nudibranch |
 Manta flying away |
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