2012: A Year in Review

  It is becoming a tradition on this blog at the end of the year to wrap up a year in review with some of my favorite pictures and biggest adventures. This past year has been one of exploration into the blue waters surrounding the Hawaiian islands and beyond. Some encounters immediately come to mind like coming face to face with an oceanic white tip shark and nose to nose with a curious monk seal, while others sparked memories as I stumbled upon the pictures and stories of blog posts from 2012.

 The year started with humpback whales in full force here in Maui. It was my second whale season which made a huge difference in my knowledge and experience base to draw from as a naturalist with Pacific Whale Foundation. I soon had to start a new pool as I moved into the position of captain on several of the boats. Now at the end of the year I am starting my second whale season as a captain and loving it.

It took some luck, determination, and serious underwater exploring to find some of my bucket list sea creatures this year. Swimming with mahi mahi was high on my list. I finally found them under a drifting net in about 10,000ft of water. For my big nudibranch of the year it was much shallower, in about 15ft of water, but at night that Heidi and I found the rarely seen but highly prized jolly green giant. While the reef diving is amazing, and even though Molokini is only a kayak paddle away (4 times this year), it was muck diving that really stole the show. Nudi flats we call it for all the rare and wonderful nudibranchs we find there. This picture of Heidi and a sea hare wasn't picked because its the best lighting or visibility, but because it is a perfect representation of how we feel about muck diving. I am sure there will be many more muck dives in 2013.

  One of my fondest underwater memories came in the form of an unlikely marine mammal, the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. This curious seal couldn't get enough of my camera set up and I couldn't get enough of him. Luckily I snapped this portrait to remember him by.

  2012 was also a good year for visits from friends and family. Hawaii is a good place to find friends from all my past homes. Savannah friends, Toyon Bay, Japan, Tole Mour, UGA, UHH, and more. I love showing off my home out here and never mind playing the tour guide. Already my calender is starting to fill with promises of more visits from friends! Plus this gives me a great reason to go explore new places around Maui. In 2012 I discovered places like Venus Pool and Poli Poli thanks to visitors giving me the motivation to get off the usual path.

Then there was the surfing. From big winter swells at Honolua to glassy barrels in Indonesia I got my share of surfing in. This barrel picture made carrying my own surfboard to Indonesia totally worth it.

 Speaking of Indonesia! I took the month of October off from work to surf, dive, and explore the islands of Indo. Heidi joined me for 3 weeks as we put the afterburners on and jet setted around the islands. We explored rice terraced hillsides and battled some of the most dangerous driving conditions, we watched the sunset over the Komodo Islands, and searched out the muck diving capital of the world at Lembeh Strait.

We found nudibranchs, frogfish, sea horses, and the deadly blue ringed octopus. And then came face to face with a living dinosaur, the Komodo dragon. Our taste of Indonesia may have been so sweet we will have to go back!

My last big adventure of the year was a quick trip to the Big Island. Heidi and I hopped over to the Big Island several times this year for the diving but this time we had a major goal in mind, to see the lava. Reports that the lava flow had finally started going into the ocean again reached us in late November. So we hopped over, were totally set up by my friend Erica, and managed to hike out to see the lava at twilight. Cross another adventure off the list.