Maui Boat dive

Went to Mol0kini Crater this morning and had two great dives. We dropped down on a reef with 100's of fish. Butterflies of all sorts, Damsel fish, Pennant fish, Tangs, plus lots of others. Amazing array of color and quantity. Found some Spanish Dancer eggs and Garden eels. I also saw a Rare Pyramid Longnose Butterfly. I took a picture, but it didn't turn out. He was dark, against a dark background and I only got one shot and he didn't show up. The first time I have ever seen one. I did get some good pictures of other things, but not as good as Connie would have done. But at least I still have a camera to play with. It was a good dive all the way around.
For our second dive we came in and dove off the end of 5 caves. They called it the new Turtle Town because all the turtles have moved down from TT to there. We saw lots of them. I was in a mood to look at little fish and I had a great time, because there were lots of them. Some day I want to find a book that tells me what all those little guys will look like when they grow up. A bad day of diving is better than a good day at work and this was a great day. Does that tell you where work stands about now?
Later

Well we are getting down to the wire. It is almost time to come home.
Spent the whole day snorkeling at Honolua Bay with Jan and Bob. It was a perfect day. The ocean was like glass, the visibility was great and we saw some new stuff. Jan was taking pictures with my camera, (she toasted hers) and used the battery up so she could not get a picture of the black and white stripped fish we found.
This was a cater to Jan snorkel trip. First we went out to the left and after a couple of hours she informs me she'd crashing. (diabetic) So Bob and I tow her in to shore and get some juice and food into her. Off we go again and after a couple more hours her toes start to crap. Of course we are all the way out to the end of the bay and here we go again. Bob and I towed her back to shore again. In all we were in the water between 4-5 hours. Even then, it was so beautiful and calm I hated to leave. The ocean was as calm as I have ever seen it. Of course the fact that it's now time to come home also has something to do with hating to leave also. I'm diving in the morning so better get ready. Later

Five Caves 8-22-09

Jan took me to meet Ron at Makena Landing at 7:00 and we were under the water at 7:38. Ron had to go to work so he wanted in and out. The vis wasn't the best, but good enough to enjoy ourselves. Saw so many turtles, I lost count. One of them came out of the cave about a foot above my head. At the bubble cave a turtle was on top getting his breath of air, so we didn't bother him. There was a surge going on so the washing machine was very interesting. Definitely a hang on and then kick with the surge.
When we got back Ron found that his BC has lost a part and he could not inflate. So he tried to manually blow it up and the air came out of the hole left from the part. He had to snorkel in and of course he went and got the flag. I was going to go since I was ok, but he was already half way there.
This was our last dive for this year. He is working a lot and so can't go anymore this week.
I have at least one boat dive scheduled and maybe a dive with Michelle.
I'm going to miss Maui when I'm gone.
PS Connie I included some of these pictures to show you that fish DO sometimes turn sideways for a camera. Love you

Snorkeling Honolua Bay 09

Finally Jan got her perfect snorkeling day. Problem was, 1. she felt like throwing up the whole time we were out there, 2. her legs and feet kept cramping, 3. she started coughing and couldn't seem to quit, 4. and her mask leaked big time. Other than that she had a great time. The bay was perfect. It seemed to be a day for yellow fish. We saw all the normal yellow fish, plus the blue stripped butterfly(first picture) Jan also found a red leaf scorpion fish, but since neither of us can get to the bottom, we couldn't get a picture. Visibility was great, lots of fish, good parking spot, and we stayed out there for two and a half hours. Good day

Snorkeling Old Airport 09

Bob, Jan and I went up to Lahina for lunch with a friend from square dancing. She put on a great lunch with 5 courses. After we left we went over to Old Airport and snorkeled. Poor Jan had nothing but trouble. We looked before we went in and the waves weren't bad, but by the time we got ready they were more than she liked. To give her credit, she made it in. Then her mask would not quiet fogging and since the waves were more than she was comfortable with she didn't dare take it off. So eventually we took her back and Bob and I snorkeled. The first picture is of a Stocky Hawkfish. I am pretty proud of that picture since it is a snorkeling picture. Since I can't get my body under the water without weights this is as close as I can get. The second pictures shows the coral and it does have an eel in it. Can you find it? And what would a blog post be without turtles. We are taking off early tomorrow to try and get Jan in the water before it gets too rough so she can have a good experience snorkeling. Miss you all.

