The effects of winter were a little bit obvious this evening. It was raining when we all arrived for the dives, but let up as we were being briefed at the shop. It was chilly, however. That is somewhat apparent from the way everyone is dressed in this photo of Jo giving her boat safety briefing before we left the dock.
Joanna "Jo" Mikutowicz
The really cool thing about night dives is watching the sun go down as we are heading out to the first dive site or getting ready for the first dive. Even though it was heavily overcast and had been raining, we got a little break on the horizon right at the best time.
Sunset Off Wai'anae
I dove with Christian. Jo was the divemaster for out group. Three of the divers had cameras. There were 7 divers and two "guides."
Christian and I were the second pair in the water. We congregated at the mooring line until all of the group was there and then descended. Christian had a very powerful dive light that was very intense white light - looked like an aircraft landing light. That made it pretty easy to keep track of him in the dark.
The wreck is also fairly small, so night dives end up being sort of a big group thing. Every time someone finds something interesting, everyone else gathers around to see.
Right after getting to the wreck, I discovered a Feather Duster Worm. It is a pretty cool looking critter.
Feather Duster Worm
I got a few photos of fish that turned out very well. A Moorish idol, a Blacklip Butterflyfish, and a Multiband Butterflyfish.
Moorish Idol
Blacklip Butterflyfish
Multiband Butterflyfish
I came across this Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab in a Cauliflower Coral and then found Christian taking photos of a Commerson's Frogfish. I was able to get several pretty good shots of it.
Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab
Commerson's Frogfish
I had decided to use my backup light rather than my primary light because it is smaller and easier to maneuver with the camera. At about this point, the light suddenly just dimmed down to nothing. My batteries were gone - not surprising since they have been used on lots of dives. No problem though, all I had to do was switch to the primary light - except, it didn't come on when I worked the switch!
Just a moment of apprehension facing an ascent in the dark - no problem, Christian's landing light and everyone else's lights were providing so much, there was no need. About halfway up, my primary suddenly came on! No explanation that I could figure out. I guess it figured I wasn't going to use it, so it was on strike!
Back on the boat, I couldn't find anything wrong with the primary light. It was working fine. I replaced the batteries in the backup and decided to use the primary on the second dive.
I am going to have to get a towel if I keep going on these night dives. I took my rash-guard off and put on my fleece jacket, but was still cold. the really bad part was putting the wet rash-guard back on before the second dive!
The second dive was on Turtle Reef. There were brittle stars everywhere! The were drooping out of every nook and cranny and clump of coral, but there were none actually out in the open where I could get a decent photo.
Spiny Brittle Stars
The hermit crabs, swimming crabs, sea cucumbers, and shrimp were all out in force on the reef tonight.
Bloody Hermit Crab
Hawaiian Swimming Crab
Light-Spotted Sea Cucumber
Marbled Shrimp
Convex Crab
I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye as Christian and I were swimming to catch up with the rest of the group after taking a few photos. It was an enormous Spanish Dancer Nudibranch - by far the largest I have ever seen. I couldn't get anyone else's attention, so I stroked it and tried to get it to dance, but it wouldn't.
Spanish Dancer Nudibranch
When I caught up with Christian, he was shining his torch on these two little Imperial Nudibranchs. It was so bright that my flash didn't even go off.
Imperial Nudibranchs
There were also quite a few moray eels out on the prowl tonight. I go these photos of a Yellowmargin Moray Eel with a Banded Coral Shrimp, a Yellowhead Moray Eel, and an Undulated Moray Eel that was swimming right under me.
Yellowmargin Moray Eel & Banded Coral Shrimp
Yellowhead Moray Eel
Undulated Moray Eel
Just as I decided I was done for the night and headed for the boat (too cold) with 1000psi of air left, I came across this Scrawled Filefish under a ledge.
Scrawled Filefish
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