Finding Nudibranchs and More at Turtle Town: Scuba Dive

 

Art in nature - the wrapped up arms and spines of a crown-of-thorns sea star.

I love spending time underwater. Especially in a place like Maui, Hawaii. I have logged hundreds of scuba dives here, all around the island. This dive took me back to one of the places where I have dove before, a place called 5 Graves or 5 Caves. Snorkel boats come here often, looking for sea turtles. But the snorkeling miss a world of small and unusual creatures living in the cracks and crevices and caves down below. That is why I geared up for scuba diving and went out for a hour-long underwater search for charismatic micro-fauna.

The entrance for this dive is down a gravelly path, past a small graveyard on an tradition coastal access trail. It would be very easy to drive right by if you didn't know what you were looking for. The entrance into the water is a small, rocky cove, that can be quite tricky, especially if you have heavy scuba gear and a large camera. The waves surge into the bay, sending the unwary scuba diver careening off boulders in the shallows. Conditions calm down almost immediately once you get past these shallow boulders. The rest of the dive is spent scouring the underwater ledges, cracks, and crevices for unusual critters.

Because of the difficult and somewhat hidden access, 5 Caves can be a very peaceful dive. I didn't see a single other person for the entire time I was out on the reef. I ventured deep into lava tubes and was rewarded with a gold lace nudibranch, a rosy phyllidea, and two species of lobsters. On the outer rock walls I ticked off more species of nudibranchs; snow goddess, tom smith's, fried egg, imperial, and even a white margin nudibranch laying eggs.

Towards the end of the dive I spied a Hawaiian Day Octopus that was peering over a coral head at me. It was closely watching my movements. I was pleased when it didn't immediately run away and hide as I neared. I was able to have an extended encounter with it, trying many different photo angles. After a while I just put my camera down to relish in the beauty and complexity of this wild animal.

It was another successful underwater treasure hunt.

A white margin nudibranch, laying eggs.

Imperial Nudibranch

Close up of an octopus eye.

Ardeadoris tomsmithi, also known as the Tom Smith's Nudibranch.

A juvenile cleaner wrasse and a female Hawaiian spotted boxfish

Snow goddess nudibranch

Gold lace nudibranch

Banded coral shrimp

Tentacles of a Hawaiian Day Octopus

Gold lace nudibranch surrounded by colorful sponges on a cave wall in Maui.

Hawaiian day octopus checking me out.

A rare sighting of a zebra moray eel out in the open during the day. It is the first time I've really been able to see the interesting teeth of this eel.

This is not the usual sea star species that I see on my dives out here.

Varicose phyllidea, or locally known as the 'Fried Egg Nudibranch'.

Rosy phyllidea. This nudibranch is a bit rarer to spot than its cousin above.