October 3rd 2010
Dive: 10
Location: Electric Beach/ Kahi Point, Waianae Coast Oahu
Visibility: 15 Feet
Max Depth: 27 Feet
Bottom Time: 52 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 401 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection:2/3mm Wet Suit, boots
Dive Computer: Veo 100
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/ Waves
Friday, April 22, 2011
Electric Beach
October 20th 2010
Dive: 9
Location: Electric Beach/ Kahi Point, Waianae Coast Oahu
Visibility: 10 Feet
Max Depth: 17 Feet
Bottom Time: 59 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 349 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection:2/3mm Wet Suit, boots
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/Night Dive/ Waves
Dive: 9
Location: Electric Beach/ Kahi Point, Waianae Coast Oahu
Visibility: 10 Feet
Max Depth: 17 Feet
Bottom Time: 59 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 349 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection:2/3mm Wet Suit, boots
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/Night Dive/ Waves
Project Aware Beach Clean Up
September 25th 2010
Dive: 7
Location: Jameson's, Haleiwa Oahu
Visibility: 5 Feet
Max Depth: 10 Feet
Bottom Time: 45 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 250 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection:3mm Wet Suit, gloves, boots
Dive Computer: Veo 100
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/
We went out with Aloha Scuba Divers for their annual beach clean up. The conditions were horrible, one of those days when there's so much muck floating all around you that you have no idea just where anything is but we still managed to pull out a whole lot of crap sitting on the bottom [this spot is right next to a harbor, hence all of the tires].
September 25th 2010
Dive: 8
Location: Jameson's, Haleiwa Oahu
Visibility: 5 Feet
Max Depth: 12 Feet
Bottom Time: 40 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 290 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection:3mm Wet Suit, gloves, boots
Dive Computer: Veo 100
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/
Dive: 7
Location: Jameson's, Haleiwa Oahu
Visibility: 5 Feet
Max Depth: 10 Feet
Bottom Time: 45 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 250 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection:3mm Wet Suit, gloves, boots
Dive Computer: Veo 100
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/
We went out with Aloha Scuba Divers for their annual beach clean up. The conditions were horrible, one of those days when there's so much muck floating all around you that you have no idea just where anything is but we still managed to pull out a whole lot of crap sitting on the bottom [this spot is right next to a harbor, hence all of the tires].
September 25th 2010
Dive: 8
Location: Jameson's, Haleiwa Oahu
Visibility: 5 Feet
Max Depth: 12 Feet
Bottom Time: 40 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 290 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection:3mm Wet Suit, gloves, boots
Dive Computer: Veo 100
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/
Electric Beach
September 19th, 2010
Dive: 6
Location: Electric Beach/ Kahi Point, Waianae Coast Oahu
Visibility: 15 Feet
Max Depth: 30 Feet
Bottom Time: 42 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 205 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection: 3mm Wet Suit, gloves, boots
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/Waves/Surf/Surge/Current
Although the conditions weren't perfect my wife and I still managed to see an eagle ray, an adult eel, a juvenile eel, and a large assortment of Reef Fish.
Dive: 6
Location: Electric Beach/ Kahi Point, Waianae Coast Oahu
Visibility: 15 Feet
Max Depth: 30 Feet
Bottom Time: 42 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 205 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection: 3mm Wet Suit, gloves, boots
Conditions: Salt Water/Shore Dive/Waves/Surf/Surge/Current
Although the conditions weren't perfect my wife and I still managed to see an eagle ray, an adult eel, a juvenile eel, and a large assortment of Reef Fish.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Manta Heaven
August 27th 2010
Dive: 5
Location: Kona Coast, Big Island of Hawai'i "Manta Heaven"
Visibility: 15-20 Feet
Max Depth: 35 Feet
Bottom Time: 50 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 163 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection: 5mm Wet Suit
Conditions: Salt Water/Boat Dive/Night Dive
Company: Kona Honu Divers
Dive Master: Scott Blain
This Dive is so beautiful and so surreal that it's hard to describe, all I can say is you really have to go experience it sometime in your diving lifetime and if you don't dive or you have kids who don't you can always snorkel- it's still awe inspiring if you snorkel it as well.
We went out from Honokohau Harbor on the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i. My wife's father is a boat Captain for Kona Honu Divers so we are lucky enough to go diving with them every chance we get when we go to the Big Island. I had cruised out on the boat before and gone snorkeling but was yet to dive with them and we were going for it this trip, Manta Heaven Night Dive...it couldn't get any better.
Conditions were serene and perfect for the dive.
We descended into the darkness and gathered around an underwater "fire pit", a rock pit filled with underwater dive lights. These lights attract plankton which the Mantas feed on and before we knew it the Mantas were swooping down and all around us.
We were also joined by Frank the Eel...a striking green moray eel that has been showing up at Manta Heaven since divers started exploring it. He's extremely docile and, as you'll see in the video, swam right across my wife's mouth. I was a little more hesitant and wasn't going to lose a finger but I later found out that he'd never shown one ounce of aggression towards divers.
Dive: 5
Location: Kona Coast, Big Island of Hawai'i "Manta Heaven"
Visibility: 15-20 Feet
Max Depth: 35 Feet
Bottom Time: 50 Minutes
Cumulative Dive Time: 163 Minutes
Weight: 24lbs
Exposure Protection: 5mm Wet Suit
Conditions: Salt Water/Boat Dive/Night Dive
Company: Kona Honu Divers
Dive Master: Scott Blain
This Dive is so beautiful and so surreal that it's hard to describe, all I can say is you really have to go experience it sometime in your diving lifetime and if you don't dive or you have kids who don't you can always snorkel- it's still awe inspiring if you snorkel it as well.
