Kona Aggressor II Captain's Logs

[Aggressor Adventures]

Air Temp 76-80*F
Water Temp 73-75*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha and Happy New Year from Kona on the big island of Hawaii!! Our guests this week included our friends from Canada who were Steve, Lisa, Allan, Wendy, Frank and Leanne. Our friends from Germany were Ulrich and Gerlind and our friends from the U.S. included Andrew, Susan, Steve and MaryAnn. We picked everyone up at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a fabulous week of diving 2012 onboard the Kona Aggressor II.

Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, chef Grace, Karl, Cliff, and John. After Grace’s wonderful dinner our guests and crew introduced themselves and we relaxed for the evening. Some stayed up for the New Year and we watched a nice bon fire (ashore) along with the usual antics of Kona town.

Sunday
I piloted us north our usual time and saw a nice blue marlin jump right next to the boat which kind of gave me an idea this was going to be a special cruise. We went to Aquarium where an easy ledge with a big cave opening showed everyone a nice morning of diving. We saw the schooling pennant butterfly fish, a nice octopus and a zebra moray.

Our afternoon and evening dives were found at Garden Eel Cove - home of the famous manta dive. During the afternoon dives we explored the ledge and saw such creatures as the Hawaiian dycullus, a peacock flounder and of course the garden eels. We even saw some four mantas about during the day. Our night dive brought so many mantas it was hard to count. Officially there were 18 this time, but with so many it was hard to keep track—what a great night.

Monday
We motored very early and headed south to a great site called Amphitheater. Along the way we saw three beautiful humpback whales making their way. What a great way to start the day. The dive was at a beautiful ledge system with long lava tubes and a huge archway where we saw a blue dragon and an unnamed nudibranch and a tiger cowry.

The afternoon and evening site was a crew favorite called The Hive. The swells rolled in but everyone persevered and did great for these dives. We saw our now resident frog fish and darn it I forgot what name we gave him, but I’ll get back to you on this one. The hit of the day was three nice Hammerhead sharks cruising by to give everyone a glimpse at a magnificent animal. The night dive was great with our nocturnal eels like the cusk and conger swimming about.

Tuesday
We started today at a new crew favorite called Catacombs where I finally got to dive and check out the neat formations, swim through caves, pukas and just an all-around cool dive. The currents picked up, but everyone again did fine and seemed to enjoy themselves. A nice white tip reef shark cruised by but did not stay long.

With the northwest swell really kicking up and the window of good weather, we made our way to Southpoint and did one of my favorites called Rainbow Reef. What a neat site this was with loads of fish, good visibility and nice coral over lava formations. We got some great pictures of a shy spotted coral blenny. The remainder of the afternoon and evening was spent at the southernmost dive site called Ladders. Here we moored up right next to a large cliff was our site where giant boulders made great hiding places for all kinds of creatures. Hawaii has so many species of eels and this place was loaded.

Wednesday
We stayed in the Southpoint area this morning and did a great dive called Black Coral Forest. It’s a bit of a misnomer but there were nice bushes of black coral down at 100 feet to explore, which usually have the long nose hawk fish, and the tinker’s butterfly fish. At the end of our dive while on our safety stop most everyone saw a nice pod of spinner dolphin come by to check us out. Seeing them on scuba is usually quite rare but lately we’ve seen quite a bit of them. We always hope this will continue.

Our windy weather we’ve come to expect in Southpoint made its way in so we went over to Pohue Bay for a dive. We have not done this one in a while but everyone enjoyed a really pretty area with beautiful fingers of coral covered lava. By the end of this dive the winds were up to 25 knots or better so we made our way out of Southpoint and went to Manuka Bay. A sheltered bay with beach always gives our divers something great to explore. The surf was really up just to the west of us and we were surprised there weren’t any surfers taking advantage of the massive tubular waves. Oh well our divers enjoyed themselves on this beautiful site.

Thursday
We motored north this morning to Never Never Land with a nice deep ledge to escape the massive swell. Sometimes there are hammerheads here and this morning we were not disappointed. We also saw the bandit angel fish and the tear drop butterfly fish as well. Our second site was Paradise Pinnacle where the large under water pinnacle gave our divers a unique perspective. We saw the long nose hawk fish and two red striped pipe fish here. Our afternoon and evening site was at Meadows. Here with a nice ledge to explore we came upon another large frog fish, a juvenile dragon wrasse and a strawberry nudibranch.

Friday
We spent our last two dives at Turtle Pinnacle in hopes of seeing the turtle cleaning station. We did see one and enjoyed the two last dives.

The day couldn’t have been better for the lunch barbeque on the sundeck. The afternoon was spent relaxing and some even did a little packing. Dinner was on shore this evening as everyone also got a chance to stretch their legs a little.

On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express our thanks to you all this week and we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.
Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II - First week back from drydock !!!

Air Temp 76-80*F
Water Temp 74-76*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha from Kona on the big island of Hawaii!! I must say my crew was extremely happy to be back in the water after our weeks out at dry dock. The Kona Aggressor II looked great with all the new paint, upholstery, carpet etc. etc. along with the numerous machinery refits. I was ready for a good shake down cruise.

Our guests this week were part of the “Swell” group and you’ll understand why if you read on. They included Steve and Ellen, Gwen, David, Gary, Heather, Jane, Krzysztof and Zofia, and Bernhard “Brainie”. We picked everyone up at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a great week of diving. Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, Chef Ian, Karl, Cliff, and John. After Ian’s wonderful dinner our guests and crew introduced themselves and we relaxed for the evening.

Sunday
We were up our usual time and motored north to a great first dive sight called Aquarium. Here an easy ledge with a big cave opening showed everyone a nice morning of diving. We saw the schooling pennant butterfly fish, a nice octopus, all phases of the yellow tail coris and our resident turtle in the cave. Our afternoon and evening dives were found at Garden Eel Cove -home of the famous manta dive. During the afternoon dives we explored the ledge and saw such creatures as the endemic milk fish and garden eels, a big yellow margin eel, and at the end of the dive a friendly bottle nose dolphin came and checked us all out. What a great way to end the dive. Unfortunately we got “skunked” on the manta dive with none of them making a showing. Oh well they’ll be back soon.

