Hawaii Part 2 - Diving Videos

I was able to get about 60 dives in during our trip and had many first including: being surrounded by a pod of dolphins, seeing a new born baby dolphin, finding my first Tinker's Butterflyfish, finding my first psychedelic wrasse, as well as a finding a reliable spot to find Masked Angelfish. Here are a some videos I made:

Baby Dolphin with Mom

Diving Highlights

Yellowfin Soldierfish (rare)

Here are a few photo I took of a Tinker's Butterflyfish (taken during a dive with Spencer)

Hawaii 2016 Part 1

Getting two toddlers, carseats, a stroller, camera gear, and scuba gear to the Big Island of Hawaii is not worth it for a short trip. So we are taking a long trip.

First up was celebrating Cayman's 3rd Birthday.

The kids adjusted to the island life style quickly. I made a glass bottom boat and was able to show them many neat fish.

Cayman and I found a tiny frog on the front yard and Cayman carefully held it then released it to be free and wild.

One of my favorite spots on the island is the Big Island Brewhaus restaurant. Here is Hazel and I posing for a quick photo out front. Below is Cayman and I doing the same thing back in 2014

Aloha and Mahalo for reading.

An Underwater Camera Experiment

Last year I won an underwater photography contest in Maui. The top prize was a gift card that I was able to buy an underwater GoPro type camera. The last few days I have been sinking it, then retrieving it to see what swam by. The first three videos below were shot at a depth of 70'. The reef is actually quite colorful, but at that depth there is not enough sunlight for many of the colors to be visible.

In this video, I identified 40 different fish (as well as boat noise and dolphin squeaks):
0:02 Agile Chromis
0:05 Juvenile Bird Wrass
0:06 Goldring Surgeonfish
0:46 Yellow Tang
0:49 Whitebar Surgeonfish
1:24 Blue-Eye Damselfish
(2:10 Boat Noise)
3:18 Hawaiian Cleaner Wrass
3:37 Peacock Grouper
4:23 Female Yellowtail Coris
4:28 Hawaiian Sergeant
4:48 Chocolate Dip Chromis
5:17 Saddle Wrass
7:19 Multiband Butterflyfish
9:10 Threespot Chromis
9:32 Square-Spot Goatfish
9:56 Thompsons Butterflyfish
10:05 Lei Triggerfish
10:33 Blackside Hawkfish
11:13 Ornate Wrass (I think)
11:23 Blue Stripe Snapper
13:01 Fourline Wrass
13:19 Indo-Pacific Sergeant
13:50 Female Bird Wrass
14:00 Arc-Eye Hawkfish
16:32 Pink-Tail Triggerfish
18:30 Ornate Butterflyfish
19:46 Juvenile Yellowtail Coris 
20:42 Hawaiian Dascyllus
27:42 Brown Sugeonfish
32:01 Potters Angelfish
32:20 Palenose Parrotfish
32:45 Lined Butterflyfish
35:40 Convict Tangs
36:50 Bullethead Parrotfish
37:56 Male Bird Wrass
(38:30 Dolphins Noise)
39:07 Longnose Buterflyfish
39:19 Eightline Wrass
42:02 Blue Goatfish
42:40 Ornate Wrass

Here are a few more videos:

This video is of a different location and a depth of about 110 feet. The camera is facing down a slope and the rocks in the bottom of the shot are resting in about 150 feet depth. At 29:40 you can see me retrieving the camera.

Dad Visit & Favorite Fish

My dad was on the islands for business and got to come visit us. We hiked down to snorkel at Captain Cook Monument and found a pair of one of my favorite fish, the Saddleback Butterflyfish. I have not seen any of these fish since the last time I snorkeled at Captain Cook two years ago (it is probably the same pair). What a treat!

 Dad

Dad takes great photos and makes videos. Here is a video he made of Cayman:

Why I Dive

Even with hundreds of Hawaiian dives under my belt. I frequently see things that scare me and other things that surprise me. Here are two of those things that happened while diving today.

A surprise...

A bit scary (this thing was huge and are known to be very curious and completely unafraid of divers)

Monk Seal

I finished a dive at Pahoehoe and a kid ran up to me asking, "Did you see the seal?" 

"There was a seal?" I asked, "Are you sure?" 

Talking to others on the beach I soon found out that a Hawaiian Monk Seal had beached itself just a minute or so before I did. It looked around, than slipped back into the sea. 

I couldn't believe it. I have been looking for monk seals for a decade and never seen one above or below the water. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is a critically endangered species and the only seal that lives in the Hawaiian Islands. The total population is estimated to be around 1,100 of which maybe 150 inhabit the waters of the main Hawaiian Islands. Of these 150, less than 10 live in the waters around the Big Island (Kauai has the most). 

I was bummed I missed the opportunity, but the next day my luck changed. Again, while exiting a dive, some locals recognized me as the guy who missed the seal and told me the seal was down at Magic Sands, a nearby beach. I drove back to our condo and picked up Shelley and Cayman and we all got to see the beautiful seal. By the evening the seal was gone. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see it again this trip.

Hawaii 3Cayman's First Birthday

Cayman celebrated his first birthday during our trip to Hawaii. Here are the photos from his celebration and activities.

The day started with a swim in my new boat.

Next we headed to the park were Cayman got to swing with Sparkey and Cindy.

 He also played with a leaf at the park.

His sunset birthday photos did not go well. He was mad when we took away a balloon.

A few days later, Cayman was excited to go hiking.

Hawaii 2: Best Father's Day Ever (TIGER SHARK!)

