Sunday Sep 9, 2007

Sunday morning John Earle and I headed out from Kahe Point (Electric Beach) to do one of John's classic dive routes.  We both had 130cu ft steel tanks with Nitrox, which meant we were in for a long dive.  Max depth was only about 55ft, so the nitrox was probably overkill.

As usual, saw lots of interesting critters, and videotaped as many as we could.

Of note:  Super male of the Oxycheilinus bimaculatus Two-spot wrasse , courting around his harem of females.  I had not filmed the super male before - just the female, who is also a very pretty fish.

Interesting aggregation (school?) of gobies - John says Opua nephodes - Cloudy Goby new to me.  There were dozens of them around a piece of old rope amid the sand expanse.

Lots of razorfish in the sand, as well as dragonets, flounders and assorted slugs.  Several horned helmet shells ranging from tiny 2 inch juveniles to half the full size.

On our way in, a small pod of Stenella longirostris Spinner dolphins came by - we had heard them clicking and whistling the whole dive, but had not seen them until the end.

Finished at just under two hours, which is my longest dive to date.

Super Male Oxycheilinus bimaculatus Two-spot wrasse

Opua nephodes Cloudy Goby

Stenella longirostris Spinner dolphins