Capturing the Moment

 Searching the walls and ceilings of overhangs and caves is a must at this scuba site known locally as 5 caves or 5 graves, or turtle town after the abundant reptile residents. While most scuba divers are watching for turtles and other mega fauna Heidi and I were on our typical hunt for smaller creatures like nudibranchs. 5 Caves is a stellar nudibranch dive, day or night. We get the usual suspects here of phyllidia, white margin, and fuchsia flatworms, but if you looks very hard the dedicated nudibranch diver can be in for a real treat. Today it was that and more!  After seeing a big octo on the kick out to the reef Heidi got the sightings started with a Tom Smith's nudibranch. As I was taking this picture of it I noticed just to the right a gold lace nudibranch almost perfectly blending in. That is usually the way of nudibranch spotting. Once you stop and really look at an area you will find more and more. Heidi also found another gold lace on the sand, two yellow noume...

I am always looking for a new place to dive and explore so it was a thrill to try a new site along the south Maui coastline known as 'White Rock'. It is a little trek across some beautiful beaches and some sharp lava outcroppings to get to the entry point but it was definitely worth it. Right off the bat we had a white tip reef shark hanging out in this great swim thru. Then we started finding our treasured nudibranchs. The gold laced nudibranch on the left is always one of my favorites. Our big new find came when Heidi checked some Spanish Dancer eggs which look like a velvet rose and found some egg eating nudibranchs on one of the 'petals'.  You can see how small the nudibranchs are. They get their red color from the eggs they are feasting on. This is one of those times when it pays to have done your research. Who would have thought to look on nudibranch eggs to find more nudibranchs!?  One of the benefits of going slow and checking all the nooks and cr...

 Ever since I started exploring the underwater coastline of Maui I have been searching for people who have shared my passion and that have local knowledge of the lesser explored Maui reefs. We have amazing shore diving opportunities but much fewer deep diving sites that can be reached easily from shore. So I have been asking around the dive shops and with fellow divers about who visits some of the more advanced, deeper sites and everyone has referred me to one place, Ed Robinson's Diving Adventures. So I finally made it in time to check out their shop (it closes at 2pm) and talk with one of the Dive Masters and with Ed's wife. They could really see my passion for diving and they invited me and Heidi out on one of their Adventure X dive trips which Ed still comes out on and leads.    There have been a few fish that have eluded us so far mainly because they are found in deeper water. Things like bicolor anthias and long nose hawkfish are found at sites a little farther f...