Pictures of Fish

Phil and I have been doing a bunch of boat dives the last few days. Boat diving in Maui is not cheap. But I have had fun. Yesterdays dive to the Cathedrals was the best I have done this year on Maui. Great vis, no current, lots to look at. Here are some pictures of Phil and his friends. One of them loved him so much it choose him to poop on. It must be love if a fish shares his poop with you.

Old Airport

We all went to Old Airport today. Aaron and I went diving and Bob, Ken and Margaret snorkeled. The visibility was good, about 50ft. I know the people that live here think that stinks, but hey, I'm from CA where we think anything over 10 is good. The snorkelers found a Devil Scorpion fish. Took a great picture of it too. In fact his snorkeling pictures were better than my dive ones. Neither Aaron or I are great at leading dives, but we managed. We'll be better next time.

Five Graves

I did a great dive with Ron, Andy and Leona at the Graves. We actually went in at the Graves and came out at Makena Landing. We had a great dive. There was some surge and it got worse after we got out. Hope it stays good so we can dive tomorrow. Saw some great stuff. I found the ray as we were snorkeling out. Ron found the little frog fish, it's only about an inch and a half long. It was so cute. We found the two sharks in the caves. The surge was such that we didn't do the bubble cave or washing machine. Just another good Maui dive.

Molokini Boat Dive

I didn't have anyone to dive with today, so I went on a boat. I guess I have to pay to have enough playmates. The current inside the crater was impressive, but so were the fish. We saw one shark in the deep water and some big fish. Lots of reef fish and turtles. My regulator took a dump and I was able to use one of theirs. It did Not compare to mine, thank you Connie, you have great taste in equipment.
5 caves tomorrow.

Wailea Snorkeling

Bob and I went back out to Wailea today to try and see the seahorses snorkeling. We didn't have any luck. I'm not good at judging what is 13ft of water w/o my dive computer, so we spent 2 hours looking at other stuff. The coral was really nice and we saw some interesting fish.

Seahorses

We went to Wailea today and this is what we saw. They are beautiful. The brown one was on the move, headed south, so I don't know if we will find him again. I love these critters. I know Connie is so jealous and I hope they stay around until she gets here. These are the first seahorses I've ever seen in Maui. Leona seems to think that someone brought them from on of the other Islands. I don't care where they came from I love them.

Mailka Gultch

Went to the north side of the Island today and did a dive with Leona and Andy at Mailka Gultch. Bob was a sweetheart and got up early and took me over. We only did one dive because they get cold. The water temp was 75 but it feels cold to a lot of people. Andy found two big scorpion fish. One was at least 2 ft. long. There a a lot of canyons on the right side dive and they were beautiful and full of lots of turtles. So many I lost count. The visibility was great as soon as we got out of the bay. It was a fun day.

Maui Diving

I arrived in Maui on Monday night and managed to get in the water with the help of Shannon and Aaron, they went and got tanks before the dive shop closed. We dove Ahihi and Ulua and the dives were good. The vis was not what I like but it was better than CA. I forgot my camera at the condo so I have no pictures of those dives. Then we went snorkeling to Honolua Bay on Wed and I left the camera in the car, again no pictures. But today I dove Wailea and Ulua and I remembered the camera (it's not taking great pictures) but I got a few good shots. Connie I included one just for you and I'm sure you'll know which one.

Whale Sharks AWESOME

The Whale sharks were AWESOME. Better than Joe;s pictures. It was an hour and half boat ride for about 15-20 min in the water, but it was worth it. Cost about $200 with everything, but I may be tempted to give a day of diving on Cozumel for it. I may, or maybe not. We got to each go in three times for about 5-10 min each time. Only two in the water from each boat at a time and by the end there were lots of boats. There had to be 40-50 whale sharks there, just swimming around ignoring all of us. The kid from the boat took my hand so I could swim faster and see better. He did it for three of us, and it really helped. It was a real rush being that close to them. One was about 35-40 ft long and none of them were under 20ft. The kid told us there were only about 6-7 places in the world to see these guys and the place we were was the best in the world. Other places might have one or two, we had 40. Then we stopped on the way back and snorkeled while they prepared lunch and I found a great big Manta ray. By the time all these young guys got off the boats to see it, it was headed out to sea. Most of them swam after him and then they found another.
I got my ticket for the ride to the airport tomorrow. Guess it's back to the real world again.

Last Day to Dive

After yesterday's rain the ocean was pretty rough today. We went out, but only did one dive. Almost everyone on the boat was sick and so they headed back. Brent was getting pretty green and so we opted not to go on a second dive. The waves were really big and it made the getting out interesting. The vis was not real bad, but a lot of stuff was stirred up in the water. I didn't feel sick, which is unusual for me, I always the one with the patch on, but when I got home I felt a nap coming on and I didn't fight the feeling. Since it was so rough I opted to not take the camera so I didn't have pictures to play with and a nap was the next best thing. Tomorrow is Whale Shark day. Wish us luck with the weather.

