11 Feb 2022
When I booked this trip, both the morning and blackwater boats for today were full. Earlier in the week, I was able to get onto the morning boat, and I heard from one of the locals that lava was flowing again at the volcano, so I thought I’d do some morning dives today then head up to the volcano tomorrow- since the park sits at about 4000 feet, I need to wait a while after diving before driving up to elevation.
Then I got a call yesterday afternoon that there was a cancellation on the blackwater boat! Lava can wait for another day- I love the blackwater dives!
Dive #7 – Touch of Gray
The downside to bouncing between two dive companies is that I occasionally end up diving the same site twice, once with each operator. The upside is, I know where all the cool stuff is and which fishes to look for on this dive, so fingers crossed for some good pictures!
One of the divers on this boat had the same backplate as me! This is the second time now I’ve seen one out in the wild, so I took this stealthy shot:
Cornetfish:
A pair of Fourspot butterflyfish:
Pinktail triggerfish:
Normally these guys are quite skittish and like to hide- finally got a good close-up shot of one in the open!
Saddle wrasse:
Another fish I’m still trying to get a great shot of.
Gold-lace nudibranch / Halgerda terramtuentis:
Freckled hawkfish:
Reticulated butterflyfish:
Tiny little reef shark! He was maybe 3.5′ long- so cute!
I think this is a little Stout moray:
HA! Found you Coral croucher! …kinda…
Strawberry nudibranch / Phyllidiella pustulosa:
An adorable little porcupinefish!
Octopus, hiding under a ledge:
Crowned toby:
I think this is a Gosline’s fang blenny:
Look at the cool color patterns on this urchin!
I want this guy to be a Yellowmargin eel, but I can’t see his tail:
And a pair of Cornetfish to end the dive (probably not the same ones as the beginning of the dive):
Dive #8 – Black Hole
This should have been an awesome picture of a Whitespotted puffer, but my first couple pictures kept turning out blue- by the time I realized my strobe had fallen asleep, this guy was sick of me and started to swim off.
Shortnose wrasse!
and another! A beautiful new-to-me fish!
Potter’s angelfish! I love these guys!
Chocolate dip chromis:
Supermale Belted wrasse (at a distance, hence the poor coloration):
Fried egg nudibranch / Phyllidia varicosa:
Flounder!!
The tail streamers on this Orangespine unicornfish seemed especially long to me:
Saddleback butterflyfish:
and another, closer, shot because he’s pretty!
Strawberry nudibranch / Phyllidiella pustulosa:
Arc-eye hawkfish:
Ugh, been trying for ages to get a good shot of this guy, an Eightline wrasse:
an equally poor picture of another one:
A whole harem of female Pencil wrasses:
Gelato, dinner of champions!
Today’s flavors: Kona Coffee + Chocolate Macadamia Nut
Dive #9 – Blackwater
So many cool new-to-me critters on this dive, I didn’t know where to look!
A siphonophore (net-caster), I think a Sulculeolaria sp.
Some sort of hydrozoan:
Venus girdle:
I think this is a type of Alciopid worm:
My first squid! A Leachia pacifica:
Unfortunately, I think he might be dead- he was just drifting along, not at all bothered by our lights…
Poor little guy 🙁
Cyclosalps joining up!
Cyclosalps, joined:
Pelagic seahorse!
Driftfish:
Mauve stinger (Pelagia noctiluca):
Ribbonfish!!!
Then, an Oceanic whitetip shark came through… most time, a shark will circle a time or two, check us out, and then leave. Not this guy- he stuck around and started swimming in and out of our downlines. Our divemaster, Sarah, punched him in the nose when he came up to her, but even that didn’t deter him. He was far too curious, so one by one, we got out of the water, while the remaining divers and our divemaster kept an eye and lights on him.
I kept my camera between me and him until it was my turn to get out. Most everyone else had fancy cameras set up for macro, but after missing out on a photo of my last blackwater shark (a thresher), I now have a setting programmed on my little compact for just this scenario- zoom out, turn a knob and BOOM! Shark picture!
So cool, so terrifying! 10/10 best blackwater dive to date!