Whew, busy spring......

Sorry I haven't posted much, or at all, in a few months. I got very busy with a number of things... charters, closing down the retail shop, working on projects at the house, etc. So here's what's been going on.... with the exception of the last couple weeks it's been pretty busy with charters this spring. That late May early June period is always dead, the phone's starting to ring again and the schedule's filling in fast now though. I do have a night dive tonight.

In Wanna Dive news, we closed down the retail shop this spring. I had opened it hoping it would add extra seats to our charters, while selling product, neither really happened, so it's back to running straight charters for now. The shop was a good experience, and if I could afford the additional expense. I think in a couple of years it would have built up to where it was really contributing, but for now it's not worth it.

The other project that has kept me very busy is we're trying to sell our house in South Kona and get closer to work.  We've got a lovely place, large and quiet, but it adds on to the length of my day and we want to get closer to Honokohau harbor and downsize things a bit while we're at it. Now's an opportune time with interest rates so low and prices down.  I'll post a "house 4 sale" post here in a few days... a little advertising never hurts.

 I've got a night dive to get ready for, I have a cement related project I'll work on for an hour or two and then head out.

   Later,

   Steve

Hawaiian Flame Angelfish... I saw 5 different ones in the first 8 minutes of yesterday's dive....

It's interesting how common these fish are nowadays. When I moved here back in '99 I think I managed to find 1-3 a year until 2004 came along. At that point I started finding a few more, then more yet the next year, and it's continued to where I pretty much expect to find flame angels when diving certain types of terrain.

I'm assuming there just are more these days rather than my developing an eye for them, although knowing what to look for does help with spottings. If you are diving Kona and there's a dropoff with finger coral on it, keep your eyes peeled 10-15 feet ahead of you when you are diving roughly 50-60 feet. You almost have to spot them early, as they will dive into the coral if you get close or over them. Once you find them, try to remember exactly where they were, they often keep defined territories, often no bigger than a hula hoop, where you can find them over and over.

The five I ran across yesterday were not ones I knew locations of, although it's quite possible I've seen at least a couple of them before as I know I've seen a few in that area over the years. The corals were pretty non-descript so finding them again would be more a matter of diving at the same depth and hoping to spot them rather than knowing exactly where they are. I chalk the increase in spottings for me to the collection management measures that were put into place back in January of 2000. Looks like numbers are improving nicely. Later, Steve