January 6, 2012

Winter Dive Season

Today was my last dive day of winter break with Mia.  We went out with Pearl Harbor Divers who we found through Living Social.  We were a little nervous because we both love Kaimana Divers so much but the Patrick and his team at PHD are so fantastic.  It was a intimate dive, just Mia, Patrick and I working toward the Marine Ecology Certification.  Patrick took us to Kahe Point or Electric Beach.

It was my first shore dive in about seven years and Mia’s first shore dive.  The walk down with all of our gear was horrible.  If you think scuba gear isn’t so bad you obviously haven’t done a shore dive before.  Those damn things are heavy as hell and the wetsuit makes it hard to move on land.  Plus you have your fins and mask to worry about as well as you try not to fall down the hill getting from the parking lot to the water.  Once we got in the water all the trouble went away.  It was so peaceful and clear today.  We got to use our fish ID charts and a underwater slate to catalog fish and coral.  SO MUCH FISH OMFG.  Not to mention a baby turtle just chillin’.

The coral formations on our second dive was even more amazing than the first.  It was like diving in one of those travel channel shows you see.  The only sad part was learning and observing that about 70% of the coral there is dead or dying.  Warming waters from the overall global temperature rise is shocking coral all over the world.  If there were more live and thriving coral reefs, more fish and more oxygen.  While being extremely fun and relaxing, today’s dives really made me aware of how bad the Earth’s situation is getting.

Today was pretty much an all-day adventure.  We got to the dive site at about 10:30 and didn’t leave till after 3. Though we didn’t see whales under the water, we did see one spouting from afar.  Here’s hoping for next winter!  I can’t describe how much I love scuba.  It’s so peaceful.  Patrick explained it so well: scuba is as close to being an astronaut people can get.  Scuba divers and astronauts both get to explore alien worlds, but scuba divers get to encounter the actual aliens.  Diving gives me a sense of peace I have never felt before.  I can’t ever imagine myself not diving.  I can’t wait till summer when Mia comes back to Hawaii!  More diving adventures to come!



Kahe Point a.k.a Electric Beach
Oahu, Hawaii

Scuba

Written on Wednesday, January 4, 2012

scubascubascubascubascubascubascubascubascubascubascuba

I’m so addicted.

First day back under the water was great.  Diving with Mia is always fun.  I’m glad I have her as a dive buddy so I can make use of the one license I do have.  We went with Kaimana Divers again, who are fan-freaking-tastic.  Finally got to meet Gabe and then dove with Drew again who is so awesome.  Saw a gigantic pod of spinner dolphins, 30-40 easy, from the boat as we were going to our first site, Turtle Canyon.  We also dove Nautilus Reef again.  Friday is dive day two but we’re going with Pearl Harbor Divers.  Here’s hoping for another great dive day!