June 23, 2011
As tiring as the day before had been, we still got up early (we never did adjust to Hawaii time), grabbed breakfast and packed our bags to prepare for our day of SCUBA diving for the first time as certified divers. I called the dive shop to confirm where we were to be picked up. At our designated time, we went to wait for our shuttle. We waited and finally 15 minutes after our time, a van pulled up. The driver immediately began yelling at us about being in the wrong spot, that they had been waiting for us on the other side of the hotel and had been about to leave us. I quickly let them know that the person I had spoken to at the dive shop had told us to wait where we had been standing and I got a little peeved that the day had gotten off to such a rough start.
We drove to a nearby bay and the dive leaders began loading our boat with the gear while we assembled our personal dive equipment. It was nice to not have to lug all of the gear ourselves-I could get used to that. Our two dives were all to stay within the bay; the first dive spot was “Angler’s Reef” and the second was “Koko Craters.” Entering the water at the first dive location, we were instructed to hold onto the line on the side of the boat to make our way down to the line that we were to use to descend. The water was pretty choppy and we kept banging into the boat. It was nice to use the rope to help descend, especially since we had never experienced current underwater before.
There were six in our group, two of which were doing final certification dives. As they reviewed some skills with the leader, Alex and I swam around the reef. It wasn’t as colorful as I expected, having seen brightly colored fish and coral when snorkeling in the Caribbean, but there were still a few colorful fish about. We saw pink sea anemone and sea urchins, a few fish of varying colors and patterns. The two students took awhile with whatever they were doing so by the time the leader was available to show us around, it was practically time to ascend.
I was pleased that I had no problems with my equalization and had even managed my buoyancy pretty well.
At the second dive site, we were promised sea turtles and sure enough, just as we dropped anchor and prepared to descend, a sea turtle came to the surface. As we descended another turtle passed us, heading to the surface as well. As we swam around at the sea bottom, we saw a few more, mostly at the beginning of the dive. I was excited about seeing the turtles although there was little else to see on this dive. A few statues had been submerged and we again saw similar fish as we had seen at the other dive site. We weren’t quite as deep as the other dive site and we brought down a disposable underwater camera as it was rated to work at 35 feet.
Turtle with barnacles
Alex underwater
The current was much stronger at this site and we really had to work to keep up with the rest of the group. We stayed down much longer this dive and covered much more area. I again was pleased with my buoyancy and had no issues with equalization. I even felt comfortable taking a few photos. For our first “real” dive, I feel it was a success, even if not terribly interesting. It’s probably best for a first times to not see much anyway since we’re still so concerned with doing things “right.”
From my research, it seems there are far more interesting places in the Caribbean and, as it is so close by and therefore far more economical to travel to, I think we’ll probably just focus on the Caribbean for diving in the future.
After we were finished diving, we still had much of our day left so we decided finally head down to Waikiki. The weather was pleasant and we laid on the beach for a couple of hours soaking in the sun.
Waikiki is a nice beach but very crowded.
You can see Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach.
My next post will be of my solo adventures to waterfalls and the North Shore.
Have you seen sea turtles? What else have you seen while diving or snorkeling?
152.2/-11.2
Sounds like a pretty successful first real dive!! I’m sure that the more you do it, the more you’ll be confident to go on bigger adventures & you’ll be happier with the turn out then.
I guess I kinda sound negative but really I was just so excited about how comfortable I’ve become under water, that was all I needed to consider the dives a success. I had read enough about diving in Hawaii to know not to expect much so I wasn’t too surprised from the lack of color. And it’s best to get good at all the technical stuff so that when I do encounter things to see, I can concentrate on exploring rather than making sure I’m staying buoyant.
Looks like you has super fun! I’ve got to add this to my life list!
This sounds amazing, I would love to see a sea turtle, I’m travelling to The Great Barrier Reef this Septemeber so I’ll let you know if my attempts go as smoothly as yours seem to have!xx
Wow! The Great Barrier Reef! So jealous! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
When I snorkeled in Hawaii, there were turtles everywhere, and it was so cool to swim next to them. I wish I’d have gotten photos because it was really amazing. Sounds like you’re having a nice vacation! Enjoy!
We weren’t even going to use a camera but at the last minute grabbed one from the pharmacy right before the dive!
I saw a turtle when we snorkeled there too. I’m loving your underwater pictures. That’s awesome that they came from a disposable. Are you guys going to continue diving now that you’re certified?
I know right?! I never thought the photos would be that good! At first I thought I would just get certified and be done with it but I actually kinda like it! I could see myself doing it again as they have monthly dives at the rock quarry and other dive trips scheduled through the dive shop we used.
Your pictures are amazing! I’ve been to Hawaii twice, but I’ve never scuba-dived or snorkled. Did you get a lot of guidance, or did your guides just let you do your thing?
No, we really did just kinda do our own thing. We stayed with the group but the focus was really more on just staying with one another (stay with your buddy!) and we would stop to take photos or check things out while the group would continue on. A few times we really had to swim to catch up!
I love sea turtles, they are such awesome animals. I once visited a sea turtle farm in the Caymans where I got to hold baby sea turtles. It was a neat experience, but it’s nowhere near as cool as you seeing them in the wild on your dive.
I’ve been to the Turtle Farm. It was really fun, and best of all, they release them back into the ocean!
That makes Steven a happy boy!
I know how you feel about keeping animals in captivity so I’m glad this turtle experience is approved by you
That turtle is huge! The diving lessons you took is really worth it since you got to see amazing underwater life. I’ve only seen these stripey yellow fish and corals when I snorkeled in southern Thailand- no way as exciting as the turtles.
I think back to how frustrating some of my diving lessons were and how I was convinced I would only get certified and then never actually use my diving knowledge. Now I’m so glad I did and I’m excited about actually doing more dives in the future
Your first official dive!!!! So glad for you. You rock!!