Playa Del Carmen Mexico

I arrived here on Sat the 3rd of July and it has been a busy time ever since. Though with the wind and rain going on now, I may have to come to a screeching halt tomorrow. Sunday we dove with a local shop here. It is a good operation, but we had to wade out to the boat. Of course they said it was ankle deep, but on me it was over my waist. Then we got to do a back roll off the side. It was a little tricky because the side was a little higher than my butt wanted to go. All's well that ends well because we did a couple of nice dives. No where as nice as Cozumel, but ok for here.

Monday July 4th we took Brent to Cozumel. He had never been there so he had no idea of the treat in store for him. It was a long day. We had to catch the 7:00am ferry and since we are at a resort it is a $10 cab ride away. We dove with Aqua Safari, located on the strip across from their dock and we got there just in time to fill out all the paper work and get on the boat. Our first dive was Palancar Caves, second Yucba, and the third was Paradise Reef. All three great dives, but I think I wore the other two out. Brent was so impressed he is planning a three day trip over there after I leave. Darn

Today Yvette and I dove the Cenotes. Fresh water cave diving is very interesting and it was quite the adventure. It poured rain all day so the boats were not going anywhere else, so it was a good day to do it. It has rained so much and the river is up so high the place where we went in was up to my knees in water. (It is suppose to be dry) Needless to say no sun was shinning through the various holes so it was a dark dive. Good lights were a must. I wore my 3mm wetsuit and a 3mm shorty and a hood and I was toasty. Yvette didn't wear the hood and she was cold. She is a bit of a chilly willy though. I'm really glad I did it, but I would never give up a day of diving on Cozumel to do it again.

Memorial Day Skiing

Memorial Day and I was skiing at Mammoth. This is the first time I have been "Spring Skiing", and I enjoyed myself. We still had a lot of snow and the conditions were pretty good. Even early in the morning it was not too icy. I went up with a Meet-Up group and a good time was had by all. I didn't know any of them before, but they were all nice people.
As I was driving through Bishop on Friday I remembered that it was Mule Days. So on Saturday after skiing, I drove down to go to the evening performance. They had the pack scramble, chariot races, mule pole bending and lots of other stuff. I ate an Indian Taco for dinner and Kettle Corn for desert. I remember how I loved it those many years ago that we went up there and how I wanted to buy a mule. No desire to buy a mule this time around, but a fun time anyway.
I think this will probably be the last ski trip for the year. It got really hot with my jacket on, and I need the pockets to carry stuff so I can't go w/o it. Such troubles I have. I could break down and buy a light weight jacket with pockets, couldn't I? LOL

Mother's Day 2010

What a great Mother's Day. Ron, Connie and I were on a dive boat out of San Diego doing Reef Check dives. It was great fun to be doing this as a family. What a great present. The conditions were not the best, algae bloom, so we were not able to survey Broomtail Reef, but had to find another spot. That spot was at best marginal, but we still had a great time. I had to sit one dive out because my tank blew an O ring while I was waiting for Ron and when I got back on the boat my motion sickness blossomed and I had to sit it out. I managed to keep it all down, and was able to make the last dive. Connie had the motion sickness going on and sat out the third dive.
Ron got the best present of all. Connie gave him 5m socks to wear in his boots and for the first time diving in CA he was not cold. He refused to give them back to Connie. Offered to pay for them, but would not give them back.
A good time was had by all.

Connie's Recert Boat Trip

This time I was on the overnight boat trip with Connie. We went out to Catalina Island and had six great dives. Connie passed all of her tests and I passed FISH. WooHoo. Reef Check is such a great thing to do. We both are always so excited when we get to go on a Reef Check dive, especially a boat trip. Phil and Sylvia are taking the June class and Joby is doing the San Diego class. We will have our own survey crew.

Ron's Reef Check

Ron went through the Reef Check class in April and I was able to go on the overnight boat out of Long Beach with him. He didn't have a lot to say about taking the class since I gave it to him for a Christmas present. Last year Connie gave him the dive certification and this year he had to do Reef Check. He claims we probably are planning his life for him, but the truth is we just want more playmates. We did three dives each day. Ron passed all his stuff except fish. Like Mother, like son. Ron is a new diver, 30 dives total at this time and he is awesome. He may not pass fish this year, but he will next year.

Skiing Mammoth

Memorial Day weekend and I'm in Mammoth Lakes skiing, how cool is that. The snow has been great all three days. It did get real sticky at the end of the day today, so I quit. I'm up here with a Meet-Up group and it's been good. The group keeps the cost down, especially with my season pass, and Brent's cooking. He's made breakfast, took lunch stuff to the mountain, and cooked dinner for 10. Good job Brent, I'll go on a trip with you any day. I did help with the clean-up though.
Friday night I took some time and went down to Bishop for Mule Days. It's been over 20 years since I'd been there and it was different, but good in it's own way. I enjoyed the show, especially the Pack Scramble. I've been wanting to come up for a number of years, but just didn't get it done. So this ski trip served two purposes. I've had a great time.
Since I have a season pass this year I have been up here skiing a lot. I would like to say that I have gotten to be a better skier, but that is still up for debate. Even if I didn't, I've had a lot of fun trying.

Girls Gone Diving Bonaire Day 2

Today I hit 200 hours underwater. This is a pretty neat goal to have reached. We did four dives today, breathing Nitrox and none of us are near as tired as we are breathing air. Saw a lot of neat things and had wonderful dives.