Full Boat

Posted on July 29, 2017 by murray

Like neighbours, you don’t get to choose your dive partners. Today there is max people on the boat so we have to share our dive master with 3 others. It is B’s dive 100 so we are hoping for a good day.

We get in the water and within the first 2 minutes we know the day is going to be trying. The 3 other divers may not be newbies but they are not very good divers and are absolutely lousy at following a dive plan. Before we get in the water D outlines what is going to happen underwater and the behaviour he expects. As we progress D alters the dive plan because the behaviour of our companions is quite frankly endangering the entire group. The renegades’ diving skills are not up to snuff and they can’t follow directions.  The fortunate part is B, Debbie and I are much better on air consumption than any of the other 3 so we get 1/2 a dive after they are vanquished to the surface.

Frog Fish

Frog Fish

We did however find a few interesting things for B’s 100. The first thing is a frog fish. Orange in color. Really kind of cool. B has not seen too many and has a hard time distinguishing it but Debbie took a lot of pics and B is able to figure it out. B spots a snowflake eel. Really pretty and not that common so worth a minute of inspection. A couple more leaf scorpions are found and best of all for B, D finds a turtle sleeping under a cave so we all have a good look at it, before it wakes up and swims to the surface.

Turtle

Because of the guys we were with we did not have a good day for finding things. We could not get to the areas where we can find creatures and D had little time to do his magic and make things appear. This has been the worst two dives of the past week. There has to be the worst two but these take the prize hands down. Hope we don’t have the same company the next couple of days.

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ring of Fire

Posted on July 28, 2017 by murray

Hawaii is part of the ‘Ring of Fire’. Been here twice before and have not been to the volcano. Today is the day. We cannot hike to the high peak and frankly since the big attaction is to view the sunrise I am not that interested in getting up a 2 am to make it to the top in time for the event. We opt for a trip to the Hawaii Volcanos National Park.

Halema'uma'u Crater

Halema’uma’u Crater

B and Deb want to sleep in so we don’t get started until 8 but we leave close. Two hours of driving later and we pass through the park gates. First stop, the visitors center. The displays are OK but the ranger/hosts that are very informative and give us an idea what the park has to offer. There is a loop road around the attractions but it is no longer a loop as 1/2 of it is closed. No explanation, just closed. We had spent $25 to get into the park so we thought we should a least see what there is. The displays at the Jagger Museum are really good and are quite informative about volcanos and Mauna Loa in particular.

Kilauea Iki Trail

Kilauea Iki Trail

We choose to do a 2 hour hike that skirts the rim of the Kilauea Iki Crater, created by the 1954 eruption, and then dips into the crater itself. Interesting walk. There is a very informative self guide book necessary to enhance the tour, otherwise it would just be a walk with no more purpose than to say we had done it.

Kilauea Iki Trail

Kilauea Iki Trail

At the end of the walk, when back on the rim of the crater there is a lava tube one can  traverse. To me it was a dark tunnel. Frankly I did not see the point of walking through it.

Three days ago we had another brush with the ring of fire. We were under the surface of the ocean diving when we all heard the noise of a boat passing overhead. Only we were not in an area where boats should pass over head, we did not hear it coming or going just overhead, and it was unbelieveably loud making it sound like the biggest boat that had ever passed above any of us. Nothing much was said when we arrive at the surface because we all talk about what is seen and the conditions of the dive. The next day K arrives and tell us there was a 4.4 magnitude earthquake while we were diving and that is what the boat sound was. Weird.

At home we put up with cold and snowy winters but on the edge of the Pacific Ocean residents and travelers alike have to be prepared to deal with earthquakes and volcanos. We experienced both in a short span of time. Neither was life threating but both are subtle reminders of what could be.

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , | Leave a comment

3 dive day

Posted on July 27, 2017 by murray

The blog for this island is all about diving. That is what we are here to do and that is what we are doing. Every once in a while the dive shop does what is call a long range dive day. The idea is for more experienced divers to go farther afield. The diving is a little harder and the day is definately long. We start at 6:45 and get home around 4:30.

Pyramid Butterflyfish

Pyramid Butterflyfish

The diving is excellent today. Minor current on one dive and absolutely still water on the other two dives. We see cool stuff all day. Frog fish, haven’t see too many of those yet this trip. A rare one called a “painted” frogfish.

Painted Frogfish

Painted Frogfish

There are several Blue Dragon Nudi’s. Have never seen one before and today we see at least a dozen. A red spot nudi, not very common. A few Viper Eels, a couple Dwarf Eels, a Curious Worm Fish or two, a few schools of Pyamid Butterfly Fish, Fishegg Eating Nudis, and a single Flame Angel.

Golden Lace Nudibranch

Golden Lace Nudibranch

We get to swim into a couple of shallow caves and wind our way in and around a myriad of coral heads. One of which is named the Matterhorn. Guess what that one looks like. No snow though.

Dwarf Eel

Dwarf Eel

It is an absolulely steller day of diving.

