Shipwrecks, Hawaiian Volcanoes and Underwater explorations on scuba!
Posted by Scubamatt | on November 5, 2008
Welcome back!
As a scuba instructor at Island Divers Hawaii, I try to get as much bottom time as possible. So when the option to sneak in an extra deep dive for excited scuba-junkies arises on my boat, I never hesitate!
Undulated, or Greenhead Moray. PUHI LAUMILO, in Hawaiian. Nami Utsubo, in Japanese. Yeah, it bites.
Why do I do it? Because a “hard” day’s work underwater equals a good time, here in Hawaii!
Today’s triple-dip dive at the Corsair, Smitty’s Reef, and Hawaii Loa Crater proved no exception to my decidely-chill, personal rule.
Descending to Hawaii’s premier, WWII-era wreck, the Corsair, our first team of advanced divers explored this largely intact, American Fighter plane, which sunk in the waters of Maunalua Bay in 1942.
With 115 + feet of visibility and minimal current, a dive to this fighter plane was a cinch!
Our second dive brought scuba team two down to the placid, shelf-like reef structure of Smitty’s, a volcanic ledge reef with fantastic fish-life, eels, and healthy coral. Here we observed a tiny eagle-ray as it beat it’s elegant black wings into the depths!
Excited Divers from Victoria B.C., Canada. Hawaiian Finger Coral, Porites compressa, endemic
For our third dive, consensus said an exploration was in order. Here, all three teams joined up to map the Hawaii Loa Crater dive site. Big enough to fit a fleet of sunken dive boats inside, this interesting lava feature boasts some of the best finger coral in the area. Here, our skillful and observant divers found two
Divemaster Zim Lucero
yellow-margin eels inside a common den, a cleaner shrimp, and plenty of trigger fish while finning through this murky, coral-filled maze.
And although the outgoing tide made navigation a bit tricky, our patient divers managed the navigation with ease, and we returned to the Sea Fox ready to dive another day!
Until the next dive,
ScubaMatt
