I dove solo, sort-of. Shawn was the divemaster for our group. There were 9 divers and two "guides", so they paired up all the divers and the two guides each took a group. Our group was the first in this time, and Brad and I were the first in the water. Brad disappeared as soon as he got in the water. He dives a lot with Ocean Concepts and has a huge camera setup. He just goes off on his own and they keep an eye on him, but he is always first in and last out.
Shawn and I were in the water waiting for all the others to show up and he said to me, "you really didn't think you would dive with Brad did you?" I said I figured not and he said, "see you on the bottom." So I headed down and was the first one on the wreck. That gave me a chance to see what was hanging around and get a few photos before the crowd showed up.
There were several Spotted Eagle Rays hanging around the wreck and before the rest of the divers got down, I managed to get a couple of good photos. As the rest of the divers showed up, the rays simply glided away. Not far away, but pretty much out of photo range where they hung out for the rest of the dive.
Spotted Eagle Rays
Even though I did not have a buddy, I was not really diving solo. I did enjoy my dive even more than normal though because I was not trying to keep track of someone else, and could concentrate on moving slowly and looking for things to photograph. I took many more photos than normal because of that.
Here are a few of the highlights:
Juvenile Psychedelic Wrasse
School of Bluestripe Snapper and Goatfish
Orange Cup Coral
Shortnose Wrasse
Pearly Soldierfish
Scrawled Filefish
Milletseed, Blacklip and Bluestripe Butterflyfish
Agile Chromis
Orange Cup Coral
Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab
Diver Below on Ascent
When I ran out of bottom time, I slowly ascended up the mast and did my safety stop under the boat. This was one of my most enjoyable dives to-date. I really enjoyed the slow pace and just hanging out watching what the critters were doing.
The second dive played out pretty much like the first one. Brad was in the water and gone as soon as we were moored, so Shawn said "see you on the bottom" and I headed down under the boat. I was taking some photos when everyone else descended and they all took off on the tour of the site without me. I know this site very well and could have caught them, but decided to just hang around near the boat and take photos. I got some pretty good ones.
Female Spotted Boxfish
Ornate Wrasse
Banded Coral Shrimp & Spiny Brittle Star
Needle-Spined Urchin
Banded Urchin
Rock Boring Urchin
Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby
As I was swimming along, suddenly this guy showed up to my left swimming right with me. He was close enough I could have reached out and touched him, so I had to lean right to get the photos and the video.
Green Sea Turtle
After swimming for a little way with the turtle, I took a few more photos as I swam back to the mooring line.
Bluespotted Cornetfish
Male Spotted Boxfish
Green Linckia
Flea Cone
Back under the boat, there was a large antler coral head that I checked out. It was full of little critters. I spent the rest of the dive, even after all the rest of the divers returned, taking photos of what was inside it.
Speckled Scorpionfish and Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab
Speckled Scorpionfish
Leaf Scorpionfish
Redbarred Hawkfish
Blueeye Damselfish
Ten-Lined Urchin
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