Monday
We motored very early and headed south to a great site called Amphitheater. Along the way we saw some humpback whales making their way. What a great way to start the day. The dive was at a beautiful ledge system with long lava tubes and a huge arch way where we saw a conger eel and a dwarf moray.

The afternoon and evening site was a crew favorite called the Hive. A large swell had started to roll in but everyone persevered and did great for these dives. We noticed the red endemic lionfish; a flame back shrimp and some ornate butter fly fish.

Tuesday
By morning the 20-year swell was beginning to show its ugly self so we motored south to try to escape and landed on a crew favorite called Catacombs. We had to stay a bit deep even here and had two great dives. We saw a devil scorpion fish and a pelagic manta.

The afternoon and evening dives were at one of my favorites called Rainbow Reef. We did escape the large swells, but a very strong wind came up and made being on the surface a bit challenging - but I was so impressed with our group of excellent divers. The good habits that they had been trained with paid off and everyone did really well. The dives were really great with no surge and good visibility. We found the holy grail of moray eels called the dragon moray and as you can see John our photo pro got a good picture. We also saw more milk fish and I even found two speckled playdoris while on the night dive.

Wednesday
With the wind and swells at full force the island was really being hammered with rough conditions. I put the boat in a protected bay beach area called Manuka Bay and we hunkered down for the day and night. Believe it or not we were able to get in some dives as the visibility and surface conditions were acceptable enough for this group of divers to proceed. We saw the bi color anthias, another friendly sea turtle, and a peacock razor wrasse. We even had a nice night dive experience.

Thursday
This morning I noticed the conditions slowly start to improve and with a favorable forecast I moved the boat a short distance to the south to Stony Mesas. We were a bit exposed with the remaining swells but we stayed deep enough to have two nice dives. We saw a stout and giant moray and a scrambled egg nudibranch.

We made our way back north for the afternoon to Au Au Crater where an extinct volcano dropped off into the ocean and gave everyone a nice wall dive to stay deep with. Unfortunately the visibility was really low but we persevered and made the best of it. We did see a nice Titan scorpion fish. The night dive was cancelled due to the conditions so I moved us to our protected mooring at Kailua Bay for the evening.

Friday
We started our final day of diving at Turtle Pinnacle. We were on the look out for the turtle cleaning stations and actually did see one turtle. The visibility was still a bit low but thank goodness the conditions really flattened out. During these dives we had a hammerhead shark sighting and the spinner dolphins did a nice fly by as well. The hit of the day was the whales which were just a short distance away while we were moored up. One actually breached and gave everyone a great show.

I decided since the day was getting better and better that we’d do the wreck of the Predator after our sundeck barbeque. The lucky few who took part saw the Atlantis tourist submarine go by but the highlight was the thirty or so spinner dolphin, which swam, right next to them to say farewell—wow!

Our traditional farewell cocktail party took place on the sundeck at around 5pm and we all talked about our week. But we’ve noticed something the last few parties, if we play Barry White music usually the dolphins come right next to the boat. Unfortunately no dolphins showed up but three big whales did so there you go, there might actually be something to this. I’ll let you know if this little experiment works next week, either way thanks Barry!!!

On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express our thanks to you all this week, we appreciated your patience and perseverance and we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.
Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Dispatch from the Big Island: 18 February 2012

Well folks, we had quite a week over here in paradise. Mother Nature had little up her sleeve for us as we were dogged by large swells from the north and strong tradewinds to the south. We made the best of it though and were blessed, having a really nice group of guests who rolled with the punches, or, swells and enjoyed themselves despite the sea conditions.

Our group included: Graham and Candice- Canadians eh? 2 couples: Tom & Debbie and John & Cyndi, from Colorado (did you know Denver has more divers per capita than anywhere in the U.S? Go figure), a GREAT family from Seattle-the Randal’s-joined us and proud parents Paul and Kimberly used this trip indoctrinate their two daughters, Katelyn and Kiera into the world of SCUBA, as Instructor Karl finished them thru their OW certification. Congratulations girls! Veteran dive photographer Tim Rock was on board as was renowned photojournalist Michele Westmorland, who is spending two weeks aboard doing photo layouts of the newly refurbished boat for the Aggressor Fleet's promotional circuit.

After an evening of introductions, good food and good wine, we were southbound Sunday A.M (decided to hold off on the Manta Dive so the girls could finish their certs and participate) First stop "Meadows" a nice secluded spot to let everyone acclimate and get comfortable. Graham was excited to see a Crown of Thorns, but alas no Triton's Trumpet nearby, so much for a death match.

Rob's Reef was the afternoon destination where a Dragon Wrasse, Gold Laced Nudibranch, numerous species of Moray and a Red Spotted Sand Perch were among the highlights.

Monday we ventured further south to the Maze, where a previously unknown Yellow Frogfish was discovered, nice going' Paul. Manuka Bay was our afternoon/evening site, in the lee of the prevailing NW swell where we found calm enjoyable conditions.

Due to the large swell from the north and high trades blowing from the south, we hunkered down here and @ surrounding sites: Stoney Mesas and Catecombs thru Wednesday. We weren't disappointed as the resident Spinner Dolphins made a helluva showing, putting on quite a show for the scuba-turned snorkeling guests (we had a hard time getting them to dive!) Manuka produced it's usual fare of critters, including ANOTHER yet undiscovered Red Frogfish (a big one) right behind the boat (thanks Paul) as well as a Spotted Eagle Ray, Latin Snapping Shrimp and a Day Octopus. Catecombs was in great form with zero current, great viz, and yes, Paul found another Red Frogfish there. Stoney Mesas produced a couple o' Green Sea Turtles. Night dives revealed Cusk Eels, Regal Slipper Lobster, Long Spined Porcupine Clearfin Lizard, Hairy Yellow Hermit...the list just goes on and on.

