Crazy Animal Antics at Breakwater Cove

For the first time in over a long, trying year, I finally had the energy to put on a drysuit and do some cold water diving. Mark and I got together with our friend Valerie, and we decided to dive into an oldie, but goodie: the Breakwater. We had a great time, and saw some Discovery Channel-worthy animal antics.

Enjoying the 30'+ viz and the sun illuminating the kelp forest

Showing off an Abalone shell

Here is some video we shot of a juvenile Mola Mola on the Wall. This was my first time seeing this bizarre fish. It was probably good that we scared it away. The sea lions that frequent this area would have probably torn off its fins, play with it like a Frisbee, and then leave it to die.

We saw this octopus near the end of our dive at the Metridium Fields. First, I noticed the gross white appendage, which I later learned to my disgust was a Fat Innkeeper Worm. Then I saw that the end of it was attached to an octopus. If you play the video, you will first notice the octopus trying to blend in with a patch of algae, then it squirts some ink in our faces, then it tries to camouflage itself against the sand.

Before we could observe the octopus further, and the Fat Innkeeper worm it was ensconcing with, we saw a bizarre creature swimming towards us. It was a Rainbow Nudibranch, which is usually found crawling around on the sand. It only swims when evading predators. It was a bizarre sight to see.

Metridium

Octopus grabbing weird, white appendage

We got all up in this Cabezon's face. We even put a decorator crab on his head, and he didn't budge.

Shrimp feeding on a dead Mola Mola at Metridium Fields.

We saw two dead or dying Mola Mola at Metridium Fields. They had had their fins torn off by sea lions. Mark felt sorry for one and tried to right it and send it on its way. However, without fins, it could not get very far and ended up flat on the sand once again. However sad this scene was, I'm glad I have such an empathetic, compassionate husband!

Metridium Fields

I've never managed to swim to the Metridium Fields from shore before. Valerie showed us how:

1. Line up with the pump house at Breakwater cove.
2. Swim out perpendicular to shore past the kelp beds.
3. Descend and head towards the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
4. You should encounter a pipe about 2 feet in diameter. Follow it to its end.
5. Once the pipe ends, head due north for the Metridium Fields.

For more pics, go here:

Dive Details:
Dive #207: The Wall, Breakwater Cove, Monterey, CA (Dive Buddies: Mark, Valerie)
Depth/Time: 45'/0:48 minutes
Visibility: 30'
Temperature: 54 deg F
Weight, Undergarment, Tanks:

Mina: Weight-15 lbs (10 lbs on weight belt, 1 lb on ankles, 4 lbs in BCD), Undergarment-BARE undergarment without fleece top, Tank-PST HP-80.

Mark: Weight-26 lbs (10 in BCD, 14 on weight belt, 2 lbs on ankles), Undergarment-BARE undergarment with fleece top and bottom, Tank: PST HP-80.

Dive #208: Metridium Fields, Breakwater Cove, Monterey, CA (Dive Buddies: Mark, Valerie)
Depth/Time: 47'/0:50 minutes
Visibility: 7'
Temperature: 52 deg F
Weight, Undergarment, Tanks: 
Mina: Weight-13 lbs (10 lbs on weight belt, 1 lb on ankles, 2 lbs in BCD), Undergarment-BARE undergarment without fleece top, Tank-PST HP-80.
Mark: Weight-26 lbs (10 in BCD, 14 on weight belt, 2 lbs on ankles), Undergarment-BARE undergarment with fleece top and bottom, Tank: PST HP-80.

Backpacking at Yosemite

Backpacking for 3 Days at high altitude in Yosemite National Park is no walk in the park. First, you have to carry more than 30 lbs. Second, hiking at high altitude is hard, even without the extra weight. Finally, with the leave-no-trace policy at Yosemite, simple things like going to the bathroom becomes very inconvenient. Leave-no-trace means packing out everything that you take in. This includes, unfortunately, used toilet tissue, among other items.

Not knowing the extent of the challenges, I decided to take a guided backpacking trip through Yosemite National Park. Many years ago, I had visited the Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite and fell in love. Walking along the little traveled Lyell Canyon near Tuolumne meadows made me feel the presence of God. I vowed that I would come back, except this time I wanted to escape into the backcountry.

