August 9, 2008 Dives - Mahi & Makaha Caverns

On Saturday, August 9, 2008, I dove with Brent Bayley and Carsten (divemaster) from Ocean Concepts. We did two dives, the Mahi, a 95 foot deep dive on a ship that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and Makaha Caverns, a 50 foot deep dive on a shallow coral reef with lava tubes and swim throughs.

I dove with Brent, a Navy guy. Carsten was the divemaster for our group. We both had cameras. There were 12 divers and two "guides", so they paired up all the divers and the two guides each took a group.

Our group was the last in this time, and I was the next to last in the water. The guy in front of me had his regulator fail and freeflow just as he was about to enter, so they rigged him up with another one. Headed down the mooring line to 25 feet and hung out until he joined us due to jellyfish in the area. We headed down to the wreck. We swam around the wreck near the bottom and then started up over the deck. Not as many good things to photograph as last time, but I did get some good photos of Imperial Nudibranchs, soft coral, and hydroids.

Imperial Nudibranch

Snowflake Coral

Christmas Tree Hydroid

I was again much more conscious of my air usage and breathing and went through the tank of air at a much slower pace again. There were only two left when I had to leave and ascend. As I was slowly making my way up the line, two Spotted Eagle Rays showed up for a slow cruise-by. I got some photos even though they were quite a ways away and I just had to guess where to point the camera.

Spotted Eagle Rays

Did a safety stop and then Brent and I swam over to the boat and got out.

For the second dive, I giant strided in and we dropped down to the bottom. The group had already left by the time Brent and I got there, but I have been to this site enough times that I knew where to go and we caught them fairly quickly. We did the "tour" of the caverns. Just after we caught up, we came upon a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle that was feeding. I took a video for the boys:

Green Sea Turtle

Went through several swim throughs and lava tubes. Took lots of photos. Saw several Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, and two sharks, but I did not get a photo of the sharks.

Moorish Idol

Whitebar Surgeonfish

Got probably the best photo so far of a Red Pencil Urchin.

Red Pencil Urchin

Turns out that is the correct name. It also goes by the name "Slate Pencil Urchin" because back in the day, when school kids wrote on blackboards made of slate, the spines were used in place of chalk. During the day they are a brilliant red color, but at night they turn a chalky pink color (see the photo from the night dive).

On both dives today, I did a better job of air-management. Ascended without a safety stop again, but very slowly since I was finally weighted correctly at 18 pounds.