Thursday it was time to head back up north, swell or no swell. a stop @ the Hive found us encountering another Frog Fish (yep, Paul) Hammerheads was next, a place to hide from the swell where we encountered a Zebra Moray and a Titan Scorpionfish.

Unfortunately, we arrived @ Garden Eel Cove to find impossible conditions for the Manta Dive, water was way too murky due to the swell, so we afternooned it @ Aquariums. With no other option for a night dive, we dove our mooring in Kona Bay. It was a nice surprise as we discovered that there's a very pristine reef within 50 yards of the boat, with lots of healthy finger coral and a variety of small fish within.

Friday, it was off to Turtle Pinnacles, where we saw... you guessed it, a turtle! Finished the week of diving by dropping in on the Predator Wreck just off Kona Pier, got to ham it up for the Atlantis submarine as it did a drive-by.

All in all a great trip. The Humpbacks are here now in full force. We heard them on the dives and saw them on the drives as we voyaged up and down the rugged Kona coastline.

Congrats to Cyndi & John, who celebrated their 6th Wedding Anniversary on Valentine's Day w/us-how utterly romantic. And a big grassy-ass to "Senor Frogfish" Randal for spotting so many new Frogfish that we can now share w/future guests.

Incidentally, this just in...Our very own Chef Grace has just been recognized as the Top Chef in the entire Aggressor Fleet! Way to go Gracie! So if your passion for fine food is as great as your passion for fine diving...maybe y’all might want to come over & join us!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

og Date: Saturday, Feb 25, 2012
Entry By: Kona Crew













Happy to report that the big north swell that plagued us last week has diminished to a mere ripple, with calm seas forecast for the rest of the week- yet!

This week we were happy to have aboard some nice folks from Iowa Divers, led by charter master and shop owner Mary who was accompanied by her husband Edmon. Members of their group included: Lisa & Bob along with Brian & Judy - who are experiencing their first ocean encounter. The clear waters of Hawaii are a far cry from those quarries and ponds in Iowa! Also Mike, a close friend of both Mary and Edmon is onboard. In addition, we have Russ from the Bay area (California) and a cute couple, Makiko & Joe from Japan! Rounding out our group is photojournalist Michele Westmorland, who is aboard for her second week finishing up her photo layout of the boat for the "Quesos Grandes" at Aggressor Fleet, along with her friend George, a silver fox who's also doing most of the modeling this week. Ha! Ha!

After embarking guests Saturday night, we headed north in anticipation of a great manta night dive, as they were present in decent numbers the night before. First stop Kalokos Arches, where the guests got to re-familiarize themselves and fine-tune their buoyancy. Here we managed to spot a green sea turtle, Triton's trumpet, yellow margin moray, two big scorpion fish and a green spotted moray...among other things. The nighttime manta dive was a success at Garden Eel Cove! At least 5 big boys put on a great show and we managed to coax them back to the boat afterward for our own private showing.

Monday early, southbound was the order of the day, pulling into Driftwood for the first dive where the resident white-tip reef shark was home in his cave. Amphitheater was the late morning dive and Divemaster John was able to get those willing thru the really cool lava tube. We spent the afternoon at Rob's Reef where we checked out the big cave and found an even bigger conger eel within. Our night dive proved successful for spotting a variety of eels; including a viper moray!

Tuesday it was off to the Maze, (where no one got lost) Everyone got to see "Rabbit Rock" and enjoyed the dive with no current and great viz. At lunch we traveled 7 mi. south to Catacombs, but were put off due to some locals conducting fishing operations (don't mess w/the locals) so we put in at Manuka Bay next door. The spinner dolphins were home and put on their usual show for anyone snorkeling. Everyone enjoyed good viz and calm conditions, Mike was so excited he jumped in with his cell phone – the call didn't go thru Our daytime dive revealed our newly discovered red frogfish, a leaf scorpion fish, a gold-laced nudibranch and a yellow margin moray. The night dive produced a male blue boxfish, Spanish dancer and a "veritable cornucopia" of eels.

Hey! Wednesday was Judy's 49th b-day, "Feliz Compleano" guapa! Due to high prevailing trade winds from the southeast, we weren't able to venture south towards South Point and instead headed north where there were plenty of yet to be visited dive sites for us to explore. First stop Land of Oz where Karl led the way. Juvenile and adult peacock razor wrasses, horned helmet feasting on a collector urchin, white mouth moray, a strawberry nudibranch and raccoon butterfly fish all made a showing.

Never Never Land was next and at its best with 100 foot plus visibility. A hammerhead shark was spotted, as was a roaming green sea turtle. We hunkered in at The Hive for the evening while Lisa completed her 100th dive, well-done blonde diver! We all enjoyed dinner on the sun deck where Judy blew out her birthday candles. The night dive found a tiger cowrie, spiny lobsters, a conger eel, a blue dragon nudibranch, yellow frogfish, sea hair, Spanish dancer (dancing), red lionfish and more. Someone really loaded the critter board tonight!

Thursday began with Paradise Pinnacles - a crew favorite - where the two resident long nose hawk fish were hanging in their black coral castle. A green turtle and a pyramid angel were also witnessed. Au Au Crater was next where the gang was awed by the sheer magnitude of the crater. A big day octopus was hanging right on the wall, as well as another octopus right under the boat. Additionally a gigantic sleeping turtle had the camera strobes flashing.

In route north, 2nd Captain Carl spotted something I've only heard about - a roaming 'school' of surface swimming hammerheads! All at least 8' long and up. Had to be at least a dozen or so. They were very lethargic and let us pull right up to them. AMAZING!!

An afternoon stop at Hammerhead (no relation) revealed a turtle, a stonefish, a white mouth eel and a few different species of nudibranchs. We wound up at Meadows for our late afternoon dive. Divemaster Carl managed to put a Triton’s trumpet that Edmon found together with a crown of thorns for a death match. Didn't look good for the crown of thorns as some long nosed butterfly fish zoomed in to participate in the carnage grabbing some tasty tidbits.

