The term supermoon may be a bit of over-the-top hype, it was still nice to dive under the light of a bright full moon. The plan is simple, meet at 4pm for a late afternoon dive, followed by a night dive. Gear and dinner loaded we quickly slip the lines and head out in a smoothly practiced routine. Where is the boat going, I really do not care, wherever we dive it is going to be good.
I love the late afternoon light on the reef. As the light dims the shades become more blue. The lower intensity allows me to control the light better, the strobe overpowering the ambient light on the target of interest. The background becomes an attractive blue, open water photos loose the odd green cast that is difficult or impossible to fix in Photoshop. The fish are less flighty as well, beginning to shift from daytime routine to finding a place in the coral for the night.
The wall just north of the mooring is particularly productive. Several inverts, eels and a beautiful red sponge background to work with. Deb runs out of air well before I do, but the boat is just above us. I watch her ascend then go back to shooting the wall on the last of my tank. Still, it is only a 60min dive, the price of going deep.
Dinner is a selection of food meant to be eaten with fingers. We have cocktail shrimp, dolmas, fresh melon and pineapple, and a batch of Deb’s chocolate chip cookies. We watch sunset, eat, and swap stories of dives past.
We moved to another mooring for the night dive, Kamanu is just north of the Old Kona Airport and should offer better protection from the rising swell. The plan was to work the wall for the entire dive, a plan that got discarded… After 10-20min of attempting to explore the wall I give up. The surge is just too much! It is difficult to find anything, and when I do find it the back and forth motion in the water makes photography quite difficult. I lead Deb a bit deeper, out onto the reef flats makai of the wall. Much better, the surge is weak here, and diving becomes pleasant again.
The dive also marks a change for me. After years of diving in a 3mm shorty I have moved to a full wetsuit. On days of long dives I have gotten a bit chilled, plus something with knee pads should keep me from getting stung and scraped every time I roust about in the rubble of a cave floor. My knees are scarred enough.
A very pleasant evening spent under the light of a full Moon. I am exhausted, cleaning gear late into the night after getting home. No regrets, it was a wonderful experience, one I am ready to do again.