scuba – Page 21 – A Darker View

A Dive That Went Wrong

Five days, a quick island hop to Oahu, our first time exploring the island. A major feature of the plan was a bit of diving. Oahu features a number of unique dives we can not experience on the Big Island, particularly the wrecks. Based on conversations on ScubaBoard I chose to book with Gabe and Kaimana Divers. The reviews and comments of this dive op have been uniformly positive. After some experience I can second that opinion.

Along with a few changes of clothes and the cameras, we packed two full sets of dive gear. There would be five full days, including two days of diving. The basic plan each day was a two tank morning dive trip, a deeper wreck dive, followed by a shallower reef dive. The YO-257, the Corsair, there are several sites to choose from. On the Big Island we do have the SS Kauai at Mahukona, but scattered bits and pieces are not the same as a large intact ship.

Walking across the posh lobby of a luxury hotel with full dive gear over your shoulder is fun. Everyone looks in your direction, you can only guess at what they are thinking. It was 7am, meeting our ride to the marina. We were looking for our ride from Kaimana Divers in a big black pickup truck. Already in the truck were a couple from Texas and another fellow, five divers total, a nice small group.

We met Drew, our divemaster for the day. Like all divers we introduced ourselves, Jeannie and Charles lived near the gulf coast, but traveled regularly to dive under better conditions than local waters offered. Our fifth diver was somewhat less experienced, with a dozen dives behind him. We were all looking forward to this dive.

Surf to Diamond Head — Surf and Surfers along the famous Waikiki breaks with Diamond Head in the background

Heading of of the marina we saw the first sign that perhaps not all was well… The surfers were out.

Dramatic breakers rolled across the famous Waikiki reefs, stretching from the marina to Diamond Head. There is an adage in the local dive community, if the surfers are happy, the divers are not.

Arriving over the wreck for the YO-257 there was a notable swell, while it was going to be a problem, it was diveable. Drew hopped in to secure the mooring line. Upon returning to the boat he reported a moderate current. We geared up and readied for the water.

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Island Hop

After five years of living on the Big Island we finally took a few days to hop to another island and do some exploring. The selected target was Oahu, a place we have never properly visited before, changing planes at the airport does not count.

First impressions… Oahu can be a nice place to visit, but the traffic is beyond terrible! The roads packed with cars playing by aggressive city rules. Even the North Shore and Windward were bad, not just Honolulu. After years of driving on the Big Island, where there are no interstate freeways and the driving is quite relaxed, it was an unpleasant experience. I managed, and we got around with little real trouble, re-learning the old skills of dealing with heavy city traffic. I am so glad to be back to Hawai’i and out of that traffic.

The Fourth of July is a pretty good day to visit patriotic monuments like the battleship Missouri and the Pacific Aviation Museum. This was the plan and it executed well.

I had wanted to visit the Missouri for some time, I love museum ships, such tangible remnants of the past. This battleship is simply big, everything about her was big, from the enormous guns to the massive anchors. The exception was the average crewman’s bunks, which were stacked in ranks throughout much of the first deck. There was a tangible sense of history here, the silent guns spoke of the fierce battles of WWII. A simple plaque in the deck marked where that terrible war finally ended.

For the Fourth all of the ships in the harbor were decked out in flags, including the Missouri, the many US Navy and foreign ships gathered for the upcoming RIMPAC exercises. Another treat was the Mississippi Lions All State Band performing pier-side the battleship.

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Postcard from the Reef – Protopalythoa?

Hawaiian reefs are well studied, so much so that identification of what I find is often fairly easy. Various resources from popular guide books to professional papers list most of the species one is likely to encounter. There are also several excellent online references that I make regular use of.

There will be situations when identification is not quite so easy… There are critters that are difficult to identify from a simple photograph. Such is the case with this small group of cnidarians I found in a crevice. They caught my eye enough that I took the photo, but proved a bit more difficult when I hit the books. The best I can guess at is the family Protopalythoa, among the zoanthids. I have no need to collect a specimen and find an expert, thus these will most likely remain unidentified…

Protopalythoa sp? — Most likely a member of the zonanthid family Protopalythoa, just a handful of animals in a reef crevice at Puako

Postcard from the Reef – Gold Lace

These fellows are fairly common along the Kohala Coast. They are also quite pretty, always worth a couple exposures…