After a night at the mooring we ventured north to wrap up the trip at Turtle Pinnacle. While the turtles eluded us we were delighted by Judy's sighting of a yellow frogfish - first one seen ever at this sight! Joe and Makiko took off into the blue and ran into a spotted eagle ray (see photo). Nice going! Also noted on this site, horned helmet ravaging a collector urchin, long spined puffer fish and a yellow tailed corris.

After a long stretch on the mighty Kona Aggresor II I'm finally on vacation next week, and I really thought this would be a long week. But you know what? It flew by. I credit the nice group of people we had aboard this week. We saw alot of stuff and had alot of fun. We welcome Iowa Divers back anytime. Recognition goes to our 'Iron Divers' this week; Edmon and "Tokyo Ninja Divers" Joe and Makiko - they completed all 27 dives and were ready for more! Big cudos to Brian and Judy who were brand new to ocean diving before the trip and have become more confident and competent after a week with us - good job you two!

P.S.,the water has been a little chilly lately (74 degrees...brrrr!!!!) so a 3-5 mil suit is recommended for any of you who are planning on joining us soon......

Aloha for now,

Captain Todd

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain's Log Feb 25 - Mar 3, 2012

Air Temp 76-80*F

Water Temp 73-75*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha from Kona on the big island of Hawaii!! After a short time off I was ready to get back into the water in beautiful Hawaii. Our guests this week included Jeff and Ying, Gerald, Mike, Ron, Emry and Mary Ellen, Harry and Elke, Jerry and Andrew. We picked everyone up at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a great week of diving. Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, Chef Grace, Karl, Ian, and John. Grace prepared a wonderful dinner for our guests, the crew introduced themselves and we talked about our upcoming itinerary while the guests relaxed for the evening.


Sunday
We were up early and motored north to a spot called Turtle Pinnacle. Traditionally this is the site for the turtle cleaning stations and while we only saw them on the surface, the site showed everyone a sample of the kind of diving Hawaii has to offer. The visibility was as good as I’ve ever seen and we noticed yellow and white margin eels, all phases of the yellow tail coris, a gold laced nudibranch and some flame back shrimp. During our morning a nice big pod of spinner dolphins came by to say “Hi” as we enjoyed their company.

Our afternoon and evening dives were found at Garden Eel Cove, home of the famous manta dive. During the afternoon dives we explored the ledge and saw such endemic creatures as the garden eels and the Hawaiian dascyllus. Also off in the distance were two humpback whales making their way south as they commonly do this time of year. While diving you can hear them quite clearly as the males sing their songs.


We also saw three mantas on the ledge so we were looking forward to a good showing for the evening dive. And what a showing it was! Twenty three, yes - 23!!! came by and with good conditions made for a most memorable diving experience.


Monday
We motored south to a great site called Amphitheater. Again the visibility was really great and the formations were found with various nudibranchs, a devil scorpion fish and a fuscia flatworm. While here in Hawaii our guests are shown the endemic species that are found no where else in the world. Some are found on most sights, but a few of these sites are known for the more rare ones.


The afternoon and evening site was a crew favorite called Au Au Crater. Here an extinct volcano underwater showed a magnificent wall filled with life. The whale songs were so loud we thought they were right on top of us. As it turns out they were pretty close, but no underwater encounter—darn. While here we saw the Hawaiian red lion fish, scrambled egg and strawberry nudibranchs. The night dive was great with the usual nocturnal crustaceans; some like the regal slipper are endemic.

Tuesday
Continuing our journey south we decided to stop at Manuka Bay for our morning experience. The weather was calm and the visibility was great. Here a sheltered bay beach with sloping ledges showed our guests some great diving. Todd showed everyone the swim through cave and I took the guests to the outer ledges. We saw such things as a sea hare, barracuda, a tiger cowry, schooling scad mackerel and a good array of moray eels.


Our afternoon and evening was spent at Catacombs. Here a most unique set of ledges with swim through caves, pukas and just cool formations made for fun diving. The currents can be strong at times, but with these ledges to hide behind our guests fared very well. We saw giant, yellow margin and stout morays, an endemic red striped pipe fish and plenty of large lobster to photograph.

Wednesday
I navigated us north to a really special site called Never Never Land. Here a beautiful coral filled ledge, with crater drop off and a very large pinnacle protruding out of the water has been successful at showing unique and interesting creatures. It’s also the best site for hammer heads. We did have one get everyone’s heart started as he cruised by, and I was also able to show the endemic bandit angel and tinker’s butter fly fish down at 100 feet—wow what a great morning!

Our second location was one of my favorites called the Hive. Here a large cave behind the boat with a ledge and unique “Hive” shaped formation always is a crowd pleaser. Besides the usual suspects we saw the Spanish dancer and two cusk eels while on the night dive.

Thursday
We motored back north a bit to Hammerhead Reef in the area of Captain Cook. Here a unique ledge showed our guests a nice day octopus, giant moray, a green sea turtle, and a devil scorpion fish.


Our afternoon and evening dives were at Rob’s Reef with an enormous cavern to explore. The surge was not bad today as our guests marveled at this unique formation. We also saw the sculptured slipper lobster, a spotted eagle ray and another octopus.


Just before dinner I noticed a small humpback whale swimming close to us so we broke out the Barry White again as part of our ongoing experiment to see if whales react to his great music - and sure enough we saw him breach, tail slap, spy hop and much more—very cool.

Friday
For our final morning of diving we went to Driftwood for the first dive. Here we saw our usual white tip reef sharks sleeping in a small cave, our schooling blue goat fish and enjoyed probably the most colorful reef we have to offer. Our second stop for the morning was off the Sheraton Hotel in Kona, where a nice set of ledges were fun to explore. A nice day octopus swam about as if to say good by and thanks to everyone.


Our traditional farewell cocktail party took place on the sundeck at around 5pm and we all talked about our week.


We would like to congratulate and thank Harry Schumann for being with us on his 80^th birthday. We’re hoping we got the pictures you wanted and enjoyed having you and Elke aboard. Grace will miss those early morning coffee sessions with Elke.


