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Dive Date: Feb 23, 2010
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Dive Leader: Steve
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| Dive Site: Sea Cave |
Bot time: 38mins |
Viz: 100ft |
Temp: 75F |
Depth: 74ft |
| Dive Site: China Walls |
Bot time: 45mins |
Viz: 130ft |
Temp: 75F |
Depth: 51ft |
Sea Cave
Great group of divers: all advanced, independent, and totally stoked for a great dive. Good thing Roger and I delivered!
The sea cave is an impressive sight both above and below the waters. Plunging into the crystal-clear waters, we swam under the arch leading into the cave at 50ft/15m. Schools of yellow tangs swarmed the entrance. A lone turtle, startled by our presence, calmly left her hiding spot inside the cave.
The back of the cave opened into a turbulent washbowl at the surface. Hovering beneath the furious waves, we watched our bubbles spin in violent vortices in the chaos above. After briefly observing the fury at a safe distance, we exited the cave and difted down the wall.
An octopus slithered under a recess, pulsating signals of agitation through the chromatophores in its skin. As we turned to head back towards the boat, a solitary eagle ray glided past the group, barely flexing its blue-and-white spotted wings in the gentle current. As we drifted back, we spotted few more large morays poking out from the crevices.
We hung on the safety stop serenaded by the songs of humpback whales. Just before breaking the surface, another lone turtle—perhaps the same one from the start of the dive—circled our group en route to a breath on the surface.
China Walls:
Easily one of the top ten diving experiences in my life—-and I have nearly 2000 dives!
The gentle current from the previous dive had picked up quite a bit. As descended down the gradual slope of the urchin-covered volcanic stone wall, it was evident that we were in for one heck of a ride.
A trio of chill turtles was the first to greet us. They hung with the group for a while, cruising with us as we flew past giant boulders covered in coral splotches, each serving as micro-ecosystems for a host of small fish. The cautious eyes of moray eels and an octopus peered out from between the boulders. Odd-shaped variation of sea urchins lined to stone bottom, interrupted briefly by colorful undulation of divided flatworms.
As we continued along the wave-beaten east Oahu walls, the turtles continued to dive bomb the group. I counted eight of everyone’s favorite reptile. Hawaii’s myriad endemic fish were abundant and active. Floating in the steady current, it was like watching a slideshow of “Best of Oahu.”
There are those rare times in a diver’s life when you encounter something so fantastic for the first time that you know—instantly!—that you will never, ever forget that moment. I have been working on an article for my blog called “The Top 10 Of My 2000” in which I describe the ten most mind-blowing moments of my scuba diving career: diving a World War II submarine; doing a no-lights, no-moon night dive; a deep encounter with a hammerhead shark; seeing my first manta ray; finding megalodon shark fossils in low-viz; surviving the most insane drift dive of my life; exploring a sunken oil rig; being stuck inside a wreck with a sand tiger shark; and The Moment when I fell in love with diving.
Well, the next moment on this dive officially made the list.
As we begin heading towards blue water for the safety stop and boat pick-up, I noticed part of the group intensely huddled around a shallow overhang. As I swam towards my divers, they suddenly scurried away. A strange shape slinked out from beneath the ledge, smoothly swimming with slow strokes of its flippers. It was unmistakable what I was seeing: the six-foot silhouette of a Hawaiian monk seal.
I gave out a huge shout in my regulator. I couldn’t believe my luck. An extremely endangered species, there are estimated to be only 150 Hawaiian monk seals left in the Hawaiian islands—-and one of them was swimming with me!
The shouts of excitement were the first thing I heard when the group broke the surface. What an amazing dive!!
For more information visit:
http://www.thescubageek.com/diving/divelog/divelog-1995-sea-cave/
http://www.thescubageek.com/diving/divelog/divelog-1996-hawaiian-monk-seal/
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