Lyell Canyon

I took a nap here. Lyell Canyon

A few years later, I went on my first "backpacking" trip through the Zion Narrows. To say that this trip was an adventure would be an understatement: The normally ankle deep water at the Zion narrows one walks through was easily over our heads in sections. We were forced to use our backpacks as flotation devices. Also, having lugged the wrong type of stove fuel, we were forced to eat our packaged ramen raw. By the end of the trip, my partner and I were so banged up that we both received black toenails. Given my unconventional backpacking experience at Zion, I decided I needed to go back to square one to learn the basics of backpacking.

So, I decided to book a trip through REI Adventures. As a long-time REI member, I knew that REI was one of the most conventional organizations around. So I was surprised when I found out that our REI backpacking trip, which was guided by Karen from Sierra Spirit, was a bit of a spiritual retreat. I slowly began to realize this as we all sat down for our first dinner at the Tuolumne Meadows campground. Our guide, Karen asked us to go around the circle to introduce ourselves and to describe the extent of our backpacking experience. But just when I thought we were done, the questioning continued. Karen, our lead guide, asked us: Why did we decide to join the high-country Yosemite backpacking trip? What did we seek to gain from our experience? What is our biggest fear about the trip? This was when I realized that this wasn't going to be a normal backpacking trip.

I did enjoy the responses from my group mates, however. Several of my fellow hikers expressed their desire to seek a spiritual connection with nature. Some people said they wanted to strike a project off their bucket list. Many people stated their greatest fear was encountering bears. More than one person along with myself expressed their concern over the lack of toilets.

We spent the night in our tents for the first time looking forward to the next day's full day of backpacking.

Driving around the Yosemite Valley Floor

My backpack contents

To be continued...

Goodbye Hawaii

On our last day in Hawaii, we decided to revisit the Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Historical park because it was close by and we could visit it before heading to the airport. We had visited the park on a previous night, but didn't get to soak it in, as it had gotten dark. In olden times, this place was literally a place of refuge for people who broke the rigid "Kapu" (taboo) system. If Hawaiians were able to swim to this spot, they escaped punishment by death, which was the flat penalty for breaking Kapu. Things that were "kapu" ran the gamut from hard-core murder, to minor offenses such as stepping in the king's shadow. 

At Place of Refuge, we found a nice gentleman dressed in a loincloth. He demonstrated and described to us the traditional Hawaiian method for octopus fishing. Anyone who thinks that ancient people were stupid, and didn't apply their ingenuity to feed themselves, are flat wrong.

A native Hawaiian describes Octopus fishing techniques
Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge)

Mina follows the guided tour
Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge)

Ki'i (Tiki)
Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge)

We left Hawaii feeling rested, and inspired, and eager to come back some day.

6th day on Big Island: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

On the day before leaving Hawaii, we decided to visit the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  I had visited this park more than a decade before, and I wasn't very impressed. However, Mark had never been. Besides, we needed to get our money's worth out of our annual U.S. National Parks pass, so off we went.

On our way to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we stopped off at the Punalu'u Beach, a famous black sand beach where we saw as many as 11 turtles resting and feeding.

Turtle feeding at Punalu'u Beach
Big Island, HI

Sleeping Turtle, Punalu'u Beach
Big Island, HI

At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we paid a visit to the visitor center and the Jagger museum before we decided to hike down into the Kilauea Iki Crater. This is a collapsed lava lake formed in 1959 (excuse my inaccurate geological terminology).  Despite the view of the desolate crater from the overlook (see below), this is a verdant trail that descends through a lush rain-forest.

The Kilauea Iki hiking trail descends into this lava lake
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI

Rainforest at Kilauea Iki Trail
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI

Hiking along the rainforest-Kilauea Iki Trail
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI

Flowers in the rainforest-Kilauea Iki
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI

I enjoyed this hike tremendously: the rainforest made a nice contrast with the moonscape that we met at the bottom of the crater. The still steaming crater bottom was wild. I felt like we were un-supervised kids as we risked our necks climbing over and into still bubbling steam vents.

Despite our unlimited access at the crater bottom, I probably won't be paying another visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park any time soon. I am just not that interested in volcanoes or lava, despite the awesome film shown at the Visitor's center.

