Capturing the Moment

  If you are looking for a wonderful scuba dive, that you can do from shore on Maui, then look no further than the old Mala Pier. The colors underwater are out of this world, and the turtles and sharks are usually in plentiful supply. I've snorkeled here and dove here many times, and it never gets old. In fact, it is one of the 'must-see' places I take people to when they visit me here in Maui. Today I left the wide angle camera at home. I've taken lots of turtle and shark pictures here before. I was on the hunt for some of the more secretive animals. I was on a treasure hunt for things like nudibranchs, eels, frogfish, and whatever else I could find hiding amongst the corals and wreckage. Using a special macro lens on my Canon 5d, I was able to get in close, add flash, and bring out the true color of all of the marine life. Take a look at some of these photos below and see if you agree with me that this might just be the 'Most Colorful Dive on Maui!" A gloomy ...

Tiger Cowrie   Strange creatures abound at Sugar Beach after dark. This is one of our favorite night dive spots for some muck diving action on Maui. Not many people know about this place because it really does take some faith, especially at night, to get in the water here and hope for the best. It doesn't look like much at first but after finding the first few unusual creatures they seem to appear everywhere you look. From active cowries to unknown nudibranchs we delighted with each new find. Gloomy Nudibranch   Even the fish can look totally different at night, taking on new colorations and behaviors. But the big surprise of the night was a beautiful red-orange frogfish that Heidi found out in the open. Moorish Idol at Night Pokemon Nudibranch Shy Scorpoinfish Heidi's beautiful frogfish Reticulated Frogfish, very rare

Ornate Butterflyfish Red Pencil Urchin    It has been five months since we have ventured a dive along Oahu's south shore. The summertime south swells are on the fade out so we decided to grab some tanks and try our luck on a shore dive along the southwest tip of the island at a place called Electric Beach.   Blue Dragon Nudibranchs, Do you see the 2nd?   This is usually a good spot for a couple species of nudibranchs, as well as juvenile reef fish. Every once in a while we have been surprised by turtles and spinner dolphins at this spot but today was more of a small-things macro hunt. Heidi found these Imperial Nudibranchs Imperial Nudibranch Spotted Coral Blenny  Heidi slipped right back into nudibranch hunter form as we came across a few desirable nudibranchs, two imperial nudibranchs, and over twent blue dragon nudibranchs.  Blue Dragon Nudibranch The tell-tale red and yellow under fin of a devil scorpionfish Orna...

  Shore diving is not the usual method of diving here on Oahu. Most of the nearshore reefs are very shallow and not very colorful. It is almost certainly related to the amount of people visiting, building, and living here. However once you get off the beaten path there may be a few surprises in store for the Oahu shore diver. One such place I have been hearing a lot about is a dive called the Halona Blowhole.    The blowhole is a popular tourist stop right along the highway a few miles past Hanauma Bay. Being on the southeast corner of the island it is a great spot for sunrises as well as the most popular whale watching spot on the island. Winds and waves have created layered rock formations along the cliffs. These cliffs also make it a risky spot to scuba dive. If the conditions are bad or if there is a strong current, finding a different spot to get out can be very hard.     A steep rock path winds its way down to a secret beach just next to the Halona Blow...

Blue Dragon Nudibranch Small Blue Dragon next to Heidi's pinky finger  Winter is here and the swells are bringing huge waves to our north and west shores here in Oahu. This is great for surfing, we had three huge professional surf events here last month, but can be problematic for scuba diving. Especially if you want to take underwater photos. But, after a bit of a dry spell for us diving here in Oahu, Heidi and I geared up for a shore dive at one of our usual spots called Electric Beach. It got this name because of a huge factory located just across the road from this beach, which has two huge output pipes running out into about 30ft deep water. Cold, deep ocean water used for cooling in the plant is pumped out here creating upwelling and a visible disturbance on the surface. This, and the clouds of fish attracted to this area make it pretty easy to find. Desirable Nudibranch Desirable Nudibranch (Flabellina exoptata)  The real attraction for Heidi and myself...

Imperial Nudibranch Nudibranchs, colorful sea slugs, can be found around all the Hawaiian islands. But for me it seems that Maui has the best nudi dive spot. Our first night back Heidi and I grabbed some tanks and descended the shallow depths of our favorite nudi haunt, very fitting since it was Halloween. And we were not disappointed, finding 16 different nudibranch species, tons of flatworms, a couple of octopus, and some other beautiful macro sea life. Gloomy Nudibranch Jebb's Flatworm  The waters were clear and calm which is great for photos. The biggest hurdle for my macro photography this dive was the mass of plankton that would swarm around my light. I had to be quick on the trigger or else a cloud of plankton would actually block out the light from my strobe. The cloud would become so thick that I could feel them in my ears and getting into my mouthpiece. Trembling Nudibranch  It may have been like a scene out of fear factor but it was all worth it...