Month: July 2004

Operator	Site	Dive	Depth	Bottom Time
La Haina Divers	Molokini (mid-reef)	9	58.0	45 minutes
	Molokini #2	10	58.0	44 minutes

Molokini was a huge disappointment. The center of the crater is so over-dove, that there was very remaining coral and life. Yes, I’m excited that I got to see a 5-6′ black-tipped reef shark, and many young spotted boxfish, but the dive was also dominated by a beginner who breathed so heavily he ran out of air quickly, and the second dive was cut short while I still had 700psi to go, getting pulled out so the operator could depart.

We did see a gray reef shark and a white-tipped reef shark on the second dive, and an unusual box-fish with spots top and bottom, white stripes at the corners, and black sides. But overall I will not be visiting Molokini again, at least not the inside of the crater.

Operator	Site	Dive	Depth	Bottom Time
Dive Makai	Lead City	7	107.0	56 minutes
	Manta Ray Bay	8	67.0	66 minutes

One other thing about diving with the old timers, they weren’t particularly fond of cutting a dive short due to newbie divers. Our surface time was spent on learning to breathe. Lessons about how, holding your breath and not actively exhaling are two different things, yoga type breathing, and more. This showed in our 56 minute and 66 minute bottom times, with massive depth to start.

The first dive was impressive with the amount of ocean life. Triggers, hybrid butterflies, tangs, and more. While the second dive, I learned lessons on dive plan management, and extending bottom time through a long, shallow finish after a deep start.