Capturing the Moment

Caloria indica (Indian Nudibranch) Unidentified Flatworm    Sea slugs, lobsters, crabs, shrimp, flatworms, and weird creatures galore can be found just off the beach here in Maui. And you don't even have to go to a beautiful coral reef to find them. In fact I think you will see even more if you go to a muck diving site like this one where all of these and more can be found on one dive. We never really know what to expect when we go muck diving here. There are almost always surprises. On this night the surge from the south swells had finally died down which meant we only had to deal with the clouds of plankton that would swarm your light if you stayed in one place for too long. This does make taking pictures very difficult as you have to get a good picture on the first or second try or else the plankton move in and ruin the shot. Guard Crab Baby slipper lobster, about 3inches Looking inside coral for creatures like this little guard crab can lead to great finds but

Trembling Nudibranch Tom Smith's Nudibranch  Some dives here in Maui we get lucky enough to see animals like frogfish, nudibranchs, sharks, octopus, and eels. Today at Makena Landing we saw all of these and more in one dive! Nudibranchs and flatworms started off the dive before we came across the most beautiful pink juvenile frogfish. It had its lure out trying to catch the interest of a passing fish. If you have never seen a frogfish eat then check out some videos on youtube. They move so fast that if you blink you might miss it. A rare sighting of a longfin anthias came next. This beautiful yellow fish has purple flecks around the eyes and is usually spotted at depths over 70ft deep. We have seen this one here in about 15ft several times over the last few months. She must be feeling pretty lonely. Head on view of a whitetip reef shark Juvenile Dragon Wrasses (Rockmover Wrasse) Hawaiian Day Octopus  I was busy trying to photograph these fast moving dragon w

  Checking to see if the last time was just a fluke, Heidi and I set out to find the elusive blacktip reef sharks of Maui again. We scoured the same part of the reef where we saw them last time and came up empty. The tide was extremely low and it was late morning so we thought maybe the timing was just off. However we kept at the search and a ways down the reef Heidi called out she caught a glimpse of one. Another showed up just after. Last time we found out that sitting in one spot and waiting for the quick moving sharks to come back is the best way to see them. If you chase after them they will keep away. That theory worked out well today and I had a very close encounter with one of the sharks. Out of the murk I saw it swimming steadily right at me. It turned about 8ft away from me and I snapped this profile shot at the top of the page. It is funny to think that these sharks are hanging out a few hundred meters away from a popular snorkeling spot, yet they are hardly ever seen. I

Wave of the day at Dumps, Maui Left at Lahaina Breakwall Right at Freight Trains The waves keep coming! We finally got a big south swell here in Maui and surfers are loving it! It does make taking people snorkeling and driving boats difficult but I love the summer surfing here. You always hear about the north shore and winter surf but few people know that Hawaii's summer swells can bring in pretty big waves from the south. I have been surfing along the south and west shores which have been getting pounded by large surf over the last four days. In fact three boats moored near Mala pier broke free in a really large set and crashed up on the beach. The waves destroyed the boats quickly after. Luckily all of our boats have been doing fine and we have even been running trips. Molokini is still clear and we found a couple spots around Lanai that havn't been murked up too badly. I am so glad that we got a good early season south swell this year since last summer was so s

Paul victorious after we found this secret black sand beach Yellow tang with very unusual coloration  My buddy Paul is back and this time the Utila reunion is complete since Brian is living out here as well. We all went through our scuba divemaster certification class in Utila, Honduras together. Paul just finished a stint as a deckhand on a tallship which ended up in port on Oahu, so he popped over for some good fun Maui adventuring. Brian and Paul headed out of the cave Brian underwater cave diving  So far we have toured the far reaches of Lanai, kayaked to hidden beaches from La Perouse, and delved deep into underwater caves off Makena. Turtles love the caves for resting  Here are a couple pictures from those adventures. I love the lighting in this cavern Deep in another cave A pair of reticulated butterflyfish, a rare find here in Maui

These dolphins are closer than they appear Hanging motionless in the deep as the pod cruises by   Every time I dive underwater I have a magical experience. It is essentially diving into a different world filled with incredible sights and animals. It is this feeling that draws me back time and time again to the ocean. And once in a while my ocean karma or luck happens to kick in for a truly remarkable encounter. On this day Heidi and I pulled up to the water's edge, immediately saw spinner dolphins jumping so we grabbed our snorkel gear and camera and jumped in. These are just some of the pictures from this hour long encounter swimming with Hawaiian spinner dolphins. Heidi with some rogue dolphins One of my favorite interactions Below the action Heidi in the midst Hawaiian spinner dolphins in the early morning light

Partial Solar Eclipse   Waking up this morning I had no idea I was waking in the only state able to witness the solar eclipse. Lucky viewers in the southern Pacific had a perfect view of an annular solar eclipse in which a 'ring of fire' from the sun surrounds the dark circle of the moon. Here in Hawaii this was the best of the partial eclipse. These photos were taken right before 4pm local time at the height of the eclipse. But preparing and finally getting the shots was not as easy as I would have thought.  After rushing home from work I grabbed my camera bag and headed to a favorite overlook to try my hand at a new kind of photography. Special lenses are not just recommended for sun glasses but also for cameras pointing right at the sun. Unfortunately I did not have any special lenses so I had to come up with something.   First I set my camera up on a tripod and switched onto 2sec timer mode. I set the focus on the distant horizon and switched to manual to lock it in