Tag: turtle love

  • Tuesday, February 25

    Molokai, day 3

    A dive day today, largely a pleasant replay of Sunday’s experience with Molokai Fish & Dive.  The early morning easy drive to the harbor, the lowkey loading up at the boat, the small dive group (6 divers) with Annia and Gabe as dive guides, the ease of getting to know the other divers…all such a nice way to get the day going.  This trip was with two very young newlyweds from Tampa, a couple in their 40s from Oahu, and two solo divers, one who splits his year between Molokai and Montana, the other visiting Hawaii for the first time, an experienced dry-suit diver whose entire diving experience was in Alaska.

    The boat ride to the dive site offered, like most rides here and in Maui, a view of whales doing their thing.

    Whales playing a bit

    The whales must have been pretty close, as their song—adult and juvenile—was so clear and strong throughout.  This video is not so visually thrilling, but listen to the whale song!

    Listen…

    The dives here continue to show us undisturbed reefs (not so many divers to mess things up, it seems), lots of yellow tangs to provide color, but also parrot fish and, of course, turtles.  The reefs are clean and healthy, the fish schooling and swimming in/out of coral.

    hear the whales, see the schools
    more schools

    Watching these turtles just slows down time; like watching a slow-motion bird in flight.  So very calming, such a nice reminder to relax and appreciate all there is to see around us. 

    solo turtle
    more turtles

    Post-dive we strolled around the ‘downtown’ area, Pattie wanting to replace the visor that blew off her head on the boat ride back to the harbor.  And we enjoyed a sandwich at the mini Sunshine Deli on the main st.  We looked forward to hitting Kanemitsu’s Bakery, but they’re closed on Mondays, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get some of their highly acclaimed sweets, and their evening warm bread treats.

    The afternoon brought some writing, the last stages of Let Them Not Say, and I’m hoping to get a nearly-final version to James by the end of the week, before we leave Molokai for Kauai.

  • Monday, February 3

    Hilo, day 9

    Pattie and I both slept late but, as our dive was at a more reasonable hour (9:30am) than usual, it was still an easily-paced morning.  We got to the boat slip by 9:15, happy to find that it was just us on this trip (plus divemaster Phillip and captain Kimo).  Nice folks, we found, and they proved easy-going, and a pleasant pair to be with for the morning.   

    We left Hilo’s harbor for a 30’ ride to our dive spot, which was basically the same spots we were last week with Bill—but further out from shore.  There were healthy swells of about 6’, but not anything unpleasant, thanks to my pre-boat sea-sickness medication regimen these days. On the way out of the harbor, we caught this clear view of Mauna Kea, snow-capped peak easily visible. “Most of the volcano is underwater, and when measured from its underwater base, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world, measuring over 10,000 m in height.”

    a view of Mauna Kea from our boat in Hilo Harbor

    The visibility wasn’t super, but we were constantly finding turtles hanging out in nooks/crannies between rocks.

    We also saw a few just freely swimming around.

    It’s just so captivating to seem these big animals moving so easily and gracefully through the water.  We also so a good number of needle fish, both transparent and yellow ones, as well as the usual wrasse varieties, and more.

    After a surface interval of about an hour, we moved to another spot and did a very similar dive, but the water was decidedly colder.  After about 35’, we surfaced b/c we were getting pretty chilled.

    These were good dives, despite the visibility, in large part because we both are feeling growing competence and confidence in our buoyancy control. We are advancing, and it makes an enormous difference in our experience of a dive.

    A lunch at the Hilo Bay Café was very nice, indeed, followed by a Walmart stop, a stop to mail things home, and a stop into the Hilo Ocean Adv’s dive store to see if we could find anything to take advantage of the 15% off coupon they’d given us (we didn’t).

  • Thursday, January 30

    Hilo, day 5

    The 5th and final dive of our advanced open water certification, again at Lele’iwi beach, and another great day. Perhaps the visibility not quite as good as Wednesday, but still great.

    Much of what made this final dive so enjoyable was our increased confidence in maintaining our buoyancy. Pattie and I each felt a significant difference in our skills-growth, and Bill, our instructor, was very ready to talk about our improvement.

    The quiet perspective at 30′
    A lesson in taking one’s time, going with the flow

    The turtles on this dive were just exquisite. At one point we were just in awe watching a few of them all together. Below, one of the turtles we encountered was clearly tuckered out, sleeping with his head on a rock/pillow.

    sometimes you’re just too tired to move a muscle

    On our way out Bill noticed this, covered by sand, resting on the ocean floor, likely ~15-20′. Then another example of showing us how to look at things a bit more carefully…

    knowing what to look for.
    In this case, a helmet

    The final dive over, with our certification in hand, we took Bill out to lunch at a favorite spot of his (and brought back lunch for Masako, too!). The post-class pix prove we worked with Bill!

    The famous Bill De Rooy, happy to be with Pattie