Scuba Scott and Diver Doug were kind enough to escape their vacation plans and come spend some time underwater with me and my dive buddies today. They're not traveling together. It was just one big happy coincidence that we were all able to dive on the same day. Joining us was Scott's friend Rick who kept watch over us while snorkeling. Also a few local dive buddies of mine came along too. Jackson, his lady Sarah, and Kim who works at my LDS.
With names like Scuba Scott and Diver Doug I was a little bummed that I couldn't think of an alliterative name for myself. Egalitarian Eric? Erudite Eric? DIR Doofus? UTD Eunice? Bathymetric Bonehead? I'll have a think on that.
We met up at 0800 at Puako #56. A well known entry point and one of the easier ones to deal with at low tide. Of all the swim-outs this one is maybe the shortest. I was also interested in hitting this spot early since the trade winds have been really honk'n lately and they start mid morning most days. The wind wasn't too bad at first but there was a little baby swell to deal with.
One of my steel bottles I normally dive with was sitting at my LDS so rather than dive two different tanks sizes (and one with air and a yoke) I decided to assemble my doubles for today. Oh boy was that a minor mistake.
Jackson picked a good path for us that had us walking on the pahoehoe (smooth lava) rather than crawl along the shallows after a long walk. Since it was so low the lava was slickery with seaweed which made for a bit of a treacherous walk for me in doubles. My booties are worn and smooth. Now and then I'll wear a pair of neoprene socks with my rockboots over them so I can wear my slipstreams but today was not one of those days. Everyone made it across the hawaiian slip-n-slide and we kicked out as the wind picked up. A few wave were breaking over us but nothing too bad.
Scott and Kim make their way across the slippery lava:
Doug exemplifies Slow and Steady Winning the Race:
I had my wing fully inflated and was enjoying the mattress-esque feel of it kicking out slowly on my back. Well I guess I pumped it up just a little too much. Just as we reached the dropoff I sank like a rock. I was for sure that the little ball on the end of my butt dump was caught in my waist strap. It turns out my inflatorhösen popped off the top of my wing. Stupid oxycheq! To be fair I bought it used recently from a reliable source (If someone sees Rick Inman before I do this april please poke him in the ribs for me) but I do have 20 dives on the stupid thing.
Pop goes the hose!
The long under water walk:
So everyone else dropped down while I stood on the coral feeling totally guilty for killing coral wondering what to do. I took my rig off and tried to see if I could tighten the ziptie but it sank away quickly. Then there was a moment I was lamenting not having a DIR folding snorkel with me when I realized I was holding scuba tanks with a regulator. I ended up taking about 20 mins to basically walk back in 7 feet of water. I paused for a while and laid my tanks in the sand and snuba'd with my 7' hose (what a great depth gauge). Eventually when I got bored I carried my rig for a while hopping pushing off and kicking a few feet at a time. Once bored of that I put my rig on and literally walked back to shore with my fins in my hand. I was pretty tired by the time I got near the exit and then my hood came unclipped as I was fussing with my reg. What fun chasing it across the shallow slippery lava.
Snuba:
This little guy was sitting right behind my rig:
Bored!
Lugging full 80s with a 5lb tail weight:
Partly cloudy:
Of course I missed the pregnant white tip that Jackson and Sarah have been talking about for a week. It sounds like they had a good dive while I sat on the beach eating snacks and chatting with Rick the snorkeler. Maybe Doug or Scott can chime in with a report of that first dive.
Our next dive was at the Kohala Coast Cove2: Paniau. The land of lava tubes, cracks, and crevices. I'm pretty sure the man upstairs wanted me to dive that day because Doug and Scott found a ziptie under the picnic table at Paniau. Wow! Jackson went back to his place down the road and picked me up a couple and a needle nose to cinch it down. I was good to go.
Two.... count them... two zipties:
I was late getting in the water proving that even in Hawaii I'm always the first one at a dive site and the last one in the water. I ended up talking stories with a couple from the bay area. Actually I should all over them for a while that they hadn't gone diving in Monterey yet live close by. Shame on them.
Paniau was fairly usual. Caves, slipper lobsters, a nice sized nudi, crabs, one small tako etc. Toward the end of the dive Jackson spotted a super red frogfish which was totally the highlight of my day. We highfived underwater and I struggled with a hand signal for you da man but I think he understood.
Doug snapping away:
Scott waving away:
Turtle running away:
I hope other folks got a better picture of the frogfish:
Exit:
Doug, Scott, Jax, and Me:
Somewhere along the way I clipped of the camera I was using and I don't know how but it came free. Not unlike the ziptie under the table I was wicked blessed today. Just as the camera dropped I rolled on my back for no reason to look up. I saw Rick for the first time snorkeling and pointing like a madman. Spinning around I watched the camera sink away. I scooped it up like a world cup goalie and blew Rick a few kisses underwater (that look like the sign language for thank you). I love that guy... it wasn't my camera. I borrowed this new camera from work to see how well it did. Canon saw fit to take away the underwater setting for this thing. How dumb... I can't wait to tell my boss he bought a camera without this setting. The ikelite housing is pretty cherry tho.
Hopefully I'll get to dive with those guys again if they can convince their bosses to sneak away from their vacations again . Until then I wish them a butt ton of Aloha.
Maybe Scott and Doug will post their photos when they get back to the mainland.
Aloha hard,
-Eric
This is my favorite smiley!!
