Capturing the Moment

  In a previous post I talked about the 'Big 3' scuba dives in Maui. These three are Molokini Crater , Cathedrals , and Mokuhooniki Rock for hammerheads. I got the chance recently to revisit one of the Big 3, Molokini for some good old fashioned exploration of the deep time. The crater rises strait up from the submerged slope of Haleakala Volcano 300 ft down. This easy access to depth, along with some of the clearest water in Hawaii provides a rare opportunity here in Maui where shallow shore dives are more the norm. Early morning dive at Molokini   My buddies Jack and Lucy from Maui Dive Shop joined me on their day off to do some fun diving of their own. Our first dive was on Reef's End. This is one point of the halfmoon shaped crater which gradually slopes down to the abyss. Schools of pyramid butterflyfish and garden eels greeted us about 60 ft down, then a school of grey reef sharks found us around 120 ft down. The sharks stayed a little too deep to get good pi...

  Today was a throwback to the E.M.A.C. (Early Morning Adventure Club) of Catalina. My goal, to paddle out to Molokini from Maui, then circumnavigate Molokini by snorkeling, before paddling back to Maui. I would not suggest this to visitors coming out to Maui for vacation. The current in the channel can be treacherous and the weather unpredictable. I travel this area by boat all the time and can judge the weather fairly well. Today was supposed to be a very calm day, although the wind did kick up more than I expected.  You can check out the video of this adventure at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cahcb7yYbdY   I made it out to Molokini in a little over an hour after stopping to see a few turtles along the way. After paddling across the open side of the crater I dropped in the water at Reef's End and snorkeled all the way to Enenue, the other tip of the crater along the back wall. It is always amazing to see the sheer vertical wall dropping over 300ft into t...