Maui Day 8 09

Our first ever scooter dive was fun. There are two ways to ride it, first the James Bond position, which is the one in the picture. The other is the superman, where you put it between your legs and steer it that way. Connie got it right away, it took me a while longer. When I finally got to be Superman I was able to keep up and in fact had to slow down. Scooters are a nice way to get some place in a hurry. When I had it wide open my regulator would go wobble, wobble in my mouth. Paul said if you set the propeller on one it would take your mask off if you looked back.
Our first dive went to Saint Anthony's Wreck. It was a nice little wreck and Connie found a frogfish, but the father and son that went with us sucked their air and we had to head back before we even got all the way around it.
The second dive was to the outer reef, and again our limiting factor were the two guys with us. Both of us came back with over 1000psi. Of course we believe that we paid for the air, we want to breathe it.
Picked Jan up at the airport tonight. It's good to see her again.

Maui Day 7 09

We dove Mala Wharf today. It is a shallow dive so we were able to stay for a long time. We could have quit sooner but we fooled around until we got to the two hour mark.
The most exciting thing was the Frogfish Connie found walking across the sand. He was in a hurry to get somewhere. We followed him across the sand till he landed on a piece of coral but that was just a rest stop, because when we went to check on him later, he was gone.
Joby, we saw lots of turtles here, big ones, medium ones and even little ones.
Other years when we dove here we have seen four or five adult frogfish, but he was the only one this year.
We are planning on a night dive tonight with a full moon and if we get to see something interesting, I'll let you know.

Maui Day 6 09

Tuesday morning found us at Old Airport, a west facing beach. According to the dive reports the conditions were marginal. What we actually had was no waves and 100 ft visibility. There was a bit of a current going on, so what took 80 min to go north, took 20 min to get back. Definitely an E ticket ride. Saw a bunch of little stuff today, starting with a tiny yellow frogfish, a couple of eels, pillow stars, and lots of different juvenile fish. First we found the little frogfish. You can tell how tiny it is by comparing it to Connie's fingers in the picture. The two pictures are so different because Connie switched from sea mode to regular mode on her camera. The other fish is something we haven't seen and as close as we can tell from the fishbook, it is a Hawkfish. It was a great dive. The only complaint we have is how sandy we got getting out. We had sand in everything. Wetsuits, BC, booties, hair, bathing suits, everything. And it's the type of sand that wants to stick around, regardless of how many times you rinse the stuff.
After we ate out picnic lunch, we headed up to Honolua Bay and snorkeled for a couple of hours. Connie figured she may not get a chance to go again. We don't dive that site because it just seems to work snorkeling it.
We have four tanks in the car and can't wait to see where we decide to go tomorrow.

Maui Day 5 09

We didn't get to get wet today. The ocean was still pretty ugly. We are planning to go tomorrow regardless of what it looks like. The dive shop said it should be clearing out tonight, so we are hopeful.
Sharon told me this morning that I had fish on my brain since I couldn't get in the water we went to the Aquarium. It is actually a nice aquarium. It features only fish found in Hawaii, and we have seen most of them. We did see some we are looking forward to finding, especially sea horses. They have some great ones, as large as the one we saw in Bonaire. I so want to find one here.
The Frog fish in the picture were awesome. They were the exact color of the coral in the tank. Of course there has to be a picture of yellow fish, especially when there are so many at one place. The people pictures are there because I figured they may be the only ones I post that doesn't have a regulator in our mouths.
We are off to square dancing in a little bit. They are starting a new beginners class and they need bodies and Bob volunteered us. It's the least we can do for him. I wonder if Connie can even think at the brand new beginner level. I'm sure she will manage.

Maui Day 4

This morning the south swell was really kicking up and the diving on this side was crap. So we went to the North Shore and dove at Maliko. The first dive was a 45 min kickout and Ron didn't think I could do it, so I sat that one out. Connie told me that I could have done it except the last 5-6 min was not fun. The waves were coming up and slamming over her head, to the point she thought about putting her regulator in her mouth, and she never does that.


Our second dive was on the right side and we kicked out a long way, but the waves were not as tough. We saw a few things we don't see to often. The ell in the picture is a Mustache Conger ell, a first for both of us. Notice all of the shrimp around the opening. All of that pink is shrimp.
The turtle was just saying Hi to Connie. We saw five or six big turtles on this dive. The red mouthed fish is an Orange Mouthed Lizardfish. First time for him also. The other is a Crown of Thorns which eats the coral, but they are not sure it is really harmful. They think it may be like a forest fire. New coral starts to grow when the old is gone.
Getting back was interesting in that when we came up to check, we were on the opposite side of the bay from where we wanted to be. The water was very rough and since Connie and I had lots of air left we went back down and swam in underwater. Much easier that way. Probably won't be diving tomorrow since the conditions suck.

Maui Day 3

Met Ron Ross at Wailea this morning and after we spent an hour catching up with him we headed down to the water. There is a south swell that is suppose to last through Sunday and it caused some pretty decent waves. Of course when we went in one of them picked me up and threw me back on my butt. Connie being the great daughter she is, came with me. She said the wave took her, it wasn't me hanging onto her that knocked her over but I'm not postive.
She took her camera and was trying different settings and got some good turtle shots. The turtle was so funny. We came upon it and Ron starting slowing waving his arms and she took one look at him, settled down and said "pet me, pet me".
The visibility was about 30ft and since we dive in CA we thought it was great.
After we came home and took a nap, she dragged me off to the bathing suit store and I actually bought one. Since the one I am wearing is about 9 years old, I guess it was time.

Maui Day 2

Today we snorkeled Honolua Bay and I saw two fish I have never seen before. The first one is a Bluestripe Butterfly fish and the other a Bandtail Goatfish. These are not my pictures, I got them off the Internet so I could show them to you. The water was so clear today that I could see fish shadows.
Connie got in at 5:00 and we went to the busiest restaurant in town, Costco, for pizza and then home. Connie hauled her luggage up and started unpacking. Her carry on was heavier than her checked bag and that weighed 49.5 lbs. She says scuba gear sure does weigh a lot. We are scheduled to go dive with Ron Ross tomorrow morning. There is a south swell and everyone is saying the visibility won't be so good. Connie's response was "we are used to diving in CA where we think 20 ft is good". Ron's response was "you'll get that. Connie put her new 4g card in her camera and she is ready for what ever she can get to stay still long enough to snap a picture. Otherwise it's video time.