Capturing the Moment

Dive 1:Crystal Rock  It was an exciting morning aboard Amalia today as we listen to Nelwan give our dive briefing for our first spot, the famous Crystal Rock. The excitement comes from this spot being a high current, high intensity, big fish kind of dive. Heidi and Cristina would group together to do the deep dive part of her advanced diver certification course, while Tim, Mr. Han, and I would group with Nelwan. Tim holding on for dear life   We geared up, jumped in the small boat and prepared for a negative entry, which means we let all the air out of our jackets, and immediately descended once we rolled backwards off the boat. The entrance went well and we could feel the current rushing against us so we booked it down to the bottom. Once there we all grouped up, grabbed onto a big rock and enjoyed the fish show. There were big schools of jacks, tons of little colorful reef fish, and even a white tip reef shark swimming in front and above us. The current was so stro...

Moku Ho'oniki Rock (Elephant Rock) "Fish Rain", an aptly named dive site  When adventurous scuba divers ask me where to go while they are here on Maui I tell them about the big three dives. Molokini backwall, Cathedrals on Lanai, and the Hammerhead shark dive at Moku ho'oniki rock on Molokai. Yet I had never done the hammerhead dive until today! And what a dive it was. The conditions were rough. 6ft seas with 15-20knot winds all the way across the Pailolo channel which separates the islands of Maui and Molokai. It is a live boat drift dive so the captain and crew have to safely get everyone off the boat while bucking from side to side in the heavy seas. Getting back on the boat was a whole different story. Only one dive company does this trip, Lahaina Divers . Heidi and I went with this outfit a month ago over to the island of Lanai to do some cavern diving at Second Cathedrals . And with my buddy Sean at the helm I knew we were in good hands. What I didn...