Well, today we did not choose the dive spot, the dive spot chose us – no turtle cleaning station today, as the water was too choppy for the skipper. Probably a good decision given the amount of drammamine everyone aboard has eaten, but a pity nonetheless. So we headed back up north again to the Kohala coast rather than towards Waikoloa, where I am currently staying.

The Kohala coast is really gorgeous and in terms of ocean and views probably as good as Hawai’i can get. From the boat this morning, we saw five (of potentially visible six) volcanoes: Hualalai (the dangerous one just off the resort area), Mauna Kea (the highest), Mauna Loa (the tallest), Kohala (the oldest), and – in a distance and almost hiding in the clouds, but just jutting out a little bit – Haleakala on Maui. The only one missing is Kilauea, obviously too far and not high enough to be seen from here. What a view!

Back to diving, we got our first dive spot and I had my own dive tour guide, as the other two passengers aboard where only snorkelers. Down to about 50 feet, visibility quite OK but still the water seemed a little rough so a lot of particles suspended in the water which can clearly be seen on the underwater pictures. Anyway, no turtles in sight or any other large fish, so my fisheye lense was pretty useless for the Lion Fish and the Frog Fish that we found – tiny and hiding in the crevasses of the lava rocks covered in coral, so no chance really of an exact autofocus or getting the thing filling the screen / camera sensor. The lava cave was pretty neat to drive through, but that’s just about it. Oh, and the fish feeding off some violet stuff from the one rock canyon, that was pretty interesting – they couldn’t have cared less about my presence!

Second dive was not as good in terms of my own performance with buoyancy and breathing (the bottle of the first dive lasted 57 minutes, probably a record for me, the second did only like 45 minutes or even less), but better in terms of topography – steep drop offs, antler coral, canyons and holes that made really for good wide angle shots, if only the water had been clearer – and had there been any turtles.

I was thus recommended to check out a shore access snorkel near Hapuna Beach off a small seaside community, which I wanted to do on my way back. However, this meant I had to buy my own fins now for another couple of bucks – and I have now my “full” equipment for snorkeling, aka mask, fins, snorkel; only the BCD and the wet suit is missing for a complete dive equipment, but I think this just doesn’t make sense luggage and weight wise, better rent this out every single time. Again, visibility sucked, here especially because of the low depth and the surf pounding ashore, but still a neat experience – dances with turtles in the surf.