Kilauea Iki Trail
Big Island, HI

Thurston Lava Tube
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI

After the park, we decided not to linger and returned to Kona.  For dinner we ate spam musubi and fast food Hawaiian food at L&L Barbecue.

Yum, spam musubi
Big Island, HI

5th day on Big Island: Adventure Diving at Kona Paradise

Today, we did some adventure diving. The local dive shop, Espace Plongee, recommended a site called Kona Paradise. Although it was not mentioned in any travel guide or scuba diving website, we decided to heed the local expert and try it out, anyway. It was some of the most exciting diving that I have ever done, not just for the marine life that we saw, but for the dark and foreboding ambiance of the place itself.

What is this? A Sailor's Eyeball?
Kona Paradise, Big Island, HI 

Kona Paradise is named after a quiet residential complex just south of Captain Cook, HI. At the end of Kona Paradise sits an unusual black pebble beach, the pebbles are fairly large, ranging from penny, to a quarter-sized in diameter.

One of the locals there was swimming his paraplegic dog with a hand held sling. Upon seeing our scuba gear, the man gave us intriguing, detailed dive site instructions. He mentioned that there was an underwater sea arch in the North that we would find if we just swam across a few canyons. We would know we were on the right path if we encountered a rift in the wall. Very knowledgeable of the dive site, he also told us to watch out for baby fish seen in the area. Baby fish eggs are swept down from the North Western Hawaiian Islands by the current.

Sizing us and our gear up, the man assumed we weren't beginner divers. However, he couldn't help but mention that a couple of snorkelers die at Kona Paradise every year due to deceptive currents and undertow. He wished us well, as we embarked on our dive and told us to watch out for the conditions.

One of the aggressive eels we encountered
Kona Paradise, Big Island, HI

The first thing we noticed when we submerged was the sound. There was a rhythmic raking sound going on in the background, caused by the pebbles scraping against one another in the waves. The second thing we noticed was how dark the water seemed against the backdrop of black lava rock. The overall visual and auditory effect was a little haunting.

This dive site was characterized by fingers of lava dividing black rubble valleys. As the visibility was around 80+ feet, I felt like I was flying over the valleys. At around 65' in depth I saw an unmistakable cleft in a sheer wall. I honked excitedly at Mark, and we diverted from our path slightly to meet our first milestone. I was just happy to find the cleft in the wall, which had been described to us by our friendly local, and never expected to go much further in our search for the underwater sea arch.

However, as Mark led us over the next ridge, in the foggy distance, there appeared to be a low hill at 65'. It was the underwater sea arch we had been told about! I had never been good at heeding directions, let alone on land. Finding the underwater sea arch with vague verbal instructions and no map whatsoever was the most successful underwater search we had ever conducted. I felt like we were explorers in an undiscovered land.

We found the rift in the wall!
Kona Paradise, Big Island, HI 

And then we found the underwater sea arch!
Kona Paradise, Big Island, HI

We had swum out fairly far out, it was fairly deep, there was current working against us, and an hour had nearly transpired, but we still had not turned around. I indicated to Mark that we ought to turn around, but he kept on exploring. As if in keeping with the haunted, desolate feel of the area, the eels in this area were particularly aggressive. In one patch of coral, we saw not 1, not 2, but 3 eels swimming out in the open trying to catch baby yellow tangs. While taking pictures of one eel, we had prevented it from catching his prey, and in its frustration, it snapped its mouth at us in a threatening display:

Aggressive, Snapping Eel

Kona Paradise, Big Island, HI

Mina diving on a wall, and concerned about turning around
Kona Paradise, Big Island, HI

The doom and gloom of the place was certainly starting to concern me, as I feared we would not find our entry point with a still generous air supply. The only cheerful thing about this dark, mysterious dive site were the clouds of baby fish we saw everywhere:

Babies, Babies everywhere

Kona Paradise Dive Site, Big Island, HI

On our way back, we actually started to hear that rhythmic scraping sound again, a sound that should have told us we were at the beach (a hint given to us by the local dive shop).  But we didn't trust the sound and head in as we should have, and continued on. When we reached some significant white water, and were considerably low on air, we decided to surface to see where we were. We had overshot the beach considerably. Taking a heading, and swimming back to our entry point, we saw a cute pair of baby Humuhumu trigger fish the size of my thumb getting tossed in the waves.