On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express to all the guests our thanks; we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.
Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain's Report Mar 17 - 24, 2012

Wow!!! What a fantastic week for Mantas.

Air Temp 76-81*F
Water Temp 73-75*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha once again from Kona on the big island of Hawaii!! This week we had a unique coincidence by having three really great families of four. We had Jim, Lynette, Andrew and Maureen, Aaron, Deana, Sarah and David, and Scott, Suzanne, Shelby and Troy. We picked everyone up at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a great week of diving. Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, Chef Grace, Amanda, Cliff, and John. Grace prepared a wonderful dinner for our guests, and we talked about our upcoming itinerary while the guests relaxed for the evening.

Sunday
We were up our usual time and motored north to a spot called Kalokos Arches. The site showed everyone a sample of the kind of diving Hawaii has to offer. We started our dive with a visit from a hammerhead shark to get everyone’s heart started, and during our morning saw a nice day octopus, a rare Whitley’s box fish and a juvenile rock mover wrasse.

Our afternoon and evening dives were found at Garden Eel Cove - home of the famous manta dive. During the afternoon dives we explored the ledge and saw such endemic creatures as the garden eels and the Hawaiian dascyllus. We were also visited by two mantas just waiting for the evening events. And what an evening it was—we saw 26 mantas!!! With that many circling it was quite an experience. We could not get our ocean girl Shelby out of the water.

Monday
We motored south before the light and came to a great site called Amphitheater. While en route we saw four humpback whales. We see them this time of year as the females give milk to their young. As a matter of fact we did see one little one in this small pod. Our dive was also great by the way. The long lava tube and coral archway was magnificent. We noticed another octopus, a triton’s trumpet, which we had devour a nasty crown of thorns starfish and we even found a frogfish.

Our afternoon was at the crew favorite called The Hive. Here a large lava boulder looked like a bee hive with the little species of fish that congregated here. Behind the boat were a large cavern and even a cave to explore as the surge was not too bad. Some regulars here included the red lion fish, conger eel, and the Spanish dancers out and about during the night dive.

Tuesday
Continuing our journey south we decided to stop at Manuka Bay for our morning experience. The weather was calm and the visibility was great. Here a sheltered bay beach with sloping ledges showed our guests some great diving. We saw the bicolor anthias out in the deep water, along with a juvenile peacock razor wrasse and some hellers barracuda. While on this dive we could hear the whale songs and they were so loud it felt like they were right on top of us. They were not, but we’re always hoping one comes in to check us out someday.

Our afternoon and evening was spent at Catacombs. Here a most unique set of ledges with swim through caves, pukas and just cool formations made for fun diving. The currents can be strong at times but with these ledges to hide behind our guests fared very well. We saw the extremely rare dragon moray here along with large ghost shrimp. This place really is awesome and as long as the currents behave, I’ll keep coming here to dive.

Wednesday
We proceed back north to a really colorful site called The Maze. Here lava ledges which run perpendicular, linear and every which way can make for some challenging navigation, but always provide my divers with a really good concentration of fish life.

The second stop for the morning was Never Never Land. Here a beautiful coral filled ledge, with a crater drop off and a very large pinnacle protruding out of the water has been successful at showing unique and interesting creatures. It’s also the best site for hammerheads. And wouldn’t you know we had two swim by everyone.

Our second location was the famous Au Au Crater with a fantastic underwater extinct volcano, which dropped off into the sea long ago. The coral wall is really awe inspiring as you look up and down. It drops straight down to below 200 feet and climbs up to about 25 feet. Along the wall are always interesting creatures like the many varieties of lobster, shrimp and corals. Today we saw a nice eagle ray cruise by in the deep water. We also saw three Spanish dancers and an endemic titan scorpion fish on the night dive.

Thursday
We motored a short distance north to one of my favorites called Paradise Pinnacle. Here the magnificent underwater pinnacle housed a great many nudibranch species, some turtles, a hammerhead shark, red striped pipe fish and the elusive long nose hawk fish nestled in a small branch of black coral. The shallow canyons here were teaming with life as critters like the box fish and pyramid butterfly fish make great photos.

Our afternoon and evening were spent by special request back at Garden Eel Cove again to see the mantas. They were about during the daytime again and during the evening we saw 32 mantas—a new personal record. There were even reports of a new baby male that was discovered on the dive. Sarah gave me some good names and I forwarded them to the folks at Manta Pacific. We’ll see if they use them or not.

Friday
Our last two dives of the journey were at Turtle Pinnacle home of the world famous turtle cleaning station. We did see one this morning along with an octopus, a large yellow margin eel and a peacock flounder. A pod of spinner dolphins cruised by to say hello but did not stay long.
The day couldn’t have been better for the lunch barbeque on the sundeck. The afternoon was spent relaxing and some even did a little packing.

During our traditional cocktail party we recognized that Jim, Lynette, Andrew and Maureen were now Advanced Open water divers, and David was now a Nitrox diver. Congrats from the crew guys. We hope you enjoyed your programs.

Dinner was on shore this evening as everyone also got a chance to stretch their legs a little.

On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express our thanks to you all this week and we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.

Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain's Report Mar 24 - 31, 2012

Air Temp 76-81*F
Water Temp 73-75*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha from Kona on the big island of Hawaii!! We had the pleasure of having our locals Dave and Renee, John and Linnea, Ken, and Carren, along with Bette and Maggie, and of course Miss Denise. We picked everyone up at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a great week of diving. Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, Chef Grace, Chef Vern, Karl, and John. Grace prepared a fine meal for everyone as we introduced ourselves and talked about our upcoming itinerary. After dinner we enjoyed the sunset and relaxed for the evening.

Sunday
We were up our usual time and motored north to a spot called Aquarium. During our morning here we saw a pelagic manta, Thompson’s butterfly fish, an endemic pipefish, a school of pennant butterfly fish, a saddle back butterfly fish and a zebra moray. Ken was really keen on finding the variety of butterfly fish found in this great site.

