Hawaiian dascyllus

Diving at Molokini, Hawaii—December, 2008


Got up at 4:30 a.m. Yeah, you heard that right too.

Met the Mike Severns boat at Kihei Wharf at 6 a.m. Andy Schwanke drove, and Warren Blum dove. Both were excellent and entertaining guides. There were only six people on the boat. Apparently, this is the calm before the storm. It's very slow now, although during Christmas week, it will be different. Quite different. We definitely agree with the good marks that others have given the Mike Severns crew.


Mid Reef

Because we had some newbies, and because I hadn't dived in a long while and had a new camera to play with, we kept it simple. The first dive at Molokini was in the sand channel, and we only peeked over the edge of the Mid Reef. Lots of colorful fish abound here.

This was my first "real" underwater photography shoot. Most of the photos suck. I found that you can't just chase fish as they run away and all you get is their backsides. And you can't pan (follow the fish with) the camera because this makes the background fuzzy. This was a learning experience: next time, I'll just hang out and let the fish come to me. But I was happily surprised with the quality of the camera and flash diffuser, as well as a number of the shots. Using a strobe or two would be the next improvement.



Whales

During our surface interval, we saw some whales spout and dive.



Kam 2

We then dove Kam 2 near Kihei and saw lots and lots of turtles.



We had a delicious lunch at the Cafe O'Lei in Kihei, came home, and collapsed after rinsing our gear.

Then, after our daily hot tub, we went to Paul and Liz's condo in Kaanapali for a home-cooked dinner with the gang.

You can see these photos in a slideshow, view them on a map, or download the GPS track.


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