We went out from Honokohau Harbor on the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i. My wife's father is a boat Captain for Kona Honu Divers so we are lucky enough to go diving with them every chance we get when we go to the Big Island. I had cruised out on the boat before and gone snorkeling but was yet to dive with them and we were going for it this trip, Manta Heaven Night Dive...it couldn't get any better.
Conditions were serene and perfect for the dive.
We descended into the darkness and gathered around an underwater "fire pit", a rock pit filled with underwater dive lights. These lights attract plankton which the Mantas feed on and before we knew it the Mantas were swooping down and all around us.
We were also joined by Frank the Eel...a striking green moray eel that has been showing up at Manta Heaven since divers started exploring it. He's extremely docile and, as you'll see in the video, swam right across my wife's mouth. I was a little more hesitant and wasn't going to lose a finger but I later found out that he'd never shown one ounce of aggression towards divers.
Video by Scott Blain.
We were joined by thirteen Manta's that night eleven of which Scott was able to ID (my wife's been diving this spot since she was fifteen and has never seen more than six at once).
Mantas ID'd:
1. Lefty (the first Manta ever ID'd in 1994, she got her name from her missing left mandible)
2. Captain Kirk (now that's just awesome)
3. Vinny
4. Doug
5. Grayer
6. Curly
7. Blain
8. Vicky
9. Timbuktu
11. Koir
If you are lucky enough to spot & photo a Manta that hasn't been Identified you get the privilege of naming it.
**Check out Kona Honu Divers, you won't be sorry you did.
Certified.
August 22nd 2010
I was officially certified as a PADI Open Water Diver with Judy Brown of Aloha Scuba Divers, check them out if you're ever on Oahu. They are the BEST local dive shop this island has to offer. They take groups on a FREE night dive every Saturday night...FREE, that's how epic they are. They are also hosting a special right now for Open Water Diver Certs for only $199!!!
And, I was also lucky enough to get certified on the North Shore at Haleiwa and Sharks Cove- only dive-able during the Summer months due to neck breaking Winter swells.
I was officially certified as a PADI Open Water Diver with Judy Brown of Aloha Scuba Divers, check them out if you're ever on Oahu. They are the BEST local dive shop this island has to offer. They take groups on a FREE night dive every Saturday night...FREE, that's how epic they are. They are also hosting a special right now for Open Water Diver Certs for only $199!!!
And, I was also lucky enough to get certified on the North Shore at Haleiwa and Sharks Cove- only dive-able during the Summer months due to neck breaking Winter swells.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Forbidden Island
July/August 2009
I can't remember the exact weekend but it was about 2-3 weeks before my first deployment and my then girlfriend, now wife, surprised me (I hate surprises but this one was awesome) with a trip to Kauai including an all day Catamaran cruise with Blue Dolphin Charters up the Na Pali Coast and over to the forbidden island of Niihau to go on my first ever scuba dive.
Niihau is a private island at the very tip of the Hawaiian Island Chain and is owned by the Robinson family, it was bought from King Kamehameha V in 1864 by the Sinclair family and has been passed down from generation to generation; it has remained private ever since. The population on this sacred island is about 130 people and Native Hawaiian is the primary language spoken. No visitors are allowed on the island unless special circumstance and arrangements are approved (this approval is extremely hard and is usually only given to immediate family of those living on the island). The only semi-access to Niihau is via boat from Kauai or Helicopter. Only a few companies are allowed to give these tours and the rules are strict.
Enough with history....the dive:
Location: East Ni'ihau at "Super Highways"
Date: July/August 2009
Visibility: 20 Feet
Max Depth: 20 Feet
Bottom Time: 40 Minutes
Weight: 22 lbs.
Exposure Protection: None
Conditions: Salt Water/Boat Dive
Company: Blue Dolphin Charters
I can't remember the exact weekend but it was about 2-3 weeks before my first deployment and my then girlfriend, now wife, surprised me (I hate surprises but this one was awesome) with a trip to Kauai including an all day Catamaran cruise with Blue Dolphin Charters up the Na Pali Coast and over to the forbidden island of Niihau to go on my first ever scuba dive.
Niihau is a private island at the very tip of the Hawaiian Island Chain and is owned by the Robinson family, it was bought from King Kamehameha V in 1864 by the Sinclair family and has been passed down from generation to generation; it has remained private ever since. The population on this sacred island is about 130 people and Native Hawaiian is the primary language spoken. No visitors are allowed on the island unless special circumstance and arrangements are approved (this approval is extremely hard and is usually only given to immediate family of those living on the island). The only semi-access to Niihau is via boat from Kauai or Helicopter. Only a few companies are allowed to give these tours and the rules are strict.
Enough with history....the dive:
Location: East Ni'ihau at "Super Highways"
Date: July/August 2009
Visibility: 20 Feet
Max Depth: 20 Feet
Bottom Time: 40 Minutes
Weight: 22 lbs.
Exposure Protection: None
Conditions: Salt Water/Boat Dive
Company: Blue Dolphin Charters
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| Instructor/Dive Master & I :: I'm Awesome |
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| Joyce Napali Coast (Kauai) |
This was before my underwater camera so we used a cheapo throw-away camera. I also left my SLR at the hotel in fear that it would get water damage on the boat.
Note: Niihau is not known for its Reefs but for its underwater volcanic landscape & just the sheer thrill of diving the forbidden isalnd.
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