Gold Lace Nudibranch (Halgerda terramtuentis) in a small cave at 25′ depth, Puako

Postcard from the Reef – Redstripe Pipefish

A close relative of seahorses, pipefish are usually found sheltering in crevices or small caves. They are not uncommon sights for anyone who makes a habit of investigating the nooks and crannies of the reef…

Postcard from the Reef – Rosy Phyllidia

A nice day for a dive, and a new species of nudibrach for me. At first I thought it might simply be a juvenile P. varicosa, but there were no yellow pertuberances. Getting back I hit the books, no doubt, P. rosans. New species! This fellow was in a cave at Puako I have entered a dozen times. Even in a place I have often explored I can find something new…

Postcard from the Reef – Spanish Dancer

What is that? That is too big to be a nudibranch, but that is what it looked like. I could only see part of the beast looking into the cave crevice. Fortunately it turned out to be somewhat photophobic, the bright light flushed it out of the crevice into the cave…

A Spanish Dancer!

I make a point to look for nudibranchs, pretty critters that are wonderfully photogenic. Looking into the nooks and crannies of the reef for nudibranchs also tends to turn up other tiny surprises.

This was not small!

While the typical nudibranch is one or two inches long, this fellow was the size of a dinnerplate! Adding to the wonder was the dance. As soon as the animal left the crevice it swam across the cave. I flashed Mark to get his attention, he was ready to leave the cave. I suspect he is glad he came back. Deb also wondered what we were still doing in the cave and came in to check on us. Thus we all got a good look at the dance.

After a few photos… OK, a lot of photos, I shepherded the fellow back into his crevice. Once I withdrew the light he settled down to stay in the darkness.

Diving Puakō

Another weekend, another dive. This time at one of our favorite dive spots, Puakō End-of-Road. It was just Deb and I this time. The usual crew was out this weekend as well, but we had other goals in mind for the dive and choose to go to a closer site.

Brick Soldierfish (Myripristis amaena) in a cave at Puakō

One goal for the dive was testing some new kit. The new regulator performed pleasingly well, very easy breathing. Need to test it deeper, but for a first dive with new gear we kept it easy, around 40′ maximum depth. One issue is the mouthpiece, that simply has to change! I will be taking the mouthpiece off my old reg before the next dive. Need to rearrange the hoses as well, these

The other pleasant surprise was finding two new species of nudibranch. As Deb and I were diving without the rest of the crew, I was particularly slow. As usual poking my head into every nook and cranny. The result was finding examples of Phyllidiella rosans and Phyllidiopsis sphingis.

Going slow and shallow had another effect, almost 80 minutes underwater. Not a record for us, but high on the list of our longer dives. Not bad for a single aluminum 80 cylinder.

A nice Saturday dive, another hour spent underwater, and some new stuff found. A good day.

Postcard from the Reef – Lizardfish

Twospot Lizardfish (Synodus binotatus) at 30ft depth, Puako

Postcard from the Reef – Hydroid Stings

This is not a case of “I wish you were here”, but rather another lesson in the many hazards of diving.

I know when I got hit, a series of pricks down my left forearm. I didn’t even react, I was concentrating on the photo. I continued to brace myself against the surge by using the rocks of the cave floor. Those rocks were home to some little critters that had an issue with the disturbance I was creating… Hydroids.

Through the rest of the dive my arm continued to sting, discomfort that persisted but was not really all that bad. I took no action other than noting that I had gotten hit. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized that the stings were not going to go away quickly. I had a series of red welts across my forearm, and they itched. Time to break out the hydrocortisone cream. A week later the welts have faded and shrunk to pinpoints, no longer itch, but are still there.

The angry red welts did attract comment all week, they were rather noticable. I have had to explain what hydroids are a number of times. These small relatives of jellyfish posses the same defensive armament, stinging cells called nematocysts. As soon as you mention jelly stings the stories come out, most everyone on this tropical island has gotten stung at some point.

Friday evening we stopped into the shop of Kohala Divers for a bit. There were a few folks we know in the shop as they were having an open house. As I chatted with Lina Preskitt, a local marine biologist, I mentioned the stings, showing her my forearm. She raised her forearm to display a very similar set of red welts on her left arm! We laughed as we looked at a mirror of almost identical stings.

This is the second time I have been seriously stung by hydroids. Will it stop me from diving? Not at all. Perhaps be a bit more careful when mucking about on a cave floor.