Blue Dragon Nudibranch

Blue Dragon Nudibranch

 

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Night Diving

Posted on July 25, 2017 by debbie

Yesterday evening B, Murray and I go out on a night dive. Now I am not a big fan of night dives – dark, cold, scary, dark, more dark, but Murray convinced us to do this one because the dive folks kept saying the night dives in Kona were great. Yeah, I’ve heard THAT before and been sorely disappointed.

Not this time.

There are just four guest divers and Luke, our dive Jedi. The fourth diver, R, is from St. Albert, a 20 minute drive from our house. Four Canucks, how lucky is that! At least we all talked the same language, eh.

Kona Dive Company ensures it is full dark before entering the water, which other dive shops around the world do not do. The creatures that come out at night are slow moving and it takes them time to come out, so we get a leisurely dive briefing, giving them plenty of time to come out of there daytime hiding holes.

After we descend, we start to see lobsters and crabs and shrimp and eels. I realize that, although it is dark down there, with the five dive lights and an extra red light that Luke carries, it is not as scary as I imagined. I was enjoying myself looking at the unusual creatures. Murray and I spy a small octopus moving along the bottom and wave the others over. The octopus has very long legs and a small body and is gorgeous. He gets nervous and moves under a overhang, evicting the fish that is there already.

Many of the fish are still out and I silently entreat them to go hide as they are fodder for eels and larger prey. Run! Hide! Go to bed!

It is a dive that every diver coming to Kona should experience. The night reef is amazing.

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Turtle of a Day!

Posted on July 24, 2017 by debbie

On first dive today, a hawksbill turtle swam by to chew on the fin of H, our dive master. He was quite intent on tasting purple fin. Murray captured some amazing video of this fellow, but you will have to wait to view it.

After our dives, we decide to go to the beach and bay where everyone says there are turtles. It is a hot walk from where we parked the car on the highway to the beach. Murray and I jump in the water right away while B watches the bags.

A three legged turtle swims by. I wonder how he lost his back leg. Poor guy. but he doesn’t seem to concerned with not having the right number of limbs.

After B has her snorkel, we walk north on the beach and find two turtle sunning themselves. They must get cold in the water at depth, and so lay on the hot sand to warm up.

Turtle

We accidently take a walk around a greenish looking lagoon trying to find our way back to the car, and come across a number of other turtles,  both in the water and out. Seems like the time of day to be sunning, if you are a turtle. What a turtle of a day!

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Lunch Bell Rings

Posted on July 23, 2017 by murray

Today we watch a couple of the sea’s creatures having lunch. We travel along with our eye on the reef and out into the blue. The reef part is pretty much any dive but the out into the blue part is watching for a turtle or two and quite possibly a tiger shark. It is tiger shark season here and they are about. We don’t see either.

But, on our way back into the shallows on the sandy bottom is one big conch. It is the size of a soccer ball. Seems to be eyeing up an urchin, don’t know the specific name but we call it a pincushion. The chase is on and when the shell catches up to the urchin the creature inside the shell lifts its house 6 or 8″ off the sand and drops it very quickly on top of the pincushion. Excuse me while I dine in private.

Conch

Conch advancing on lunch

Shortly after that I spot a very large zebra eel lying under a rock. The dive master stirs up an spiny urchin that is sitting very near. The eel leaps, leaps as best a sinuous beast can, and without any regard for the spines, clamps its jaws around urchin. Two or three more attacks and the spiny black creature is cracked in half like a walnut. The eel takes half and receeds into hiding under the shelf. It seems the Hawaiian sea folks like to eat without an audience.

Zebra Eel having lunch

Zebra Eel having lunch

Zebra Eel having lunch

Every dive is different in the day a good portion of the reef animals are in rest mode and don’t hunt at all. Today we witness a couple of those nocturnal beasts taking advantage of a daylight opportunity.

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

First Dives

Posted on July 21, 2017 by debbie

Normally Murray and I get a touch of the nerves on our first dive of a trip. Not this time. Maybe it is because we dove in Dominica only two months ago. B, however, had nerves enough for everyone as she hasn’t dove in the ocean for two years. But we all made it and it was great, as Kona always is.


I recently read a short article about the fact that very few people experience the world under the waves. We are so lucky to be able to see octopi, sleeping sharks, cleaner fish doing their life’s work for another much larger fish, dragon moray and viper moray ( two very unusual eels) and fish indigenous to Hawaii’s waters.

Our first day of diving is done, we will now get into a routine of sleep, eat, dive, repeat and enjoy the underwater world.

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Arrivee

Posted on July 20, 2017 by murray

Made it. Not even a bad trip. It started a bit weird. Debbie got singled out for a ‘special’ run through the security check. They make her take out all of her electronics, and put them separately into the xray bins, when the bins appeared on the other side they pulled aside all her bags and swabbed them, and then patted her down. Nothing comes of it so it is only a short delay and we had plenty of time anyway.

