Capturing the Moment

Molokini Crater is hands down one of the best dives out here in Hawaii. And it is big enough to several different dive sites since you can't explore the entire crater all in one dive. Its location has pros and cons. Being about four miles offshore it avoids runoff and suspended sediment that occasionally affects the shoreline of Maui and it is sometime subjected to pretty wild currents which seem to bring in the big fish like sharks. But being that far offshore you have to pay alot to go on a boat dive with one of the many scuba tour companies. mushroom coral Unless you feel up to the challenge! Heidi and I had this planned for days. We rented scuba tanks the night before, loaded the kayak on top of the car, and piled up all our snorkel and camera gear. The next morning we woke bright and early, drove to the kayak put in spot and started out on a beautiful calm day towards Molokini off in the distance. Octopus in old missile shell dwarf moray eel About an hour late...

Getting some insider information Roxy and Julie got my contact info and sought me out to take them on a dive somewhere in Maui. Roxy was certified while Julie wasn't, so I had to find a place where she could snorkel at the surface and still stay with us. I also wanted to go somewhere with great wildlife and near where they were staying, in Lahaina. So after discussing a couple of options we decided on Black Rock. This has been a favorite dive site of mine on the west coast of Maui. On this day we got lucky, first with parking (which can be the big downside to this site), and with weather conditions. After snorkeling out to the point, past the cliff jumpers, Roxy and I said 'see ya later' to Julie and descended to the sandy floor. After a few minutes getting back in the feel and working on her buoyancy Roxy was back at it. And lucky for me the wildlife just kept showing up. Roxy and Juliet The water was crystal clear as we had numerous sea turtle encounters, n...

Scuba diving in Hawaii will allow you a chance to see some pretty amazing underwater creatures. Scuba diving at night in Hawaii brings out such creatures that you would never have imagined. Long snake-like fish with razor sharp teeth haunt the cracks and crevices (moray eels), armored arthropods climb the reef carrying brightly colored sponges on their back (sponge crabs), voracious many-armed creatures emerge from the sand to walk about on tiny tube feet (sea stars), masters of camouflage ninja vanish in a dark cloud (octopus), and huge sea slugs fly above the reef undulating like a flowing shawl in a Spanish dance. Fish of the reef hunker down in hiding places for the night while the night denizens have their time. On this night dive at White Rock, Maui we saw all of this and more happening. We finally had to turn back as we got low on air but it still amazes me how the reef and the sand comes alive at night. We saw octopus jetting away from moray eels on the hunt. A new kin...

What wonders you might see if you travel where most others do not. I have always heard about pilot whales, melon headed whales, false killer whales, and even sperm whales living in the deep offshore waters of Maui. I decided that it was something I would have to see for myself. It took a long time but I've finally found myself in a place to head out to these offshore waters about 30 miles off Maui over depths of 10,000 feet at times and it has paid off big time.   The past two times I have ventured out into these waters I've come across pods of short-fin pilot whales. They only seem to live in deep waters. On the Big Island I have seen them just 2 miles offshore but still in 2,000+ ft of water. Here in Maui the surrounding islands/volcanoes are so close that they touch underwater forming a shallow plateau. Cetaceans like spinner dolphins and humpback whales love this shallow water while others like these pilot whales shun them for the deep. Thus they are hardly seen and even ...

Today was a big west side day off here in Maui. The waves were getting smaller and smaller which made surfing tough but created perfect conditions for diving. We had hot and sunny conditions at Black Rock in Ka'anapali. This is my favorite dive site on the west coast of Maui. Even though the last time I dove here was only a week ago I saw totally different things today.    Thomas Shelby, Ben Eisenstein, Alana Yurkanin, and I hit the clear water behind the Sheraton on the south side of Black Rock. There was a little current, a lot of moray eels, and even a few rare sightings on this dive. The rarest of which was this Hawaiian spotted flatworm. Known only from the Hawaiian islands this flatworm usually is only seen at night. I had never seen one before.    Something that I always look for, often find, but have failed to get a good picture of are the tiny commensal shrimp that live on pin cushion sea stars. I found a purple red star with a dark red and white stripe...

Known for their acrobatic displays the spinner dolphin, ( Stenella longirostris ) is a year round resident of our coastal Maui waters. They frequent shallow sandy bays during the day to rest, making them the most commonly encountered dolphins on our Pacific Whale Foundation eco-cruises. Some days you can find a pod over a hundred dolphins strong and coupled with calm, sunny conditions it can be great for photographing. Still, these are marine mammals only spending a fraction of their time near the surface so snapping that perfect photograph can be quite the challenge. I think that is one of the really rewarding things about wildlife photography.  The spinner dolphins are one of the smaller species that we find, often weighing less that a full grown human. What they lack in size they make up for in aerial flips, twists, and spins. Our research is looking into what purpose these acrobatics might have. The leading theory now is for communication. The splash sending a sound wave...

 These Harlequin Shrimp, (Hymenocera picta) are something I had been searching for ever since seeing a picture of them on the cover of our Hawaiian invertebrate book. They are so beautiful and quite rare. It has taken me well over 40 dives to find them out here in Hawaii.   Unfortunately they are heavily collected for the aquarium trade and the Hawaiian ones are more highly prized being rarer than the Indo and African varieties. Once encountered they can often be spotted around the same location for months or even years. But just so these two are caught up and captured for some salt water aquarium I will keep their location confidential.   They feed on the tube feet of echinoderms like sea stars. And if you look closely you can see that this pair has found and is feasting on a sea star. They start at the tip of an arm and slowly move in. They can feed on one star for up to a week. However some sea stars have been seen to escape by detaching the arm being fed on and le...

Red Margin Nudibranch unfurling It always amazes me what can be found in the little pools in the rocks that form when the tide goes out. These tidepools can be treasure troves of all sorts of rare and unusual sea creatures. I have seen juvenile octopus, moray eels, and cleaner shrimp at night in tidepools. But the real reason I am always checking for low tides shortly after sunset is to find nudibranchs! Heidi and I have seen nudibranchs in tidepools that we have never seen snorkeling or scuba diving. And to think, people walk right by these pools all the time, not realizing what might be lurking nearby. Dendrodoris carunculosa  This nights foray into some of our favorite tidepools was incredible. My nudibranch hunting partner Heidi and I didn't have really high hopes since the tide was not a very low tide, but all that changed when she shouted she found something. We first thought it was a tuberculos nudibranch ( Dendrodoris tuberculosa ) but when we identified it later...