Home > Bill Wohler > Events > Hawaii 2008 > Diving at Molokini

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.

A beautiful sunrise!	I couldn't decide which one was better, so take both!
Garden eels	Moray	Moray bugs out
Moorish idol	Some squirrelfish	Hawaiian dascyllus
Eggs for a Spanish dancer, a nudibranch	Raccoon butterflyfish	Fish and the reef
Whitemouthed moray	A harlequin shrimp hides in the coral	A large jack swims slowly by
Ornate butterflyfish	A pair of Hawaiian cleaner wrasses attend clients	Yellow tangs at a cleaning station
A gang of squirrelfish	Lori in the clear waters of Molokini	Another picture?
Um, Bill, where's your regulator?	Bill imitates Jack Nicholson	Lori can't quite get the "live long and prosper" hand sign
Lori chews on a bubble	Big fish under boat

Whales

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

Captain Andy Schwanke	Warren Blum explains the anatomical difference between a male and female turtle
Thar she blows!	The humpback	A pair of whales go for a dive

Kam 2

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

Hermit crab	Super turtle!	Needle fish
A turtle extends his neck and flippers so that the fish can clean the algae off of his skin		The turtle's beak
A pair of turtles	A turtle soars by	A turtle garage
Guineafowl puffer	A turtle heads for the surface
Banded urchin	Longnose butterflyfish	I give up!
What, me worry?	Lori shows off her hang-gliding form	Lori di Assisi