Back on land, we were excited to describe our dive to our friends at the local dive shop.  Although the owners of the shop were primarily French speaking, we managed to pantomime to them that we had found the underwater sea arch, and I think they understood how awesome we thought the dive was.

In the afternoon, after a cup of our favorite Cafe de Pele Kona coffee, we perused the Farmer's market and bought some Dragonfruit, starfruit, guava, and passionfruit for our trip to the volcanoes the following day.  Based on recommendations from the retired physicist we had met the previous day, we decided to eat at the Kona Brewing company.  It poured cats and dogs as we ate outside on the patio listening to the live music. but rather than being disappointed, I fully enjoyed it, and think this was one of the most poignant moments on our vacation. I enjoyed seeing the kids prancing with their mouths open to the rain pouring down, and I delighted in the sound of the guitar music against the backdrop of a torrent of rain.

Dive Details:
Dive #206: Kona Paradise
Depth/Time/Temp: 68'/1:20/? deg F
-ridges and valleys, grand canyons
-schools of baby damselfish
-3 whitemouth eel hunting baby yellow tangs hiding in the coral. Only eel that hunts during the day, and will apparently collaborate with jacks
-cleaning behavior

Postscript

I can't help but wonder while writing this blog post whether or not the haunted ambience I felt at Kona Paradise was due to the snorkeling deaths that occur there yearly. I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but I know for certain that different places boast different flavors. This particular dive site felt mysterious and not a little gloomy.  It reminded me of the Monastery Dive Site, in Carmel, CA, which in my experience is one of the darkest, scariest dives I have ever done. Monastery also boasts diver and swimmer deaths yearly. Could the ambiance in these dark places be caused by the deaths, or is it caused by the conditions causing those deaths in the first place?

4th day on Big Island: Diving Two Step

It was our 4th day on the Big Island, and our 13th day in Hawaii overall, and we wanted to kick back and relax. In the morning, we played with the feral cats at the Lucky Farms B&B and took pictures of the prolific plants in the backyard:

Feral cats on the porch

Lucky Farms

Flowers at Lucky Farms
Big Island, HI

Morning coffee took place at the Coffee Shack, which was recommended in Lonely Planet. The coffee was nothing to be wowed by, but the shack had a magnificent view of the Kona coastline:

View from the Coffee Shack
Kona, Big Island, HI

Energized by our coffee, we decided to do a shore dive at "Two Step", the most famous shore dive in all of the Big Island.  Two Step (the entry way consists of naturally formed steps formed into the lava rock) is situated just outside of the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park (Place of Refuge). The dive was justifiably famous.  The entry was extremely easy, the water was the calmest water I have ever seen, and visibility was 100'+.  Mark wandered as much as 50 feet away and I never worried that I would lose him.

Despite the fact that it was the Saturday on Labor Day weekend, we were the only divers in the water. And what snorkelers were there did not venture more than 20 feet from shore. The water was teeming with healthy coral structures, schools of butterflyfish (something I have never witnessed anywhere else in the world), and interesting topological structures to dive under and through, such as this coral overhang that Mark explored:

Coral overhang,
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island, HI

Mark swimming through a cloud of butterfly fish

Place of Refuge, Big Island, HI

My attempt on an "overwater/underwater" shot of snorkelers
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island, HI

Crown of Thorns,
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island, HI

Pair of Moorish Idols,
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island, HI

Mark underneath a rock overhang
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island, HI

Spotted Moray
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island, HI

School of Raccoon Butterflyfish,
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island

Yet another Turtle video (check out Mark in the back)
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island

Mark getting out of the water
Two Step Dive Site, Big Island, HI

Diving at Two Step felt like we had an entire Disneyland amusement park to explore for ourselves. The place reminded me of Point Lobos State Park in Carmel, CA, which is not only a protected park, but also a gorgeous underwater refuge.  Like Point Lobos, Two Step is also the underwater extension of a government protected park.  It is probably not a coincidence that the beauty seen on land extended itself underwater.

The beautiful dive made me wonder whether there are energy fields, or something unseen that are simply more present at certain special places than others. There are spiritual places on earth that have been treasured by humankind through the ages. Macchu Picchu comes to mind, as does Mount Everest in the Himalayas. Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, otherwise known as Place of Refuge, has been a sacred place to the Hawaiians since ancient times. It was so special, that it was saved, even when many other ancient Hawaiian sites were being destroyed.

