Yesterday we had an amazing day for our trip to Ni'ihau. Ocean conditions were perfect for the channel crossing. It was a smooth trip out to Ni'ihau and a unusually smooth ride back from Ni'ihau.
Our first dive of the day was at Keyhole. The site gets its name from the shape of the rocks where divers get dropped off. The boat backs into the Keyhole area and drops off divers for a drift dive. Normally the currents are strong and the conditions surging causing the boat to have to make several drops. Yesterday's conditions were so calm that the boat was able to maintain is position long enough to allow all 14 divers to jump off in one pass. We hung on the surface for a minute enjoying the view and allowing divers to regroup. We then descended as one large group to about 40 - 50 feet and head out of the Keyhole cavern. Once we rounded the corner we were present with a very swift current. The current was causing our air bubbles to travel horizontally through the water. As we drifted along in the current, the sharks came out to greet us. In order to maintain our position, we all had to grab a hold something so we did not continue drifting away from the sharks. The sharks also appeared to struggle just a bit as the were swimming against the current but moved very swiftly with the current. Everyone was so excited watching the sharks when a spotted eagle ray made graceful entry with the current. After reaching our nitrogen limit for the depth we moved along the dive site with the current. Soon we were in an area called the Octo Coral Garden. This area has colorful coral growth all along the bottom and millions of small tropical fish darting in and out. the colors remind me of cotton candy. Due to water temperatures being colder than tropical waters we don't see a lot of colorful corals making this spot a real treat. There were teardrop angelfish, bandit angel fish, and yellow margin moray eels to be spotted.
For our second dive we dropped at Vertical Awareness and the crossed the vast blue expanse to Lehua Ledge. I was really hoping to see a nice big Galapagos shark as we crossed the blue expanse but no such luck. We did however get a brief visit from one the resident monk seals. he made a very brief appearance. I was really hoping to get more seal footage, but there were many other wonderful species to see. We saw some long fin bi colored anthias and a pair of harlequin shrimp. Both are very rare species and a real treat to see.
I opted out of the third dive of the day so that Michael, our bubble watcher, could get in a dive for the day. Besides I was a bit chilled. It may be time to break out the 7mm wetsuit for longer lasting comfort. 3/2mm season is over for me at least.
I have the video below. I have compressed the video for posting. Enjoy!
Our first dive of the day was at Keyhole. The site gets its name from the shape of the rocks where divers get dropped off. The boat backs into the Keyhole area and drops off divers for a drift dive. Normally the currents are strong and the conditions surging causing the boat to have to make several drops. Yesterday's conditions were so calm that the boat was able to maintain is position long enough to allow all 14 divers to jump off in one pass. We hung on the surface for a minute enjoying the view and allowing divers to regroup. We then descended as one large group to about 40 - 50 feet and head out of the Keyhole cavern. Once we rounded the corner we were present with a very swift current. The current was causing our air bubbles to travel horizontally through the water. As we drifted along in the current, the sharks came out to greet us. In order to maintain our position, we all had to grab a hold something so we did not continue drifting away from the sharks. The sharks also appeared to struggle just a bit as the were swimming against the current but moved very swiftly with the current. Everyone was so excited watching the sharks when a spotted eagle ray made graceful entry with the current. After reaching our nitrogen limit for the depth we moved along the dive site with the current. Soon we were in an area called the Octo Coral Garden. This area has colorful coral growth all along the bottom and millions of small tropical fish darting in and out. the colors remind me of cotton candy. Due to water temperatures being colder than tropical waters we don't see a lot of colorful corals making this spot a real treat. There were teardrop angelfish, bandit angel fish, and yellow margin moray eels to be spotted.
For our second dive we dropped at Vertical Awareness and the crossed the vast blue expanse to Lehua Ledge. I was really hoping to see a nice big Galapagos shark as we crossed the blue expanse but no such luck. We did however get a brief visit from one the resident monk seals. he made a very brief appearance. I was really hoping to get more seal footage, but there were many other wonderful species to see. We saw some long fin bi colored anthias and a pair of harlequin shrimp. Both are very rare species and a real treat to see.
I opted out of the third dive of the day so that Michael, our bubble watcher, could get in a dive for the day. Besides I was a bit chilled. It may be time to break out the 7mm wetsuit for longer lasting comfort. 3/2mm season is over for me at least.
I have the video below. I have compressed the video for posting. Enjoy!
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