We've had a bit of a cold front pass through and have had fairly good north winds yesterday and today. It's really cleared out the vog (a volcanic fog, resembling smog, that we have a fair amount of time).
I've been busy on the boat. We had an instructor from the east side of the island bring a bunch of his newly certified students over for a manta dive a couple of nights back, and then I've had a fun group of divers who are with us for a few days on board a couple of times.
Bob (the new hire) has been leading the dives as I made a bonehead move the other day... swung off the boat at the washdown area and caught my shin on one of those concrete filled metal pipes they put up to keep you from bumping your truck into things -- youch!!! Didn't hurt much at the time, but when I saw the wad of leg hair on the post and the goose egg building up on my shin I knew it was going to hurt. 5 hours later it finally was quite bothersome. That was a couple days back so I'm relatively pain free now, I'll go out and look for some of that liquid bandage later today so I might be able to get in the water again tomorrow or soon anyway.
The manta dive is still hopping. I think there were nine the night we went out, there were 18 a couple nights ago and plenty still last night. Water temperature is still in the 74-75 range.
The Ono (called Wahoo in many areas) bite is apparently on, we've been seeing fish at the washdown area. I may have to think about throwing out a line or two soon and stock up while I can. Every year when they fist start biting, you could probably litterally throw a hook on a sandal and tie it off behind the boat 50' and catch fish. I use 30- 50 feet of clothes line with a 5' length of piano wire and a 2 oz weight with a squid skirt on it with hooks and that does the trick - no poles or reels necessary - during the heavy biting. They get a little pickier later on in the season and you have to start using real lures and gear.
Here's a picture of spinner dolphins I took when I first moved over. Many people come here to swim with the wild dolphins. I did it from shore at Hookena Beach and a few other spots a few times my first year over here, but nowadays it's getting to where there are probably too many people doing it, and the dolphins don't seem to hang out as much in their usual spots. I stopped. There are companies who will take snorkelers out to swim with the dolphins, I won't as there is a real gray area as to the legality of such operations depending on interpretation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Nowadays I just enjoy seeing them playing in the boat wake while we're on the way to dive sites.
Have a great day!
Steve
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