I like to believe that modern Americans also felt the sacredness of this site (a sentiment that was echoed by a park ranger we met there), and made it a National Historical Park in order to preserve the site for the ages.  Could these energies extend underwater as well, creating a strong concentration of marine life for us divers to appreciate?

After a 1.5 hours underwater, Mark and I were tired and decided not to pursue a second dive. A retired nuclear physicist who was also diving at the park provided us with some entertaining conversation, and some dining recommendations. In Kailua-Kona, we had coffee at Cafe de Pele.  It was here that I finally had an excellent cup of Kona coffee.  Lemony, and sweet, the coffee at Cafe de Pele exemplifies the unique acidity of Kona coffee. Not a fan of acidic coffee myself, I could even appreciate how good a cup of Kona coffee can be. For dinner we ate at Mi's, an excellent Italian restaurant on the Kona coast which combines Asian and Italian influences.

Dive Details

Dive #205: Two Step (Place of Refuge, Pu'uhonua O Honaunau)

Depth/Time/Temp: 69'/1:32/? deg F

Sightings:

-lots of grouper, one being chased by cleaner fish
-turtle
-ugly brown tang/butterfly
-trumpetfish being cleaned by purple and yellow fish
-eel
-shrimp
-mark saw interesting barracuda but smaller, and unique triggerfish with unicorn fin that popped up. Saw puffer fish
-70 foot visibility
-interesting topography, including small cave like structure being pounded by waves
-not a lot of variety, lots of little fish. Mark says aquarium.

Our Affordable Hawaiian Vacation - Manta Ray Night Dives

A particularly large manta measuring 12'+ measured against the humans in the background

There are not enough superlatives that can describe the Manta rays we saw on our 3rd day on the Big Island. To be graced by these gentle giants is not just exciting, but truly an honor.

In Kona, Hawaii, resident Manta rays frequent nightly feedings and have come to associate divers' lights with plankton, and hence food.  These rays (manta birostris) are relatives of sharks, and have been reported as growing up to 25' wide. But being filter feeders, they are completely harmless to us human beings. On our manta ray night dive, these behemoths came within inches of us, and actually hit one of the divers in the head so hard, he saw stars.

As we entered the water, we heard so much screaming from the snorkelers on the surface that we thought there must have been a frat party going on. As we got situated on the bottom, we could see why.  I squealed out loud for my first 5 minutes underwater. Although the mantas come with fair regularity, it is not guaranteed that one will even see a manta ray on the nightly dives and usually manta rays number in the 5-6 range.  That night we were treated to 21 manta visitations, which hadn't occurred in months. After more than an hour in the water, the mantas would not leave us alone.  The mantas came right up to our swim ladder as we boarded the boat.

At the expense of sounding a little weird, being in the presence of these mantas made me feel like I was in the presence of good (versus evil).  One other time I've felt this way while scuba diving was when a small pod of dolphins burst in on us scuba divers while in Cozumel, Mexico. These "devilfish" are truly angels. 

I will never forget seeing these mantas so thick in the waters, that they were practically bumping into one other. I have one particular memory that I will never forget. At our safety stop on our twilight dive (before the night dive), we encountered a ginormous manta on its way to the feeding. I left the anchor line and swam belly to belly beneath this gorgeous creature before it sped off into the distance.

Mantas on our night dive

Dive Details

Dive #203: Garden Eels Twilight Dive

Depth/Time/Temp: 65'/1:04/75 deg F

Sightings:

-At least 12 mantas swam by us in anticipation of the night dive.

-zebra eel

-garden eels

-got separated at the begining of the dive

-2 green eels under a ledge

-crown of thorns

-swam belly up underneath a manta

-swam into a thick school of grunts.

-cuttlefish

Dive #204: Manta Ray Night Dive - Old Airport Dive Site

Depth/Time/Temp: 55'/1:06/75 deg F

Sightings:

-eels hunting in the open

-shrimps

-mantas circling our boat at the safety stop

-manta swallows marks head vertically

-mantas hitting one another.

-mantas hitting the boat ladder

-mark says it was totally awesome