Back Underwater 8-14-09

Andy was available to dive today so I called him last night and met him at Maui Dreams this morning. We went to Hala Point. It was a good dive, especially since I found a frog fish. I found it! I was so excited to have found one on my own. Connie is the one who found all the rest of them. I was proud of myself because I didn't need any one's help for anything today. Got geared up, got in, got out, all by myself.
I included three pictures of my frog fish because this is my blog and it's my fish. The picture with the urchin is there because of the black and white fish that almost got away, but what I got was sideways. I also got my arm in an Urchin and he left spines in my wet suit and two of them came through into my arm. And Connie, I was using the flash. I'm just not as good as you are.
Andy dives a little different than we do. He had a mission in mind and swimming it was what he does. We on the other hand dawdle around and don't get near as far as we did today. Of course I use more air when I swim faster, so I only got 80 min on my tank today. I am going to have to figure out how to do better on my air.
Missed you Connie.

Maui Snorkeling 09

We were slow moving today but we finally made it to Turtle Town to snorkel. It was still early enough to get a good parking spot. The visibility was good and Jan saw a turtle. We found a couple more Saddleback Butterfly fish and Jan sorta got a picture of them. We also saw a yellow tail Coris that was changing from it's Nemo looking stage to it's middle stage and it still had the Nemo coloring on it's head and the rest of it's body was the blue and yellow of the adult coris. We also found a pair of Barred filefish. I don't remember seeing it before, so it goes on my "seen for the first time" list. It seemed like we were only there for a little while when we had to quit. Jan was nauseous and cramping and when I looked we had been in the water for 90 min. Miss you Connie.

Bon Dancing Maui 09

Bob took us to an Obon dance up country. They call it Bon Dancing for short. It is a traditional Japanese dance honoring their ancestors. The tradition dates back 500 years. The best way I can describe it is Japanese line dancing in a circle. After watching it for awhile Connie got the hang of some of the dances and the ladies saw her doing the movements and invited her to get up and dance. She did a great job and Bob loved it.

Maui Day 12 Connie's Last Day

We were waiting for Hurricane Felica to hit and make the diving conditions ugly so we got up at 6:00 and took off for Ahihi. We were the first ones there and had a great dive. The turtle cleaning station had 7 big turtles laying around waiting to be cleaned. On the way home we stopped by Ulau and the conditions were great so we went to Maui Dreams and got a second tank and Bob dropped us off and we dove the second reef. Saw some good stuff, like the Imperial Nudibranch, and octopus. This was Connie's last dive of this vacation and I am going to miss her a lot.

Maui Day 10 09

It was a great dive, except for the fact that Connie lost her camera. One minute it was there the next min, it was gone. We dove Ulua and swam out to Split Rock. It's just a little rock, but it has all kind of stuff going on. The Hawaiian Lionfish and the Leafy Scorpion were the best.

Maui Day 11 09

Well today we went back to the same place and her camera still was no where to be found. She thinks it's in Tahiti. She used my camera and got some good shots. Better than I ever get. The same kinda stuff as yesterday. Ron Ross, Connie and I went this morning and at first we couldn't find it. We finally found it on the second try. It was worth the air spent. What a great place. This may be our last dive. The storm is suppose to come in tomorrow and it may ruin the diving. Connie leaves on Tuesday and I will really miss her. I hope I will be able to dive some with the rest of the time I'm here.

Maui Day 9 09

Today we dove The Five Caves. They are pretty neat in that we see some bigger critters. We saw at least a dozen big turtles, a white tip reef shark, another frogfish, and a tiny Spanish Dancer. In the Bubble cave you can go to the top and come out of the water. It's a very different feeling.
Then we had to go shopping. We were out of most things and since Jan came, that is not acceptable. So we went to Walmart and Costco. It's a pretty sad comment on my life when my Friday night includes Walmart.