Yesterday was the best day so far on the trip. We would be doing the much anticipated Manta Ray dive and going out to blue water on a Zodiac boat. The Zodiac boat is a small but speedy boat. It has two 300 horsepower motors and tops off at a speed of 40 knots.
During our ride on the Zodiac, we sped off into the deep blue sea searching for cetaceans (whales). The majority of whales found around the Hawaiian islands are toothed whales rather than baleen whales. Toothed whales are organisms like dolphins, orcas, and pilot whales. Pilot whales and Dolphins were the two types of cetaceans we saw on our boat ride.
Coming out of the bay, we saw a harem of around 40-60 Hawaiian spinner dolphins swimming around the exit. Our captain told us that dolphins are a nocturnal animal. This was very confusing as we see dolphins during the day all the time. He explained to us that dolphins shut off parts of their brain during the day so they can rest and hunt at night.
We continued out into the sea and reached blue water, which is where the water is so deep that you cannot see the bottom. At the point where we were at, the depth was around 6000 feet. We traveled until we spotted our first group of pilot whales. This was nothing compared to the second group we saw though. The first group was around 3 pilot whales where the second group was about 16 whales. The second group was particularly cool because there was a calf and its mother in the water. When we reached the group of whales, our captain explained to us that pilot whales have been noted to be the most aggressive whales in their interactions with humans. He also warned us not to stick our whole arms in the water because they are particularly aggressive when a baby is around.
We then went snorkeling in Captain Cook’s bay which is where Captain Cook first landed on Hawaii and where he died. The natives viewed him as a god because of his pale skin, but this view changed when one of the sailors died. They said that gods shouldn’t be able to die so they stopped giving the sailors free things and started trading. This trade caused a spread of diseases which began to kill Natives, lessening trade and increasing the hostility between the natives and the sailors. This ended in bloodshed but, the reefs around the bay are still a beautiful spot to snorkel.
At the end of our Zodiac ride, we spotted what we all had been hoping to see… a tiger shark! The shark was around 16 feet long and was swimming at the entrance to the bay. It was a great ending to a great boat ride.
After around an hour of rest, we headed out for our dives. Our first dive was a survey of the dive site which we would be sitting in for the manta ray dive. We saw eels, beautiful Coral, and some beautiful moorish idols. This would be nothing compared to the beautiful creatures that we would be watching at night though. Before the manta ray dive, we were given an orientation about mantas and learned that they only eat plankton so they are gentle giants. They also were originally called devil rays by sailors, completely contrasting the true nature of these beautiful animals.
