Finatik
Registered
Well back from the Islands and had a great time. Booked a trip wih B&B and as the night before was upon me I was really excited. Since the only dives I've done were the 3 off Catalina to get certified and a Shaw's cove red tide muck dive I was a little unsure of what was going to happen. Didn't have my instructor to hold my hand.
Check in time was 5:45am at the boat. I was thinking..."damn that's early"...(welcome to diving right). Left a wake up call for 4:45 with the front desk. Of course I woke up at 3:30 pumped and ready to go. Got in the car for the 50 minute drive to the other side of Maui. Got in the car and past the town and the 1st thing that struck me were the stars. EVERYWHERE. I'm leaning looking out the window and then realize,"you idiot - you have a convertable". Put the top down and drove along the shore line to a dive I've been dreaming about with a cresent moon and stars everywhere. I was in awe. I was in heaven.
Got to the boat in 30 minutes (Iguess 50 minutes is for Hawaiin drivers). Got some grub and showed up to the boat 15 minutes early. I was the 2nd to last one on. We were on the water at 6:10am and the 1sr boat to the Crater (except fot one old guy who was doing a solo). Geared up and jumped off the boat with a divemaster (Bessie) and 3 other dives.
No problem getting down. But I was excited and fighting this camera to try and get it working. Struggled a,little with bouyancy control at first. Vis was 70'+. Water was 82. "Now this is diving" i thought to myself remembering the Shaw's muck.
We started criusing and saw several white tip sharks ( 3-4 footers), lots of fish and eels. As we came along the bottom where there was sand we stopped and field of nail heads were bobing on the bottom. Pretty cool.
Swam around a little more and had to go do my 3 miunte saftey stop. You won't believe this but when I got into the boat I had sucked a a steel 100 in 42 minutes. Damn. I need to control my excitement a little. Stupid camera didn't work. Didn't get amy pictures of the crater. Did set my personal best with 87 feet. Not much to you "old pros" but for me itwas the deepest I've been.
We left the Crater right as the 1st cattle boats showed up with the snorkeler and divers. If you want to be 1st in the water B&B is the boat that's for sure. 3 dive masters and all divers - no snorkelers.
We went to the sight of a wreck that had been sunk but they determined vis to be too poor - less then 20 feet. I'm saying "lets get out and see the wreck, 20 foot is GREAT". Bessie says "I don't even get wet for anything under 25 foot vis".
Damn. I wanted to see a sunken boat. And turtles were surfacind around the boat the whole time. I just about jumped in.
We settled for another sight Haloa Point. Jumped in and went down to about 65 feet. Bessie is a real naturalist. She pointed out 5 or 6 different types of eels, we swam with 4 or 5 turtles and saw countless other creatures that she knew the names of. We wen't through a natural arch and I had her take a picture of me in the arch ( I got the damn camera to work). Made that steel 100 last 58 minutes.
All in all a geat trip with a great boat. It's all diving with B&B and the quarters are cramped but hey I didn't go to be on a boat. I wen't to dive and they knew the spots to go, where to see the life and had homemade cookies and freash pinnapple. What more could you ask for.
Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to share my entire experiance with you. Maybe you can think back on your 1st dive without your instructor as a "saftey net".
Exciting. A little scarry. Exhilerating.
Check in time was 5:45am at the boat. I was thinking..."damn that's early"...(welcome to diving right). Left a wake up call for 4:45 with the front desk. Of course I woke up at 3:30 pumped and ready to go. Got in the car for the 50 minute drive to the other side of Maui. Got in the car and past the town and the 1st thing that struck me were the stars. EVERYWHERE. I'm leaning looking out the window and then realize,"you idiot - you have a convertable". Put the top down and drove along the shore line to a dive I've been dreaming about with a cresent moon and stars everywhere. I was in awe. I was in heaven.
Got to the boat in 30 minutes (Iguess 50 minutes is for Hawaiin drivers). Got some grub and showed up to the boat 15 minutes early. I was the 2nd to last one on. We were on the water at 6:10am and the 1sr boat to the Crater (except fot one old guy who was doing a solo). Geared up and jumped off the boat with a divemaster (Bessie) and 3 other dives.
No problem getting down. But I was excited and fighting this camera to try and get it working. Struggled a,little with bouyancy control at first. Vis was 70'+. Water was 82. "Now this is diving" i thought to myself remembering the Shaw's muck.
We started criusing and saw several white tip sharks ( 3-4 footers), lots of fish and eels. As we came along the bottom where there was sand we stopped and field of nail heads were bobing on the bottom. Pretty cool.
Swam around a little more and had to go do my 3 miunte saftey stop. You won't believe this but when I got into the boat I had sucked a a steel 100 in 42 minutes. Damn. I need to control my excitement a little. Stupid camera didn't work. Didn't get amy pictures of the crater. Did set my personal best with 87 feet. Not much to you "old pros" but for me itwas the deepest I've been.
We left the Crater right as the 1st cattle boats showed up with the snorkeler and divers. If you want to be 1st in the water B&B is the boat that's for sure. 3 dive masters and all divers - no snorkelers.
We went to the sight of a wreck that had been sunk but they determined vis to be too poor - less then 20 feet. I'm saying "lets get out and see the wreck, 20 foot is GREAT". Bessie says "I don't even get wet for anything under 25 foot vis".
Damn. I wanted to see a sunken boat. And turtles were surfacind around the boat the whole time. I just about jumped in.
We settled for another sight Haloa Point. Jumped in and went down to about 65 feet. Bessie is a real naturalist. She pointed out 5 or 6 different types of eels, we swam with 4 or 5 turtles and saw countless other creatures that she knew the names of. We wen't through a natural arch and I had her take a picture of me in the arch ( I got the damn camera to work). Made that steel 100 last 58 minutes.
All in all a geat trip with a great boat. It's all diving with B&B and the quarters are cramped but hey I didn't go to be on a boat. I wen't to dive and they knew the spots to go, where to see the life and had homemade cookies and freash pinnapple. What more could you ask for.
Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to share my entire experiance with you. Maybe you can think back on your 1st dive without your instructor as a "saftey net".
Exciting. A little scarry. Exhilerating.
