June 27, 2009 Dives - Mahi & Black Rock

On Saturday, June 27, 2009, I dove with Mike Trykar and Jo (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 Black Rock, an 80 foot deep dive on a coral reef with an overhang.

Mike and I were in Jo's group, so we were first in the water. There were 12 divers and three "guides", so they paired up all the divers and the three guides each took a group.

Visibility was not stellar today, but it was OK. Mike and I headed down to the wreck and pretty much did our own thing. He stuck fairly close by and pointed out things to see and photograph, which was nice. That way I could just concentrate on them rather than keeping track of a partner that wanted the guided tour from Jo.

The enormous Great Barracuda that hangs out at the Mahi was there on the deck when we descended. I tried to angle over by it and get a photo, but the two I was able to take are both very poor quality. He is huge, though. About 4-1/2 feet long.

I got a good photo of a Hawaiian Dascyllus and a Plump Sea Cucumber (new).

Hawaiian Dascyllus

Plump Sea Cucumber

This big old guy was just hanging out of a hole in the side of the wreck. There is an eel of some sort or another there most of the time.

Yellowmargin Moray Eel

This is a very good specimen of Red Phorbas Sponge.

Red Phorbas Sponge

Some of the other things I photographed:

School of Bluestripe Snapper

Chocolate Dip Chromis

Hawaiian Gregory

I also found this Redbarred Hawkfish hanging upside down under a ledge among the Orange Cup Coral.

Redbarred Hawkfish & Orange Cup Coral

I ended the dive as I usually do on the Mahi, by slowly ascending up the mast. I caught Old Glory waving in the current as I did so.

I did my safety stop under the boat and then swam up to the ladder and climbed out.

On the second dive, I had two spotters - Jo joined Mike in finding cool things to point out. As soon as we got to the bottom, Jo discovered five Whitetip Reef Sharks under the overhang. They cruised around for a while underneath where it is too dark to get a photo, but then bolted for the open.

Whitetip Reef Shark

These two Hawaiian Dascyllus were hanging out in a large Antler Coral. The red encrusting sponge looked black until the flash fired off on the camera!

Hawaiian Dascyllus

Two thirds of the way through the little site tour, Jo urgently motioned me over to a little hole. This Hawaiian Red Lionfish (new), also known as the Hawaiian Turkeyfish, was hanging out in the hole. It is endemic to Hawaii and is the little cousin of the Pacific Lionfish that has been introduced to the Caribbean and is decimating local fish populations there.

Hawaiian Red Lionfish

I saw this when I first descended, but I thought it was just a mesh doily that was stuck on the reef. When we got back from the little tour of the site, I saw it again and took the photo. I was shocked that it was so red! It turns out that it is a Spanish Dancer Nudibranch eggcase!

Spanish Dancer Nudibranch Eggcase

This little Decoy Scorpionfish was hiding under a small Cauliflower Coral. He is only about 3 inches long.

Decoy Scorpionfish

Mike found two nudibranchs and point them out to me.

Pustulose Phyllidia

Desirable Nudibranch

Here are a couple of divers hanging out at the hang-bar during their safety stop.

Divers at the Hang-bar

This was the first dive with my new computer. The old one worked fine except I have not been able to download data for the past 6 dives. It is nice to have it back and functioning well again.

Helping Grandpa

The boys came over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a sleepover while their mom had some surgery. They had a ball!

The next day, they had a water gun fight in the backyard.


And them helped Grandpa plant some more coriander (cilantro).

And then - they gathered up all the pine cones that had fallen on the front lawn.



We got a couple of buckets full before their parents came and got them!

Yard/Garden Update

This is just a quick update on the yard and garden. It has been in for a month and is starting to look a little better.

The herbs are doing well.

The garden is starting to grow, but the peppers and tomatoes are a little slow getting going.


On the other hand, the Growbox peppers are booming. These were planted on the same day as those in the ground. What a difference!

The flowers on the side of the house are pretty as always. Lauri always makes good choices!

Laniakea Beach

Ever since we stumbled onto the turtles at Laniakea Beach on Saturday, we talked about going and swimming with them, so that is what we did this morning.

It was a little earlier when we got to the beach today and was not as hot, so there were not as many turtles right up by the beach. It also was a little more choppy and with a little swell.

Still, it did not take very long out in the water snorkeling to find turtles. Because of the sand stirred up by the swell, the photos are a little murky, but. . .




Lauri swam with the turtles while snorkeling with me and Rachel and Cameron.



Once while we were standing about arms length apart talking, a very large turtle decided he was going to swim between us. It was a little startling, especially when he brushed Lauri on the way by!


Rebecca was standing out in the water about waist deep, so we had her take a couple of photos of us. While she was there, a huge turtle swam right up to her and around her and then back down the beach.


After we got out of the water and baked in the sun for just a few minutes, I was afraid we were getting burnt, so we packed up and went up to Matsumoto's in Hale‛iwa for a Shave Ice and then on over to Laie to BYU Hawaii to hit the Bookstore to get shirts.


We had a picnic on the beach at Laie before heading back to the Apartment. We had talked about going to Shark's Cove or Three Tables, but did neither. We all were a little sunburned and worn out.

Turtles!!

Today, while we were on our way to the the PCC, we drove up the North Shore instead of around the other way to Laie. Halfway between Hale'iwa and Waimea Bay, there is a small beach that is right against the road. It is called Laniakea Beach. As we were passing it, I noticed a turtle in the water.

We pulled off and went down onto the beach and there were turtles everywhere! There were in the shallows eating seaweed.