Lana'i

Friday (7/6/07)

Today, we went diving at Lana'i. A totally different experience than either of the four dives we'd had before. First off...the swell is pretty big off the boat (which makes getting back on the boat a lot more difficult, and also provides quite a bit of help in turning many a diver from a healthy pink to somewhat green. It's amazing how many fish come around to the boat after a few seasick divers are back on board ;)

Our first stop was the Second Cathedral. It's called that because, well, it's second down the coast.

Basically, these caves and tubes were formed when lava went into the sea. In some cases, huge amounts of air were trapped, and over time, the cathedrals were formed. There is even an albino black coral that hangs like a chandelier from the roof - white as snow 'cause it's never been exposed to the sunlight.

Anyway...lots to see there...as well as some fun diving through caves. I was surprised at how easily I was able to get through these dives...not any problems at all following the DM into the black caves. They open up pretty quickly, though, so I'm sure that helped a lot. And the views when you could look up through the lava and see the surface were spectacular (we were about 60' down, but the deep turquoise blue of the ocean was clear as could be that day).

Goofy got a small diving injury in one of the caves when coral scraped ungloved hand. You should ask Goofy what she was doing to get said injury :)

The pic is from inside the cathedral looking up and out.

The second dive was to an site known as Shark Fin - presumably because the lava formation there looked like a shark fin :D

Lots of stuff to see there as well, but not as dramatic as the cathedral. Beautiful reef, coral, eels (a big one looked like it was going to chase Goofy - so the pic taken was a bit blurred from fast motion in the opposite direction), star fish (boo, these eat the coral), and lots of fish again. The pic is of a Banded Urchin - it's about 8" in diameter.

The viz was amazing...at least 125' here too...and the sea was a bit more calm in the little bay we moored in, no 10' swells, so no seasick divers this time :)

On the ride back to Lahaina, we saw a huge pod of Spinner Dolphins - the Captain figured there were at least 1000 of them around and beneath us. They gave a really jubilant show of jumping, spinning and flipping before they tired of us and moved on.

All in all, a GREAT day of Diving!