Our afternoon and evening dives were found at Garden Eel Cove, home of the famous manta dive. During the afternoon we had a pod of spinner dolphin come by the boat to say “hi”. Some lucky divers caught a glimpse of them while on their afternoon dives. We did find our long fin anthias that had been hiding out these past few weeks. During the great conditions for the night dive we saw 26 mantas. The numbers are not always this great but lately we’ve been enjoying them. We even saw the new male again, but I still do not have a name to report yet. After everyone was back on board, a pod of four bottlenose dolphin hung around for a while so many of us were up late that night.

Monday
We motored south before the light and came to a great site called Amphitheater. The beautiful coral archway housed the gold laced, scrambled egg and white margin nudibranch critters for our macro shooters. We also saw a nice day octopus and a white tip reef shark hanging around.

Our afternoon dives took place at The Hive. Neat lava formations and a cave were great for critters like the red lion fish and Spanish dancers on the night dive.

Tuesday
We made our way south to a pretty site called The Maze. With great visibility and no current this dive is a good one. The lava formations go every which way and just make for a great fishy dive. Our second morning stop was at Never Never Land. I got to do this one and we saw a tinker’s butterfly fish, a bandit angel and a hammerhead shark we call “Wendy”. Can you see why someone named this place Neverland? I also saw a yellow chub, something I hadn’t yet seen in Hawaii.

We headed to one of my favorites called Au Au Crater. This beautiful site with black sand and a crater wall that drops to forever is such a neat place. There’s usually always good visibility so our afternoon was just an easy one. We saw a flame angel, a friendly turtle and a scarface blenny, a very shy endemic fish. You photographers know how hard it can be to actually catch one in a good pose. The night dive here is second-to-none with all kinds of critters crawling on the wall, like the Spanish dancers and many different kinds of lobsters. We even saw the sleepy sponge crab who wears a sponge on his head like a hat.

Wednesday
We motored a short distance north to one of my favorites called Paradise Pinnacle. Here the magnificent underwater pinnacle housed a great many nudibranch species, like the Tom Smith’s and the blue dragon, probably the coolest looking one. We saw a nice size turtle, a red striped pipe fish and the elusive long nose hawk fish nestled in a small branch of black coral. Up in the shallow canyons we saw another day octopus.

We moved a short distance north to Rob’s Reef to complete our day. This coral is the most pristine and colorful of all the places here. There’s also a large cavern and a cool cave to explore if the surge is not bad. Today was perfect and the dives showed us an endemic magnificent snake eel, a blue potters angelfish and a reticulated butterfly fish. The night dive was awesome with two large conger eels and a yellow head moray in the cavern.

Thursday
This morning we motored north to a site we haven’t done in a while called Lion’s Den. I could finally see why it was named this way. The formation was den-like and there were lion fish here. We also saw three tiger cowries and one guest claimed they were laying eggs—wow!

Our second stop for the morning was Hammerhead. I’ve never seen one here, but it’s a cool site. We saw another pelagic manta—maybe the same from the days before but who knows. We also saw the titan scorpion fish and a barred devil scorpion fish.

Our two afternoon dives were found at Driftwood, another colorful reef with a long lava tube and two small caves. We saw some flame back shrimp, a gilded trigger fish and a couple of saddle back butterfly fish we found in the shallows.

For our last night dive we did what we call the Pelagic Magic. Some operators call this the black water dive where we go out into the deep, drop down some lines and hang below the boat to see what comes our way with our lights. The translucent creatures are something out of science fiction, but tonight I finally got to see the very elusive pelagic sea horse. Everyone got to see it and John got some great shots on video.

Friday
Our last two dives of the journey were at Turtle Pinnacle, home of the world famous turtle cleaning station. We did see one here but it was not being cleaned.

The day was perfect for the lunch barbeque on the sundeck and the afternoon was spent relaxing while some even did a little packing.

During our traditional cocktail party we recognized that Ken was both our iron diver (someone who did every dive) as well as accomplishing his 1200^th dive aboard. Congrats Ken from all of us.

Dinner was on shore this evening as everyone also got a chance to stretch their legs a little.

On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express our thanks to you all this week and we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.

Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain's Log March 31 - April 7, 2012

Air Temp 76-81*F
Water Temp 73-75*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha from Kona on the big island of Hawaii!! This week we had Catherine, Ledean, Don and Carla, Janet and Rocky, Frank, Matt and Jennifer, and Gabriele, Clara and Sophia. We picked everyone up at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a great week of diving. Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, Chef Grace, Chef Vern, Karl, and John. Vern prepared a wonderful meal for everyone as we introduced ourselves and talked about our upcoming itinerary. After dinner we enjoyed the sunset and relaxed for the evening.


Sunday
We were up our usual time and motored north to a spot called Turtle Pinnacle. Here we looked for the turtle cleaning station and while we did not see the station we did see a curious green turtle. During our morning here we saw a yellow margin eel, flame back shrimp and all phases of the yellow tail coris.

Our afternoon and evening dives were found at Garden Eel Cove, home of the famous manta dive. Once again we had a pod of spinner dolphin come by the boat to say “hi”. The ledge was filled with life as we swam along the slope in both directions. During the great conditions for the night dive we saw 14 mantas. I still do not have a name for the new baby male yet, but I’ll let you know when that happens.

Monday
We motored south very early and came to one of my favorites called Au Au Crater. This extinct volcano has one of the most picturesque walls around. The sun was shining bright and the conditions could not have been better. I found my usual array of endemic red lionfish and even a Spanish dancer egg sac.

Our afternoon and evening was spent at the beautiful Manuka Bay. Here a sheltered bay/beach with gentle sloping lava ledges always makes for a great day of diving. We found our bi-color anthias out in the deep water, a red frogfish, a black leaf scorpion fish and a neat little flounder. During the night dive we saw some Spanish dancers about, some cusk eels and many other kinds of eels.

Tuesday
This morning we headed to South Point, a first in quite a while. We came to Black Coral Forest where a nice array of black coral was found down around 100 feet. We saw our long nose hawk fish but unfortunately no tinker’s today. That’s okay - the conditions more than made up for that.

