Nancy and I were in the Wailea section of Maui, Hawaii, in late February for a business (and pleasure) trip. I managed to make a two-tank dive with Ed Robinson’s Diving Adventures, arranged through the Internet.

(http://www.maui.net/-robinson/erd2.htm)

They launch their boat from the Kihei launch area as do all the other dive shops in this area. After a short ride we arrived at "Jody’s Back Yard", not far from shore. Interesting Pacific fish were found among the sparse coral. The terrain is mostly lava. We saw several white-mouth morays, a stout moray, many frog fish, a purple leaf scorpion fish, eagle rays, pillow stars, flame fish and many surgeonfish, humuhumu, butterfly fish and wrasses.

The second dive was a drift dive at "Red Hill", again near a rocky point about 100 yards off shore. Here we saw lots of frog fish of various colors, a dragon moray, rhino shrimp, leaf scorpion fish, white mouth morays, a slipper lobster in a cavern, lots of turtles, big and small, plus the usual surgeonfish, wrasses, humuhumus, etc. This is the humpback season and all through the dives we could clearly hear the whale songs. The louder ones sent chills up my spine. The 3 mm one-piece wetsuit was not enough to keep me warm in the 73 degree water.

The crew was very helpful and two divemasters dove with two separate groups totaling eight divers. Our ‘leader’, Renee, was careful to point out the not-so-obvious species. The pre-dive briefings were thorough and included photos of expected fish. There was no rush underwater. Tasty fruit and other refreshments were served after each dive.

On other days we snorkeled right off the beach of our hotel. There were many Achilles tank (surgeonfish), tangs, spotted puffers, Moorish idols, cleaner wrasses, cornetfish, damselfish, butterfly fish, and the ever-present humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua’a, Hawaii’s state fish. (I love saying that name!) The whales put on a daily performance only 200 yards off shore. The lob-tailed, breached and stuck their heads out to look at the kayakers for hours on end.

Quite a show.

Bob Benowitz

Reminder: Planet Ocean has a trip to Hawaii coming up in mid May. We will be checking out some of the dive sites that Chris, Tammy, Nancy & Bob have been raving about. There is room for anyone interested in joining us in the Aloha State.