Capturing the Moment

  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 th...

While showing Jack and Moira our secret tidepooling spot we came across some real gems. The secret is to wait for the lowest tide of the day to occur shortly after nightfall. This gives the hidden creatures a chance to emerge. We were greeted with a hunting baby eel in our first pool, a bloom of tiny sea hares, and a couple of dynamite nudibranch finds. There were quite a few bright orange gumdrop nudibranchs, a very rare marionas hawaiiensis, and one beautiful nudi that I had never seen here before.  I had to send in this video clip of the nudi to our local expert, and even she said she cannot say 100%, however she thinks it is this species:  http:// seaslugsofhawaii.com/species/ Polybranchia-samanthae-a.html  , which has lost its cholorplast.  Who would have known a couple of shallow tidepools in the lava rocks could contain such treasures.   

White bumped nudibranch   It had been some time since Heidi and I had been nudibranch hunting in our old diving grounds on Maui. The weather tried to foil us by flooding Kihei with late season downpours and sending surf from the south, but we still managed to find more species of nudibranchs on a few dives than most dive instructors working in Maui see all year. It's all about where you look, and it's not always where you would think to look. Thecacera pacifica, or pokemon guy   We spotted some of our old favorites like imperial nudibranchs, white bump nudibranchs, and gloomy nudibranchs. We were also pleasantly surprised to see some of the rarer species like our little orange nudi that we affectionately call the 'orange pokemon guy.' Tambja morosa with green gills The green gilled new-comer   We found quite a few gloomy nudibranchs ( tambja morosa ) at our secret nudi dive spot but we did notice a much higher percentage with greenish gills than o...

Scuba Diving in Reunion Island: Underwater Photography   Still a secret to most Americans, the hidden gem of Reunion Island lies off the east coast of Africa in the warm Indian Ocean. Tropical coral reefs surround the island, attaching to the old and recent lava flows from the shield volcanoes that make up this island. The island is also known for surf, so keeping an eyes on the size of the swell is a must if you are planning a dive vacation there. Stingray and Lion fish under a ledge in Reunion     Reunion Island stays a bit under the radar while the Seychelles claim much of the diving fame in this part of the world, but uncrowded reefs followed by delicious French pastries can be a real treat for those adventurous enough to make the long journey. We chose Reunion after looking into different diving options leaving from South Africa including Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar. It turns out the 4hr plane ticket to Reunion was cheaper tha...