The lay over in Seattle is fairly long but the plane is again on time and we are in the air by noon. The next hour is spent trying to get the Alaska Air app to connect so B and Debbie could watch movies. Don’t even know what we did to make the iPad respond but in the end the connection is made and movies are watched.

It is not often travel plans are made and they pan out to the letter but today was one of those days. Off the plane. On time. Pick up a rental car. In the blink of an eye. Stop at the dive shop. Everything as we expected. Groceries. Done. Find the condo. Too slick.

Tomorrow early at the dock.

Posted in Hawaiian Islands | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Carry On Packing Re-evaluation

Posted on July 18, 2017 by debbie

When we got back from Dominica, I  mentioned that we were going to re-evaluate our packing as our rollie bags, with dive gear, were getting too heavy. As I unpacked my bag, I made a list of items to look at. We are almost packed for our scuba dive trip to Kona and here is what we did to lightened our load. Now, keep in mind we are reducing by ounces, not pounds!

Dive Logs: Instead of taking the small binders that are our dive logs, we are only taking the correct number of pages for the number of dives we are doing. They are contained in a ziploc bag.

First Aid Kit and Liquids Bags: Kona is not a third world country, so there is a Safeway, Costco and Walmart. We can buy any bandaids or first aid items we may need. Our first aid kit is reduced to a few bandaids, alcohol wipes, laxative, Tylenol, Penicillin, Cipro and Canesten, eye drops, Otravin, Hydrocortisone Cream, and Polysporin.  Stuff we may need a prescription for, even in the USA. This sounds like many items, but the first aid kit is much smaller than on previous trips and the liquids bags are also much smaller. I also scrutinized the liquids and reduced the duplicates or items we could buy in Kona, if we need them.

Dive Gear: We both carry a safety sausage, reel and whistle while we dive in case of emergencies. My reel is large and although it doesn’t weigh much, it takes up volume in my suitcase. We took the reel off and rigged up the sausage to be attached to my BCD with enough line on it to work properly at the surface. Unfortunately, we could not reduce the overall dive gear much.

Clothes: For me, instead of wearing pants on the airplane and packing a pair of shorts, I am leaving the pants at home and wearing the shorts on the plane. Mur is still wearing zip off pants on the plane, but they are doubling as his second pair of shorts on Kona. I also fine tuned my shirts and reduced by 2 from Dominica. Here is what I am taking for clothes to Kona:

  • Sarong and Rash Guard shirt to wear on dive days
  • Shorts and technical shirt to wear on non dive days
  • Dressier shirt, worn with shorts, for evening
  • Dress for evening
  • Three pairs of undies (no bra, but that is another story)
  • Three swimsuits – 2 one piece, 1 two piece (I could make do with 2, but 3 swimsuits is nice – my packing splurge)
  • Boat shoes and dressier flip flops
  • Ice breaker lightweight warm layer for airplane
  • Compression socks for flight
  • Sunhat
carry on only packing

Clothes I am wearing for the flight to Kona

If I take off the list what I am wearing on the airplane, what is packed is reduced to the dressier shirt, dress, 2 undies, 3 swimsuits, flip flops and sunhat. Not much. One of the swimsuits is used for padding around my camera housing, so only 2 actually have to be packed.

carry on only packing

Clothes being packed (flip flops and 2 swimsuits not shown)

We take liquid clothes detergent and do wash every few days. We usually wash what gets overly salty or smelly. And wash again at the end of a stay to make sure we are fresh smelling for the flight home.

The piles on the floor, ready to be packed, do not look very big. They are mostly dive gear and are critical to that sport. Once packed we will weigh our bags and hopefully they are a few ounces or maybe a pound or two lighter.

Posted in Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Up Close and Personal

Posted on July 16, 2017 by murray

Yesterday we were tourists at home. Staying at our house are two folks from Devonshire, GB. A arrived a few weeks ago and N arrived a couple of days ago. We have been busy trying to see a few things tourists in Edmonton are suppose to see.

Bison, Elk island park

Thursday, on the advice of one of the park staff, we arrive at the ‘Bison Loop’ in Elk Island Park at 7 am. First car there I might add. The bison are still on the road and a large number of them are lounging around after a night’s sleep, munching away on the soft dew laden grass. Trying to keep our expectations to a minimum we only hoped to see a buffalo or two. We outdo that by about 50.

Bison, Elk island park

The next couple of hours are bit boring. A few ducks, a goose or two but not much else. We all do our part to ensure mosquitoes survive any issues they have with global warming by contributing a pint of blood each, but that is all the excitement.

Elk Island Park

We head towards a small picnic area for a bite of lunch and there in among the affixed tables is a fine specimen of a male bison bison bison (latin for plains bison). Don’t ask me just look it up. He is very big and well groomed and not the slightest bit interested in us. As he progresses across the lawn munching Elevenzies we watch and take photos.

Bison, Elk Island Park

We get back in the car and he passes within a few feet of  the passenger’s window. A bison, up close and personal.

Bison, Elk Island Park

 

Posted in Western Canada | Tagged , , | Leave a comment