Dropped down to handrail level on the deck (100') and immediately spotted a fairly large (8') Whitetip Reef Shark laying on the bottom so we went over the side and investigated it from about 115'. I did not take my camera on the first dive since it was my first dive below 60 feet. I wish I had. Andre took a couple of photos.
Swam back up over the rail toward the stern of the ship and immediately came upon two White Spotted Eagle Rays. They were motionless in the water just hovering over the stern of the ship, their tails straight out behind and their wingtips curled upward slightly. Andre took a couple of photos and then we did a swim-through of the cargo hold. There was a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle in the hold.
As we came up out of the hold, we swan back over the starboard rail. The two eagle rays were still there but a much larger ray had swum over the wreck and was swimming away over the stern. Everyone called it a hawaii ray, but as near as I can tell it must have been a Manta Ray.
Andre took a couple of photos and then we swam over to the mooring line and ascended. Did a three minute safety stop and then went up and boarded the boat.
My watch was leaking after this dive, but was still functioning.
The photos Andre' took did not turn out well, so he gave me a photo of a shark and one of some eagle rays, but they are not the ones from this dive.
I took the camera on the second dive.
Entered the water and dropped down to the reef at between 40 and 45 feet. Andre and I swam in a large circle around the reef. Saw and took photos of Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles and various reef fish, including a Humuhumu Lei.
The circle brought us back to the mooring line where we slowly ascended and boarded the boat.
My watch was still functioning, even though it had moisture inside. Back at the hotel, I took it apart and dried it out for a couple of days and it worked OK. The o-ring needed to be cleaned and lubed, so I did that in the hope it would be OK.
6 comments:
those are some awesome pictures! I really really want to go scuba diving now.
I have gotten better with the camera. The photos from my more current dives are better. I am still learning how to get really good photos underwater.
They look good to me! I really like seeing them.
Caleb and I were looking at this a little closer this afternoon and the thought occured to me that you are swimming with rays of some sort. You keep your distance from them don't you, because well you know, the crocodile hunter and his demise was from a ray.
There are two kinds of rays in Hawaii. The Manta Ray is huge, as big as 24-feet across, but has no stinger and poses no threat. We did see one on this dive, but did not get a photo.
The other is the White Spotted Eagle Ray. It has an extremely long tail, complete with stingers, but is a pelagic ray (meaning it swims in the open ocean, not in the sand at the bottom). It is not too dangerous, since it does not allow divers to approach very near. If I swam as hard as I could, I could not get near. They decide on the distance and it is always a ways away.
I can't wait to someday learn to dive and to be able to have fun adventures like that in hawaii and around the world. All in good time.
Post a Comment