Capturing the Moment

Shark's Cove, North Shore, Oahu Ed and Heidi descending    My friend Ed had just become a certified scuba diver before coming to Oahu and Heidi had recently procured an underwater camera so we were all anxious to check what was below the waves of Oahu's North Shore. We picked up tanks from one of our favorite dive shops located in Haleiwa, called Hawaii Eco Divers. The three of us packed in our dive gear and Jamie came along to do a little solo snorkeling. We headed to our favorite North Shore spot called Shark's Cove. There is a pretty easy shallow entry near the entrance to the huge tide pool. Lots of huge boulders give fish plenty of places to hide near shore and excited snorkelers who don't want to stray to far. Ed, Heidi and I headed away from the protected area out to the point where we were going to drop down and start our dive. Just before we arrived I heard Heidi's tank banger and whipped around to see a pair of spotted eagle rays gliding under us....

   The old wreckage of the Mala Pier is the home to many of Maui's famous larger marine life. I often come here to look for white tip reef sharks, green sea turtles, and spotted eagle rays. On this one dive I found all of the big three, plus eels, nudibranchs, and more fish than I could fit in even with a wide angle lens. It is almost like diving a shipwreck with straight lines seldom seen in nature. The wreckage fell in on top of itself in a way that created a lot of hiding spots for creatures that prefer to stay out of sight of hunters. A new hunter was on the reef this day, a human spear fisherman. It is funny how much more nervous some random guy with a spear makes me than a shark while I am underwater. There is already an eerie, almost mysterious feeling with any wreck site, especially under the part of the pier still standing. The light and shadows cast an otherworldly sight.   Some of the animals here acted a bit out of the norm. The spotted eagle ray...

  Today I was on a solo adventure and had a mission. I was going to find a dragon moray eel and the swim thru/cave at this site that I had only heard about. I found eels but none of them dragons, and even though I used most of my air getting there I found the swim thru. This is a picture of it at the top right.   It was a glassy morning in Makena, Maui, perfect for a dive. I entered at the black sand beach in Makena State Park just to the side of this massive cinder cone known as Pu'uOlai. Spotted Eagle Ray The reef here is dominated by finger coral until you hit the point. After that you have big boulders, walls, and patches of sand. This undulated eel looked very dangerous but acted like he needed a better hiding spot. Reticulated Butterfly Fish Trembling Nudibranch I was very excited to find a reticulated butterfly fish. I haven't seen one of these for many months. They are quite rare here in Maui as we are on the very edge of their habitat. Only a coup...