Capturing the Moment

I had a little fun with my video camera and kayak today down towards the south end of Maui. There is a place in the Ahi'i reserve that you can kayak in between all these lava rocks much like I used to take my extreme kayakers through back in Catalina. The waves and surge add a little more delicacy to it but I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Here's to Maui. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UTvomzgKY0

Titan Scorpionfish There are a lot of dive options here in Maui. We have easy beach entry dives, rough sea north shore dives, offshore pinnacles, shipwrecks, and a few caves and caverns as well. Many of these dives are hard to reach unless you go by boat, and then sea conditions along the North and East side of the island rarely permit good conditions. So I do most of my diving on the South and West sides. But every once in a while I make it off for some really adventurous dive like this one. Along the rugged recent lava flows along the south east shore of the island there is one dive that I have heard about since I moved out here at a place called Nu'u Bay. It is very far from anywhere, about halfway from Hana to Kula along the portion of the Hana Highway that goes past Hana and Seven Sacred Pools. The fastest way to get there is to travel up the volcano about 4,000ft to Kula and take the back road to Hana. Once it reaches sea level it's just a few more miles before re...

a lone Imperial Nudibranch the dusky blues of a Gloomy Nudibranch Decorator Nudibranch ( Goniobranchus decorus) Kangaroo Nudibranch Trembling Nudibranch Tom Smith's Nudibranch Indian Nudibranch Porcupine Fish close-up 2 Imperial Nudibranchs trailing What a dive. Muck diving here in Maui has turned up yet another treasure trove of nudibranchs. On this dive at one of our favorite spots we found 20 nudibranchs! Here are just a few of them. Some people are calling this spot "Dai Mar's reef", although Dai Mar and Heidi's reef would be more fitting. I think eventually it should be named nudibranch heaven or 'Nudi Flats'. Sometimes all you have to do is put it in writing and its official.

 I found this juvenile frogfish while diving at Ukumehame looking for manta rays. The topography and coral aren't too amazing at this sight and since we didn't find any mantas this little frogfish really stole the show.  After spotting him camouflaging in with some yellow coral and snapping a few pics, Heidi put her hand in front of him and he plopped right onto it. But after a few moments the little frogfish started jetting forward by sucking in water and pushing it out of these little holes towards its backside. Heidi could feel the jets of water against her hand as the frogfish hovered just above it. The fins on a frogfish are much more rigid than other fish so it has devised an entirely different way to catapult itself around with this jet propulsion. It is very similar to how octopus and squid move.    Even thought they swim very slowly, frogfish boast one of the fastest movements of any animal. They are an ambush predator and can swallow prey up faster ...

Heading out to the water anytime here in Hawaii is bound to be a great time. For a marine biologist it can also be like a treasure hunt. I am always thinking about the incredible animals I must be casting a shadow on as I drift over in a boat. Sometimes you are lucky enough for those animals to rise up and break the surface. While this happens very infrequently with sharks and rays and other kinds of fish, you have a much better chance with marine mammals like dolphins. Here in Maui I often see spinner dolphins and bottlenose dolphins just off the coast but if you get into deep enough water other species start popping up. One of these is the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, or Stenella attenuata. They have a tri-coloration pattern going from dark to light down their sides much like spinner dolphins, but a tall curved dorsal fin like a bottlenose dolphin. Sometimes you can see many white spots down the sides of older ones, and if you catch a view of the beak as they break the surface yo...

 The beauty of the underwater world is enough to make me want to go under again and again. These pictures are from an early morning dive at Wailea Point, Maui when the sun rays are coming in at just the right angle for photos. The reef here has alot of relief topography which added alot to the sunburst shots. These big pillars are also the best place to look for nudibranchs and other treasures of the reef. While searching for these sea slugs I happened upon some nudibranch eggs. They looked like a red velvety rose and when I peeked through the 'petals' I found a tiny egg eating nudibranch having a feast. He is too small for me to get a good picture of but you can see the spec right in front of my thumb in the picture. The many overhangs and caverns here also provide hiding places for many of the rarer finds. This swimming crab on the right was courting another crab which I didn't see until the last second. And Heidi found this beautiful gold-lace nudibranch whi...

This blog has received over 10,000 visitors and counting! I can't believe that it is already two and a half years running. I am starting to see more of my pictures popping up on google images searches and more people finding their way to the website that way. It is so great to have a way to inspire others through pictures and stories and I hope to continue doing so for years to come.

 Turtles, moray eels, massive schools of fish, and nudibranchs galore describe this Maui dive site but unfortunately I have to keep the name and location secret because of another creature I have found here....harlequin shrimp. These flower-like pint size shrimp are so prized in private salt water aquariums that if their location leaks out to the wrong ears they will be collected and shipped around the world to most likely die in some aquarium.   Now don't get me wrong, aquariums can be an incredible window into the underwater world. They can inspire people to want to learn more about the ocean and even to become ocean stewards themselves. I know many a marine biologist that began their love affair with the ocean at aquariums or sea world during their youth. But when people pay any amount of money to get the rarest and most endangered animals and we stop seeing them out in the wild is when it gets a little depressing. Animals like harlequin shrimp, dragon moray eels, and fl...

Red margin spanish dancer nudibranch swimming Spanish Dancer and reflection Sometimes you just get lucky, but it helps to know what you are looking for. Even though this nudibranch is bright red and yellow it can still be easy to pass right by. Heidi and I have come to look for these after the sun has set. And if we are lucky enough we might even get to see one dance its way through the water like we did this night. With a very fast shutter speed and a bit more luck we got some shots of this Spanish Dancer nudibranch mid-action. When it would swim up close to the surface of the tide pool I could capture its reflection as well. fits right in the palm of your hand  While this spanish dancer could easily fit into the palm of your hand it will someday grow into the largest nudibranch in the world. Adults lay eggs attached to rocky reefs in the shape of a rose...which are bigger than this juvenile. Of course thousands of babies even smaller than this will...

Molokini Crater is hands down one of the best dives out here in Hawaii. And it is big enough to several different dive sites since you can't explore the entire crater all in one dive. Its location has pros and cons. Being about four miles offshore it avoids runoff and suspended sediment that occasionally affects the shoreline of Maui and it is sometime subjected to pretty wild currents which seem to bring in the big fish like sharks. But being that far offshore you have to pay alot to go on a boat dive with one of the many scuba tour companies. mushroom coral Unless you feel up to the challenge! Heidi and I had this planned for days. We rented scuba tanks the night before, loaded the kayak on top of the car, and piled up all our snorkel and camera gear. The next morning we woke bright and early, drove to the kayak put in spot and started out on a beautiful calm day towards Molokini off in the distance. Octopus in old missile shell dwarf moray eel About an hour late...