24 Jan 2021
Another full day of diving, this time with Jack’s Diving Locker. I’ve dove with both companies before and like them both, so I figured I’d split my time between the 2 shops and support both of them. I also recognized some of the crew, and some of them remembered me, even though it had been almost a year and half since I was last down, so that was cool!
Usually, I go out on their larger boat, but it sounds like it was undergoing maintenance, so my first few dives were off the Na Pali Kai:
Not my favorite dive boat- limited shade (I don’t wear sunscreen when I dive, just stay out of the sun and wear a hat+long sleeves), and gearing up is a bit different- instead of sitting in front of your tank, gearing up, then walking to the back and jumping in, you sit on the back of the boat, they bring your tank to you, you gear up, then jump in. Not a big deal, but only 2 people can get ready at the same time (though the boat only takes up to 10 or 12 divers) and I always feel like I’m holding the group up.
Dive #5 – Fish Rock
The first of many octopuses:
Ringtail wrasse, giving me some serious side-eye:
A pair of Fourspot butterflyfish:
Fun fact: according to my fish book, these guys tend to form long-lasting monogamous pairs.
Yellowtail coris (female):
A whitemouth eel, hiding in a crack in the coral:
A darker Orangeband surgeonfish:
Fried-egg nudi!
Spot the Twospot lizardfish:
An Undulated eel, on the move!
Yikes!
Whitemouth eel:
Bullethead parrotfish, chomping on coral:
Stocky hawkfish:
LEAF SCORPIONFISH!!!!
I love these guys! Tried to shoot him from the other side and got photobombed by a Whitespotted toby:
Dive #6 – Lone Tree
Another site I’ve dived several times, but I always see cool critters here!
Yellowtail coris:
A large (~2.5″) fried egg nudibranch:
A leaf scorpionfish!
Two strawberry nudibranchs and a Rock-boring urchin:
Star-eye parrotfish (initial phase):
A school of Blue-stripe snappers (plus an Eye-stripe surgeonfish):
This is a juvenile Rock-mover wrasse, and he was seriously hard to photograph! He just flits around randomly like a leaf:
Fish butt! This little Red lionfish is endemic to Hawai’i and not invasive like the guys I see in Florida:
Also hiding in that same coral was this leaf scorpionfish:
This leaf scorpionfish was hiding just outside the coral:
Dive #7 – Keauhou Bay (aka, the Sheraton)
Another afternoon dive to get acquainted with the site before diving it again after dark to watch for mantas!
The smallest, most delicate little flounder I’d ever seen! (I think he’s a three-spot, right-eye flounder):
Fun fact: the side of the flounder that the eye migrates to varies by, but is consistent among, species.
Spotted boxfish (female):
Spotted boxfish (male):
Frogfish! This guy was quite large, maybe 10″ long?
Look at that face!
A little whitemouth eel:
A young Fried-egg nudibranch:
White-spotted toby:
Another male spotted boxfish!
So many urchins!
Dive #8 – Keauhou Bay (with mantas!)
This was probably the best manta dive I’ve ever done- there was a ton of plankton, which attracted 5 mantas, 4 of which stayed for most of the dive.
Manta chest bumps! That’s Elviki on the right:
There was a ton of plankton here, which made it hard for my camera to focus, but the mantas loved it 🙂
Kenzie Ray:
Lafferty:
Amanda Ray (on the right):
Manta faces:
I love when mantas do somersaults when they feed!
I was so close to the action that despite ducking down when they passed over me, I got whacked with a manta fin a few times!
Mantas are filter-feeders:
Plankton gets trapped by their gill plates as water filters through.
Sometimes, an eel with crawl into the crate of lights, hoping for an easy meal as the lights also attract fish:
Mantas don’t appreciate eels 🙂
(kind of hard to see, but the eel shot out of the box at the same time the manta swooped in, and the manta got a face full of eel)