Maui, day 4

Molokini Crater, inside and backwall side

An early morning for us, as we needed to be in Lahaina by 6:45 to check in for our dive.  The drive was a bit quicker than we thought, and the shop opens promptly at 6:45, so we were about 10 minutes earlier than necessary.  (we’ll know better for Friday and Sunday dives with this company.)

The first impressions are important ones with these dive shops/charters, as you spend a day with the crew and the other divers, and you depend on them for safety.  First impressions were very good, indeed; fellow divers quiet, easy, mellow, yet upbeat.  Crew very professional, and not at all overly rah-rah.

The ride out to the site was really quite beautiful.  Calm seas, sunny skies, the occasional whale breaching out blowing, breakfast snacks available…very pleasant hour boat ride on an uncrowded boat of 16 divers, 2 dive guides, the captain and a deck boss.

Today’s dive was the backwall of the Molokini Crater, then the inside of the crater’s arch.  The first dive, (at “The Edge of the World”) the ‘back wall’ was a first for us.  We’re used to diving at a depth where we’re near the bottom, or can easily see the bottom, and the bottom terrain is a reef (or a wreck).  This ‘wall’ dive finds the reef growing on a vertical(ish) surface, and the bottom’s not in sight.  In today’s case, we were told the bottom was at about 200+ feet; we all stayed at about 60’.  This is the outside of a volcanic crater, and the size of it, and the sense of dropping into extreme depths, are very impressive, indeed.

After a pleasant surface interval time with snacks, meeting people, sharing of stories, we dove again, but this time at Reef’s End. 

The terrain a bit less dramatically vertical, but the fish impressive and, most amazing for us, the whale song very audible.

The hour-long boat ride back in was followed by a lunch with Joe and Cristin, then some time at the pool relaxing.  Even though we had very reduced exposure to Jackson today, it was certainly a great day’s diving.