Scuba Dream Time

Beautiful day of diving at Hale O'honu. If you have to work on a holiday, diving is the job to have. There is always something beautiful to see. We had two new divers on board today, it was their first official dive as certified divers. They both did very well. All others on the boat had a great time and we saw LOTS of turtles. As we were heading to the site to moor up on the surface were three turtles just waiting to greet us. As the divers descended down the mooring line they were greeted by an even larger welcoming committee. Turtles congregate in this area to be cleaned. They never appear bothered by divers so it affords divers an excellent opportunity to view them. Besides the numerous turtles, we also saw a large school of Black Durgons ( Black triggerfish; Humuhumu 'ele'ele; Melichthys niger) swimming by. This was a treat for me as I have only seen them swimming by themselves and the sightings have been very rare for me. Hope everyone is having a wonderful...

Brownie and I celebrated Christmas a day early this year since we have to work on Christmas Day. That is one of the few drawbacks of this industry; you work when others are on holidays. The high point is that when you are off the amateurs are all at home and working. We had an incredible day. We woke up early and opened our presents. We both did very well on presents. Niles would have liked some Greenies so he he was a bit disappointed. I'll have to make it up to him. He has me so trained. After all the gift opening was done and we left all the new electronics charging we headed out to explore Opeakaa Falls and the National Forest off the same road. Brownie decided to take a dip in the freshwater creek. The water tends to be a bit chilly but no too bad. Unfortunately I had to stay dry due to a bad case of swimmers ear. Imagine a diver experiencing an ear infection. But it was worth being on land just to capture the video of him trying to get out of the water while keepi...

SEASON'S ALOHA May you all have health, wealth, and happiness.

Great diving at House of Turtles (Hale O'Honu). There are always numerous turtles. In the Keys you are lucky to see more than one turtle on any given day. Here on Kauai it's almost a constant parade of turtles. Most of the turtles do look very healthy and are very large. Some are over 6 feet long, absolutely massive. A few have cracked shells as if they have had a run in with a boat prop or a very large Tiger Shark. What is disturbing is that some of the turtles have what appear to be hard white growths on the soft parts of their bodies. The growths are very visible and obvious (below are some pictures). The afflicted turtles generally appear unaffected except for those with a great amount of growth around their eyes. They sometimes bump into you. And you must be careful because it is a federal offense to touch turtles in Hawaii. The feds will slap you with a $10,000.00 fine, if caught of course. Overall, they are amazing and gracious creatures. If you ever wondered...

This morning I drove up to Koloa Landing to meet two DSDs students and their certified diver friend for a local shore dive. I was pleasantly surprised to run in to Cole Abbott. Cole was in my IDC class. As a matter of fact we graduate 366 days earlier. I must admit that at first I failed to recognize him and when I did I could only recall the unappreciated nickname bestowed upon him by our course director, Tom Witmer. The nickname was "the colinator". Not very flattering but definitely memorable. I never thought I would just run into someone I knew on such a small and isolated island. He has been here for the past 9 months so maybe he will show us some hidden gems for diving. The diving on Koloa was very nice. The visibility is finally improving after all the rain we have been having. We saw two turtles, two eels, and countless other tropicals. My two DSD students enjoyed the dives but were doubtful that they would ever dive again. They were on Kauai from Korea fo...