Since this is my first father's day I realize it automatically the best but today was quite amazing. Erin (grandma) and Cindy C. (fairy god mother) are in town and have been helping us with Cayman.

I started the day diving at Pahoehoe and found a turtle strangely deep eating something under a rock. Looking at the video later, I realized it was a Hawksbill Turtle. Here is the video as well as some fish photos I have taken this last week. 

   

On my second dive I saw a TIGER SHARK! I have never seen one underwater but have obsessed over Hawaii's most dangerous shark for the last decade. In fact, I know divers with 10,000 Hawaii dives who have never seen a tiger shark. These sharks eat turtles and dolphins and certainly have a presence in the water. While kicking out, some other divers were coming in from their dive. "Keep your eyes open, there's kitties out there today," they said. I knew they were talking about tigers and I admit I was terrified. 

I asked about the visibility, "is it murky out there, are they going to sneak up on me?"  

"No. You'll be fine. Just keep your eyes open around 40 to 50 feet." 

I thought about heading back in. I didn't feel completely comfortable facing a tiger shark (which grow up to 18 feet) by myself. But at the same time I really did want to see one. Kind of a bucket list type thing. I started to descend and soon reached the depth they had talked about. I normally swim checking out every fish and hole I can. This dive was different. I rotated my head from side to side, up, and finally behind me looking for something much bigger than the small reef fish. The entire time I keep my fingers on the video shutter button on my camera ready for anything. After 20 minutes I was thinking, "I tried, there is no shame in heading back now." I started to head back but thought again, "No, I have plenty of air. Keep trying." 

I headed deeper to 76 feet of water and then I head a sound. The sound was of a heavy chain clinking in the water. I have head this sound before from videos of other divers seeing this large tiger shark. The chain is connected to a large green buoy marking the entrance to the harbor. Fisherman coming in with their catches throw their waste fish carcasses overboard at this buoy. Overtime, the buoy has become a gathering ground for tiger sharks. 

At this point, I had been underwater for close to 40 minutes and I was again ready to call it quits. Then something funny happened. Several large fish began to move close to me. At least three large jacks and several large surgeonfish swam close to me. This has never happened to me and a moment later, as I scanned the water, I saw it. The shark I saw was around 10 to 12 feet long and had substantial girth and beautiful stripes. The shark looked at me and swam from my right to left side. I pushed the video shutter button and backed up as I filmed. In my head I was thinking of something a spear-fisherman told me years ago, "prey acts like prey, don't act like prey." I kept my eyes on the shark and once it turned to the deep, I steadily began to swim away. I kept looking behind me, but saw nothing. I hugged the bottom on my way back in and eventually reached the small cove where everyone was hanging out.

This was certainly the most exciting dive of my life. Below is the short video that simply documents what I saw. The shark is calm in the video and showing no signs of aggression. It was a beautiful animal to see in the wild and I am glad there are things in nature that scare me. It makes diving interesting.  

For dinner we all headed up the hill to Big Island Brewhaus, a fantastic restaurant. Here is Cayman and I happy at the restaurant.

Hawaii 1: Cayman's Hawaii Adventure Begins

Our journey began Sunday with a long plane ride. Cayman did a great job on the plane with the exception of two loud screams and reaching is tiny arm through the seat to touch the lady sitting in front of us. Overall, he did a great job and really enjoyed looking out the window once beautiful Hawaii was in view. 

Our next day we took care of logistical issues including a problem with the rental car and the room and eventually headed to our favorite park. Cayman had a great time playing on the wooden traditional catamaran and the slide.  

We also spent time at the beach where Cayman enjoyed splashing with mommy and snorkeling with dad.

Big Island Part 9: Exploring Day

During our time here, I have been checking updates on the volcano hoping we could see some interesting lava flows, but unfortunately, the volcano has been very tame the entire time. We are out of time so we spent yesterday exploring the Southern part of the island including Volcano National Park.

 This is the route we took.

We cooked nearly all our meals outside on the patio. Including breakfast before our long day of exploring.

Our first stop was this tiny town Milolii. The whole town in built on new lava right on the coast. It seems like a neat place. We drove to the end of the road shown in the photo. 

After a short hike from our parking spot, we arrived at this wonderful beach. There was only one other family there. 

The water had neat rocks at some parts with fish swimming everywhere.

Underwater was a mix of black and grey sand.

This is a blackside hawkfish I snapped a photo of while we were snorkeling there. 

Our next stop was South Point, a place with an interesting military history. This house caught our eye.

The Southernmost part of the United States

South Point is a highly visited spot by many tourists. We saw lots of people climb out of their cars and snap photos at the cliffs near the parking lot. I think this place is a neat attraction because it is the Southernmost spot in the United States and many tourists mistake the parking lot area as "The South Point" If you walk South for a few minutes you get to the actual South Point (shown in our photos). Or at least I think this is the South Point. The point to the right (East) has rocks going out further into the surf, but I am guessing the only count land above the high tide mark as land.  As you can see from the google map photo, there is not much out there.

Shelley furthur South on land in the United States than anyone else in the world.

 

 Our next stop was a black sand beach with tons of people and tons of sun-bathing turtles.

 

Next, we headed to Volcano National Park. Here is Shelley near some steam vents in the park.

The park has a lighted lava tube you can hike through.

 

The park is also located in a very lush rainforest.

Our final stop was Hilo for dinner. I saw this large tree near our parking spot.

 

 On the two hour drive back, we were treated with an awesome sunset and some chilly temperatures (see below).

This is our last post for this trip. Thank you to everyone who has been reading along. See you guys soon.