Today was my first day of diving since my last dive in the British Virgin Islands. Boarding the boat, I was ready for a long day of being 60 feet underwater. My body definitely was not ready. I had completely forgotten how tiring diving could be when you do more than one in a day. However, I still had a lot of fun even though I was worn out.
The first dive site was named Suck ’em up. It was named for the lava tube which runs through the dive site. Whenever a wave rolls over the large holes in the top of the tube, the current will pull you up and out of the holes. We were given specific instructions to stay as low to the bottom of the tube as possible to prevent this from happening. After descending and searching the entire site for cool fish with my group, I finally spotted something I knew that I would put in my blog. Right at the entrance of the lava tube, I spotted a white tip reef shark. It seemed to be patrolling the entrance of the tube looking for a snack to eat. I was not about to risk becoming that snack but, my dive partners seemed unfazed as they inched closer to the predator fearlessly.
After making our way through the lava tunnel, we ascended and made our safety stop before fully emerging from the waves. After an hour of break between, we were ready for the next dive.
The next dive site, Kaloko, is known for the lava arches found throughout the site. I found them very interesting because they were naturally formed and it was crazy how something destructive becomes so beautiful. The arches became home to many different fish like Parrotfish, goatfish, Wrasse, and my personal favorite… pufferfish. The pufferfish I saw was around a foot long and was being followed by a number of smaller fish. It was my favorite find as the second site.
After finishing the second dive, we made our way to the NELHA building to do an orientation for our black water dive. We learned a lot from Joshua, a photographer, about the basics of black water diving. He reassured us on how fun the dive will be and how cool all the different species will be. He also shared with us many of his own photos of deep sea organisms like pyrosomes and siphonophores.
I am now even more excited for the black water dive on Friday and can’t wait to dive with manta rays tomorrow. Aloha!
