NWHI-day 10 Maro Reef

This morning we arrived at Maro reef and the weather was little rougher but who cares! Let's dive! There is no island here just underwater reef spider web system layout which is around 10 miles wide. We dove this spot and saw loads of knife jaws, the most I've ever seen anywhere. Then a huge school of omilu swam by then a bunch of big Uluas. We had fun with the Uluas and every time the boat came near the uluas came too! We would have our boat man rev the engine and all the uluas showed up every time.

After the dive we decided to see what the scuba guys were doing so we dropped in. They were surprised to see us of course 65 feet below. Here Kimi (right) dropped and surprised them.

After that we were able to get some shark footage. These are a dozen or so 5-6 ft sharks checking us out. I haven't seen anything over 8 ft but I'm sure they see us. We didn't eat lunch again but did have a few pumpkin seeds between spots to keep us going while staying fully hydrated. We try and stay in the water as much as possible until our fingers and toes gets all wrinkled. Tomorrow we transit to Pearl and Hermes Atoll and I hear that is amazing! Stay tuned..

NWHI-day 9 Gardner Atoll

What a day! We arrived at Gardner atoll at 0800 and it was our first full day in the water. These are the last islands protruding above the water and from this point it's all underwater. We did a few laps around the islands and we saw lots of fish!

Huge schools of nenue, opelu, omilus, knife jaws, mu's, and everything else was here. It was so cool to see so many tame uluas!

There some in the 80-100 lb range with many in the 40-60 lb range just swarming us. We saw some sharks, seals, and rays also. We were so happy to see fish we decided to skip lunch and dive all day till 1600 (4 pm). Can't wait for tomorrow!

NWHI-day 8 Ulua sighting

We arrived at french frigate shoals on schedule and everyone was very excited to say the least to get in the water. So we did more safety drills and I got to learn how to administer oxygen which was very good. At 1pm we deployed the first boat and we headed out to this reef called rapture reef. All the rest of the scuba divers were there doing their studies and we asked them how it was. The water was dirty so we did a few drops and moved to a small rock island, called La Parus. It looked nice and we saw fish:)

There were two big uluas came in to check me out and hung around for about 5 minutes before getting bored of me filming it. Saw some kawakawa in 20 ft of water and some big mu's that we could have 3 pronged. I downloaded some go pro video but didn't have time to download my good stuff yet. stay tuned! tomorrows a full day! Good night.zzzzz

NWHI-day 7 Sail away

Well after a few days at home wishing I was on the boat, we got the ok to sail back. It's going to be another 50 hours of sailing till we return where we left so decided to get some work done topside. We interviewed Hawaii's Shark expert, Dr. Carl Meyer who is one of the key scientist on board. He shared about his research and tips on how we as divers can deal with aggressive sharks.

Then the party moved to the bow of the boat where a bunch of the crew started singing ship sailer songs. With the beautiful sunset and sheet glass water, everyone is very excited for tomorrow. We hope to get in the water in the afternoon and see some underwater action. Gotta go tune up my gear and go to bed.

NWHI-day 6 Wii go

As we make our way back to port there is not much we can do but hope and pray for the best for a quick turn-a-round. So what else is there to do but make the most of it. Should we watch video? Play cards? Read a book? Mrs. Parker (assistant chef) suggest we play "Wii game". So that's whats happening now! The scientist, crew, and divers are taking turns on this game called Wii. Everyone is having fun and it's lighting up the smiles as we make our way home. Videoing this is making me tired already and ready for lunch.

NWHI- day 5 "Diver Down"

We had a diver down yesterday but luckily he got back up from a scuba accident. But because we are on board a NOAA ship the proper protocols must me made and unfortunately we have to make a u-turn and head home. Our group handled the incident perfectly and all those safety drills came in handy this time.

So we are steaming home at the moment to take care of this issue but hope to back out shortly, I hope! ETA is tomorrow afternoon.

NWHI day 4- Tern Island

Today was our plan was to visit Tern Island, one of the two Islands we were scheduled to see. Tern Island is situated in the French Frigate Shoals, the largest atoll in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

There are 18 species of birds found here and today we got to see them. They are so curious and interested in us that they even pooped on my camera bag. I got some of the best bird photos ever and even got to see some monk seals catching tan. A couple divers jumped in the shallow water to snorkel and saw big uku in 5 ft of water. I am anxious to jump in the water!