Drift Dive at Pu'u Olai, Red Hill, Maui

Can you see the frog fish?

  As a scuba diver and an adventurer I spend a good deal of my time underwater. I always wonder if I just sat underwater for a while without moving what I would see come by. But I usually come to the conclusion that I wouldn't see quite as much as when I kick off in search mode which was again the outcome for this dive here. The dive boat Maui Diamond dropped us in for a drift dive just past the point in front of Pu'uOlai cinder cone on the south shoreline of Maui. Clear water and a depth of only 35 feet or so made for some great photos. We came across a couple of turtles including a huge one hanging out inside a big cave. It took me several tries to get an acceptable photo of the turtle in the cave because of the difficult lighting. I ended up using my strobe to light up the turtle in the foreground while keeping the bright light at the cave entrance from flooding out the background.

  A few more turtles and nudibranchs were found after the cave, including this posing turtle splayed out on the sandy bottom. The big find came towards the end of the dive when Jon found a big Commerson's frogfish camouflaging in between the coral. Thanks for a great day Maui Dreams and Josh!

Over-Under at Pu'uOlai

Trumpetfish under the ledge

Josh leading his divers towards a school of goat fish