SCUBA day! Samuel and I had picked up some rental gear from a dive shop and we were ready to go. We’d brought our own basic gear including my Go Pro, it’s photos have taken me extra time to process this day’s blog.
We wanted an early start to avoid the crowds and get a couple of dives in before Jett did his intro to diving at 10. Janet was a great shuttler, and we were soon geared up and trying to find our way through the rocks into the water. It was low tide so was more difficult and I felt like a beached whale, but we made it in. For the first dive, we exited the cove and turned left. It was a fun dive with lots of colorful fish, getting down to 47 ft and underwater for 37 minutes.
You might be wondering how I know all of these fish names. Google Lens! It ‘s a cool feature on an iPhone that you can search for similar photos in Google. It’s not a guarantee that it’s correct, but I am going with it, and will be happy to be corrected! Many are different from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic or Red Sea where I’ve mostly dived before, but I’m still not great with fish names there anyway.
We fought our way over the rocks again to get out, then climbed the path up to the car park where Janet had returned with a couple of spare tanks. The other girls came along to cheer us along, though I think the store and coffee shop was their main reason! We swapped tanks, and got sand out of our wetsuit booties. It is certainly a lot easier diving off a boat!
In the photos, you might be wondering why there they have “Dive+” printed on them. That is some software I use to color-correct diving photos. The water filters out red light, which is why things underwater look blue – even when viewed from above water. The software helps correct that.
For the second dive, we headed out of the cove again, but turned right this time. The water temperature was 78 degF, and we appreciated our thin wetsuits as it gets chilly when you are in the water a long time. This dive, we snorkeled out all of the way to preserve air, and were underwater for 55 minutes. There were lots of swim-throughs and caves on this side, though on our way out we had a fun turtle encounter.
Just like Moana seems to portray aspects of the Polynesian culture well, Finding Nemo does a great job with underwater life, though there are a few differences in the different oceans.
Next up was Jett. He had a couple of introductory dives for someone who had not dived before. The instructor Devin had one other student who had dived a bit before. I followed them around. Samuel was too tired to join us. Devin knew a better way of getting into Shark’s Cove by zigzagging in the same location but finding a sand channel. He also knew where some caves within the Cove are. There are pros and cons of diving with someone who knows the area. Samuel and I like the independence, but it’s also nice to be shown things.
Jett’s first dive started with an introduction to breathing and clearing his mask when it fills with water. The instructor controlled his buoyancy for him. At first, the instructor stayed very close to him, but Jett showed that he was comfortable and sensible so he gave him quite a lot of space. I stayed out of the way. We saw many of the same fish from previous dives. My priority was to get photos of Jett, though he was a good student and focused on his instructor.
With one dive under his belt, Jett knew what to expect. For the second dive, we walked along the shore a bit and entered the water behind the fire station for a dive site known as the Cathedral. It had some caves like the previous dive and lots of life. For a beginner, Jett was very good with his air, using about the same as me, but Samuel would say that I am just an old fat guy who breathes too much! We were underwater for about 45 minutes with a max depth of 44ft.
Jett was a happy diver, and I was an exhausted one! A very cool morning, but we needed to rush to do anything else that day. Visiting the Dole Pineapple plantation was the priority, so we grabbed whatever we could from the fridge for lunch and headed out. We took a train ride around the plantation that showed us around and explained its history, which included Dole buying a whole island to grow pineapples on. Also, pineapples are not native to Hawaii, coming originally from South America.
After the pineapples, our quest was dinner. Our host recommended a Thai in Haleiwa, and it did not disappoint.
After dinner, we had time to head to Sunset Beach. We had been there before, but missed the “bent tree.” We made the most of it this time. The tree is over 100 years old!
And that was the end of another fine day in Hawaii. We are not struggling to go to sleep. I am struggling to find time to sort through the photos and keep up with the blog, but that’s ok when we are having too much fun.
This page is linked to from my Hawaii-Oahu home page.
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The Adventures of the Cajunlimeys 