Pics from Maui, Lanai and Kauai

[Haffs09]

My wife and were fortunate to spend two weeks in Hawaii this past September. We spent the first week and Maui and the second week in Kauai. I was in the water almost every day snorkeling or diving. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven! It was absolutely amazing!

While on Maui, I dove the Molokini Crater with Pro Diver and dove off Lanai with Extended Horizons. Both outfits were extremely knowledgeable and organized. I highly recommend diving with either if you get a chance.

On Kauai, I dove with Bubbles Below, and wasn't impressed at all. The diving was great, but the trip was very unorganized, the boat didn't have much room to store any gear, and the captain actually lost the group while doing a drift dive...that was an adventure.

My wife bought me Hawai'i's Fishes: A Guide for Snorkelers and Divers. It was a great resource! I accurately identified over a 120 different fish using this book. Definitely well worth it.

Anyhow, here are the pics....

 

[Haffs09]

Green Sea Turtles

 

[Haffs09]

Unfortunately, during my second dive on Molokini, I let my wife take the camera for some pics while she snorkeled. Of course, during this dive I saw a manta ray about 8' wide come within 15' of me! Oh well, I was able to get many pics of eagle rays. Here's a couple:

White tip reef shark:

 

[Haffs09]

Cuttlefish

They were actually swimming together, but I couldn't get both in a single shot.

 

[Haffs09]

This one was real cool...a moray with cleaner shrimp and a couple of bicolor anthias in the same small nook.

 

[Haffs09]

A rare ghost shrimp in a cavern off Lanai

Spanish Dancer Eggs

Hawaiian Dascyllus with a cleaner wrasse

Blue Stripe Snappers

Diving Cathedrals II, Lanai

Black Coral

Soldierfish

 

[Haffs09]

Butterflyfish

Butterflyfish

I was amazed at how many different butterflyfish I saw. Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of them all, but here's a bunch:

Big Longnose Butterflyfish with a black variant

Ornate Butterflyfish

Saddleback Butterflyfish...I followed these guys for 15 mins before I could get a half ways decent shot.

Milletseed Butterflyfish

Pennant and Milletseed Butterflyfish

 

[Haffs09]

I saw Moorish Idols everywhere I swam. This was the first school I saw together, maybe because they are still young. I typically saw larger ones on their own.

 

[Haffs09]

Angelfish

Angelfish

I kept my eyes open for a Flame Angel, but never saw one. The dive masters said they are extremely rare to see. Nonetheless, I did see a lot of Potter's Angels, a few Fisher's Angels and a couple Bandit Angelfish.

Bandit

Potter's

 

[Blownsvt]

very cool. sounds like you had a good trip.

 

[Haffs09]

Closer shot of one of the anthias hanging out with the eel

Sun Coral

Blacksided Hawkfish blending in with the coral

Closer up with flash

Redbarred Hawkfish

Arc Eye Hawk

 

[Haffs09]

Hawaiian White Spotted Toby

Spotted Boxfish

 

[Blownsvt]

this really makes me want to go back to maui. Been talking about it with my wife recently. I have never doen organized dives there just shore dives where we planned our own spots after talking to the locals and our owb experiences since we have been to various areas of hawaii on 17 different occasions.

 

[Haffs09]

Tangs

Tangs

I saw at least 15 different tangs, but was a bit disappointed because I never saw a school of yellows. I asked one of the dive masters if you see them around here (Maui) at all and she said it was once a common sight, but not anymore. She alluded to the aquarium trade being the culprit.



Here's a couple...

Dussumieri

Sailfin

Orange Shoulder

Naso

Yellows

Bluespine Unicorn

 

[Haffs09]

Triggers

Triggers

Blue Throat

Pinktail

Wedgetail

 

[Haffs09]

Some stars and urchins

 

[Haffs09]

My book said these guys are rare, so I was pretty happy to see three of them...Stripeys (Microcanthus strigatus)

 

[Haffs09]

My first night dive

My first night dive

The night dive was amazing. We dove Hale Ohonu, off the south shore of Kauai. One of the coolest things was putting our lights to our chests and then waving our hands in the water to see the algae or plankton begin to bioluminesce. I wish I took video of that...maybe next time.

Lobster

Another type of lobster

Crabs

Haven't figured what this guy or gal is...

Divemaster giving a stareye parrotfish a goodnight kiss...

 

[Haffs09]

Wrasses

Wrasses

I was only able to get a couple of good shots of any wrasses. They move pretty quick! I was in awe of many of their colors and how many different species there are. One of the coolest things was snorkeling over a Rockmover Wrasse (some juveniles are sold as Dragon Wrasses) and watching it flip over rocks, some as big as a softball, while searching for food. I picked up a brittle starfish to show my wife and without thinking, dropped if 5' off the bottom near a rock. Well, it never made it as Surge Wrasse sucked it in like no tomorrow. Oops...

Christmas Wrasse

 

[Haffs09]

Here's the unicorn: