Scuba Dream Time

We have had some incredible diving lately off Kauai's South Shore. The winds have been high but visibility and marine encounters have been outstanding. On the 19 th of February we had two incredible encounters. Our first dive was a drop at Turtle Bluffs for a drift dive. Just as everyone reached bottom we had a rather large stingray just swim by. Stingrays were very common off the Florida Keys, sometimes we would see upwards of 10 at one site. But off Kauai you rarely ever encounter stingrays. Luckily we had the chance encounter. Our second dive site was at the Caverns. There we were audience to a manta ray swimming over the caverns. Mantas are unusual off of Kauai, but this winter we have been treated to them on a fairly regular basis. We have seen them at Nukomoi, Stonehouse, and the Caverns. Yesterday we were diving at Stonehouse and saw three mantas. Initially we dropped down and a huge manta ta least 10 feet across swept down past us. About 30 minutes into the...

We finally had a day off together and my first day off in almost two weeks (13 straight days of work). It was great to go out there and enjoy the beautiful scenery Kauai has to offer. The other bonus was being able to take Niles out on a long walk with me. He wasn't to thrilled by the time we got to the Pihea Vista. It was a straight upward climb in the mud and he was already tired from the relatively easy part of the trail. I forget that the pup is getting old. He's a getting gray. I guess that what happens to a ten year old black dog. He really hated the part were I jogged back to the start ing point. I need to take easy on the old dog. I don't feel much like writing so I am just going to post some pictures of the beautiful vistas from the trail.

Ni'ihau , the Forbidden Island Trips to Ni'ihau I have learned consist of a very early start to a very long day. The reward is a great day of diving and memories to last. As crew our day officially starts at 5:30 am. Our customers are expected to check in by 6:00 am. By 6:45 am we are pulling away from the dock loaded up for a full day of diving (3 tanks each), breakfast and lunch for customers and crew, plus fishing gear. The trip out took almost 2.5 hours. Its a long way across the channel. Everyone settled in nicely for the long ride. As we finished our channel cross ing Capt Andrew got a bite on one of the fishing lines he had set out. We had managed to hook a huge marlin, estimated at around 500 pounds. He was a beauty there is some brief footage of the catch in the video below. Being aware of overfishing in our oceans, Ryan cut the fish loose but managed to save Capt Andrew's prized lure. After all t he excitement we decided on the best spot for the first ...