Our first afternoon stop was my favorite called Rainbow Reef. This ledge was teaming with life today as we saw a friendly turtle, some milkfish, a tufted lobster and a scrambled egg nudibranch.

We decided to head to Ladders, the southern most dive sight in the U.S., for our final afternoon and evening dive as the winds were picking up. Here boulders draped down a ledge showed us great dives as we peeked under to check out the variety of morays.


Wednesday
While we were still at South Point I decided to try Wall’s Wall this morning. Our guests were disappointed that I could not stay for a second dive here, as the winds were again picking up to the point it was time to leave for safer waters.

We headed back north to Stony Mesas to check out the huge under water lava mesas. Here we look for the scar face blenny, but found instead some flecked wire coral shrimp and another leaf scorpion fish.

I decided on The Hive for our afternoon and evening pleasure. This is such a neat site with a large cavern and cave behind the boat. We saw a green and a hawksbill sea turtle, red lionfish, and a dwarf moray. The night dive was great with a yellow-headed eel and a conger eel about looking for their nightly feast.


Thursday
We started our morning at one of our favorites called Paradise Pinnacle. The small strands of black coral showed us our favorite long nose hawk fish, and some red stripe pipefish. We even saw a cool viper moray in one of the pukas. The canyons were fabulous for the second dive here as the surge was nowhere to be found.

Our afternoon was found at Driftwood. Large ledges with a cave and cool lava tube are always fun to explore here. I actually went out a little deep to see if any pelagic critters would come by. We did see a wonderful array of fish life on this easy afternoon dive.


Once again this week we did the Pelagic Magic for the night experience. Here we went out into the deep water, fastened some lines to a makeshift hang bar and hung at twenty five feet to see what comes our way. Wouldn’t you know this group (like last week) saw the pelagic seahorse along with an array of mystical creatures that defy explanation in the deep water.


Friday
Our last two dives of our trip this week we went to Kalokos Arches. The magnificent lava archways and nice ledges were a real treat as our divers explored them.

The day was perfect for the lunch barbeque on the sundeck and the afternoon was spent relaxing while some even did a little packing.

On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express our thanks to you all this week and we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.

As a final thought, we will miss you Grace and wish you well on your future endeavors.
Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain's Log April 7 - 14, 2012

Air Temp 76-81*F
Water Temp 73-75*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha from Kona here on the beautiful island of Hawaii!! This week our guests included Glen and Louise from down under, Wayne and Sheryl, William, Stephen, Ryan, Sandy and LeDean, who stayed with us for a second week. We picked everyone up at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a great week of diving. Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, Chef Vern, Cliff, Karl and John. Our new chef Vern prepared a fine meal for everyone, the crew introduced themselves and we talked about our upcoming itinerary. After dinner we enjoyed the sunset and relaxed for the evening.

Sunday
This morning we moved north at our usual time and came to a spot called Aquarium. During our morning here we saw our usual school of pennant butterfly fish, a saddle back butterfly fish and a zebra moray. We also saw a yellow margin and white mouth moray. This site is also good for nudibranch critters and we did see the scrambled egg nudi below the boat.


Our afternoon and evening dives were found at Garden Eel Cove, home of the famous manta dive. During the afternoon our familiar pod of spinner dolphins came by the boat and Sheryl had a great encounter while snorkeling with them. During our dives we saw the long fin anthia along with a good variety of schooling fish. We also saw some mantas swimming along the ledge and just knew it was going to be a great night dive - and boy it was as we had thirty show up to dance this evening. I believe the record count was thirty four back in 2008 so maybe with this run we might be able to break that. Either way the smiles from the divers said it all and we watched them by the boat most of the night as well.


Monday
We motored south before the light and came to a great site called Amphitheater. I always like this site in the morning as the coral archway and long lava tubes were especially nice this morning. I showed the guests how we find octopus, so the hunt was on and we did well. Don’t worry we only captured them on film.

For our afternoon and evening pleasure I decided on Rob’s Reef since the coral is spectacular here along with the largest cavern/cave formation we dive in Hawaii. We saw some neat stuff like the dragon wrasse, red striped pipefish, scrambled egg nudibranch and 7-11 crab. The night dive was great with calm conditions and no surge in the cave.

Tuesday
We made our way south to a really happening place called Never Never Land. We went fairly deep down the ledge on our first dive and saw our Tinker’s butterfly fish, bandit angel fish and our schools of pyramid butterfly fish. The sharks were not here today but we really enjoyed both dives.

Our second and final stop today was the beautiful Manuka Bay. Here our secluded bay beach with gentle sloping ledges and great visibility showed us a great afternoon and evening of diving. I showed where our bi-color anthias were located in the deeper water and then came into the shallows where the colorful lava formations were. A friendly sea turtle came by and posed for everyone for a while before taking off to do his turtle thing. During the night dive we saw Spanish dancers about, a conger eel, a jeweled anemone crab and a giant moray.

Wednesday
We motored a good distance north to one of my favorites called Paradise Pinnacle. Here the magnificent underwater pinnacle housed a great many nudibranch species, like gold laced. We saw our turtle again, along with a red striped pipe fish and the elusive long nose hawk fish nestled in a small branch of black coral. Up in the shallow canyons the fish life was great today. With little or no surge today everyone could “properly” explore this site.


Our afternoon was spent at the colorful Driftwood site. Here nice ledges, a lave tube and small cave always makes for fun diving. Everything here is just a short distance away so there is never need to marathon swim here.

By request we did the Pelagic Magic dive this evening. In very deep water we hung down shallow below the boat and drifted on the tethered line to see some mighty interesting creatures. Wouldn’t you know it but for the third week in a row we saw the extremely elusive pelagic sea horse. They really are elusive, but I might be on to something as to where they hang out here.

Thursday
We continued north to Kalokos Arches, a local favorite site with ledges and arches for picturesque photo ops. We saw our Hawaiian boxfish along with his mate just hanging out below the boat. The current stayed in check so we stayed here and enjoyed the site for two dives.

