Capturing the Moment

Goatfish galore at Kealakekua Bay Capt. Cook Monument   I've been snorkeling and scuba diving all over the Hawaiian Islands in my time living and working here. I have also taught hundreds of people how to snorkel here in different spots around the island. After all of this experience I would rate the snorkel experience at the Big Island's Kealakekua Bay as one the best in the islands for all around snorkeling greatness. The conditions are almost always flat calm here. The reef takes advantage of the geological protection and the political protection by growing into massive coral heads. And the fish are not just plentiful, but also not quite as shy as fish on other reefs. It is almost as if the fish know that no one is going to try and catch them. Lau wiliwili nukunuku oi'oi ele'ele Sea of Yellow, Hawaii   The calmness of the bay makes the conditions great for beginner snorkelers. But the clarity of the water makes conditions great for the most experien...

   Scuba Diving in Cape Town, South Africa: Wide Angle Photography   The cold water off Africa's southwestern tip near Cape Town is teeming with life. It is also teeming with wrecks of ships that didn't find the 'good hope' while navigating around the infamous Cape of Good Hope. There are dozens of colorful nudibranch species for the biological treasure hunter, and quite a few opportunities for some fabulous wide angle underwater photography.    Diving in the southern hemisphere winter will grant you a bit better visibility, but during the summer months a god day will run you 10-15ft at most spots. Now, (October) is the shoulder season so we lucked out with a good 20ft of vis on the reefs, 15 on the wreck, and about 40ft at the Cape Fur Seal rookery.    You can dive both the east and west sides of the peninsula and there are several dive operators that work mainly out of Hout Bay on the west, or Simon's Town on the east side, depending on w...

Scuba Diver Silhouette Entering Cathedrals Diving Cathedrals I off Lanai   Cathedrals is one of the best dive sites in Hawaii. Not only do you get an incredible cavern experience, with eerie blue light illuminating this underwater 'cathedral', but once you are outside there is wildlife everywhere, from rare nudibranchs to bandit angelfish. Divers Exploring Cathedrals Cathedrals Dive Site, Lanai, Hawaii   This is also one of the best places in Hawaii for underwater photography. It takes some time to balance your camera settings for the low blue light but the rewards if you get it right can be amazing. And while the empty cavern looks cool enough, having some of your dive buddies swim under some of the skylights brings a better perspective to the different rays of light flooding the chamber.   Luckily our dive guide was pretty laid back about Heidi and I hanging back from the group to continue getting pictures inside. And being the first group in i...

  Today was the last day of our six day scuba liveaboard in the Komodo Islands. The crew of the Amalia and the boat itself took very good care of us. Usually on the last day of the liveaboard you just chug towards harbor to unload, but I was pleasantly surprised that we were going to have two more dive before lunch and then head back to Labuan Bajo to disembark. Cristina and Nelwan asked us what we would like to see and if we had a preference of dive sites and we all agreed...more mantas! Rhinopias! First Dive Site: Mauan This turned into a really fun sandy muck dive with nudibranchs, mantis shrimps and a very rare rhinopias scorpionfish. These scorpionfish take camouflage to a whole new level, with wild filaments adorning their entire body. They are considered to be the 'holy grail' of fish for aquarium specialist as well as underwater photographers. Nelwan had gotten word that there was one in the area so we were quite pleased when we were able to find it. Pe...

Dive 1:Crystal Rock  It was an exciting morning aboard Amalia today as we listen to Nelwan give our dive briefing for our first spot, the famous Crystal Rock. The excitement comes from this spot being a high current, high intensity, big fish kind of dive. Heidi and Cristina would group together to do the deep dive part of her advanced diver certification course, while Tim, Mr. Han, and I would group with Nelwan. Tim holding on for dear life   We geared up, jumped in the small boat and prepared for a negative entry, which means we let all the air out of our jackets, and immediately descended once we rolled backwards off the boat. The entrance went well and we could feel the current rushing against us so we booked it down to the bottom. Once there we all grouped up, grabbed onto a big rock and enjoyed the fish show. There were big schools of jacks, tons of little colorful reef fish, and even a white tip reef shark swimming in front and above us. The current was so stro...