By request we did an encore afternoon at Garden Eel Cove. Once again the mantas were about even in the day time. Our count tonight was officially twenty-nine, but with this many most agreed it could have been more.

Friday
Our last two dives of the journey were at Turtle Pinnacle, home of the world famous turtle cleaning station. We did not see any but did see a large tiger shark out in the deep. To me that seemed a great way to end a fabulous week of diving here in Hawaii.


The day was perfect for the lunch barbeque on the sundeck and the afternoon was spent relaxing while some even did a little packing.

Our traditional cocktail party went off well as we all reflected on the week.

Dinner was on shore this evening as everyone also got a chance to stretch their legs a little.

On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express our thanks to you all this week and we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.

Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Kona Aggressor II Captain's Log April 14 - 21, 2012

Air Temp 76-81*F
Water Temp 74-76*F
Wet suit 5mm with hood
Visibility 60-100+ft
Entry by: Capt. Mike

Saturday
Aloha from Kona here on the big island of Hawaii!! This week we had Gerry and Debbie, Sylvia, Sherry, Pol and Nathalie, and Joe and Edith as our guests. They met us at the Kona pier Saturday afternoon and were looking forward to a great week of diving. Our crew for the week included Capt. Mike, Capt. Todd, Chef Vern, Michael, Cliff, and Karl. Chef Vern prepared a fabulous welcome dinner for everyone, the crew introduced themselves, and we talked about our upcoming itinerary. After dinner we enjoyed the sunset and relaxed for the evening.

Sunday
This morning we moved north at our usual time and motored to a spot called Kalokos Arches. This is always a great spot to acquaint our divers to the joys of diving in Kona. Unfortunately the swell was rather large and the visibility was below our usual norm, but we persevered and enjoyed the dives. We saw a hawksbill turtle, some rock mover wrasse and for our macro shooters a fried egg nudibranch and a fuscia flatworm.

We tried for Garden Eel Cove but the swell continued from a bad direction so we motored south to Hammerhead. Here on the point of a beautiful bay we stayed for the afternoon and evening. The ledge wall did show everyone a nice dive with loads of fish and an eagle ray swimming by.

Monday
We motored south and went to a crew favorite called Au Au crater. Here an extinct volcano with a ledge wall drop off always is awe inspiring as we swam along and looked into the cracks and crevices. The black sand bottom really showed the colors of the coral here. We saw another turtle, a flame wrasse and angel fish, a red lion fish and some Spanish dancer egg sacs. We also had a pod of spinner dolphin cruise by to see what we were up to. What a great morning!!


I motored us further south to Manuka Bay to get out of the swell. Here a nice protected bay beach with gentle sloping ledges always is a pleasure to stop by and check out. Our great visibility returned and I thought we’re back in business again with improving conditions in our forecast. Here we swam out to see the bi-color anthias, an endemic species, and saw a “big ass” octopus, as Sherry called it, a red frogfish and some hellers barracuda. The night dive is always great on these ledges with the nocturnal critters like lobsters, cusk eels and other big eels out feeding.

Tuesday
We made our way north to a really great place called Neverland. We went fairly deep down the ledge on our first dive and saw our Tinker’s butterfly fish, bandit angel fish and our schools of pyramid butterfly fish. We did not see the sharks again today, but did enjoy the pinnacle as the conditions were really great here.


Our afternoon was at the Hive. I like this site for the unique cavern and small cave along with the large lava boulders under the boat to check out the creatures within. We saw more lion fish (the good kind by the way) a strawberry nudibranch, some Spanish dancers about, and plenty of regal and sculptured lobsters about during the night dive.

Wednesday

We decided to mix things up a bit and did a live drop without anchoring the boat along the point of Hoku. Here the deep slope with a bay inland was a neat dive since we had never done this here before and the conditions were superb.

Our second site for the morning was at my favorite called Paradise Pinnacle. Here the red striped pipe fish and long nose hawk fish are regular endemics that we see here. We also saw a viper moray, a cool cowfish and a dragon wrasse in the shallows.

The afternoon and evening site was at Rob’s Reef. This is probably the nicest corals we have to show folks. The twin caves are also a real treat if the swell is not great. It was not and we enjoyed exploring them only to a safe point. We saw another turtle and some red striped pipe fish. The night highlight was the octopus which was found right below the boat.

Thursday
This morning we tried another new site we have not done on this vessel called the Dome. The conditions have to be absolutely perfect here as we were only 50 feet from the rocky cliff. Needless to say it was and we enjoyed the beautiful mini cave with dome skylights and deep fingers. I will remember this one for future trips as we saw Spanish dancers in the day time, a blue dragon nudibranch, probably the coolest looking one of the bunch, some scorpion fish and another green turtle.

Our second stop for the morning was Driftwood. I like this one because of the long lava tube and small cave. Today the white tip reef sharks were home and we all got great pictures.


Our afternoon and evening was at the famous Garden Eel cove. The conditions were perfect and we enjoyed our time here. We had both spinner and bottlenose dolphins cruise by and Mike’s pictures turned out great. We had so many mantas I could not count them all but we guessed around twenty all in all.


Friday
Our last two dives of the journey were at Turtle Pinnacle home of the world famous turtle cleaning station. We finally got to see a turtle get cleaned and what a site it was. Lately we have really not seen the cleaning take place but it was good to see it again as this is such a unique experience. I’ve talked with a great many folks about this site and we think for a while it was dove a little too much. The local operators have laid off lately so hopefully we can have the cleaning station experience return to what it once was.

The day was perfect for the lunch barbeque on the sundeck and the afternoon was spent relaxing while some even did a little packing.

Our traditional cocktail party went off well as we all reflected on the week.


Dinner was on shore this evening as everyone also got a chance to stretch their legs a little.

On behalf of the crew of the Kona Aggressor II, we wish to express our thanks to you all this week and we hoped you enjoyed your experience onboard.
Mahalo, and a Hui Hou!