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| photo by mike wakashige |
One of the best things about my work is getting paid to take people that are on their vacations out for some dives. I don't do this every day, but when I do, it usually makes for a good day. Diving for a profession has it's ups and downs.....get it, ups, downs....nothing.....tap tap tap, is this thing on? Anywho! This day started off rainy and cloudy, not exactly something to get excited about when it comes to a day of diving. After all people are paying us their hard earned money to show them a good time on their vacations. No pressure! Trying to find a good enough spot to go diving in weather like this can be challenging to say the least. Granted, a bad condition day here in Maui is often times, 100 times better than the best day of diving in let's say, Monterey Bay. I mean come on, 80 degree water vs. 68 degrees if you are lucky isn't hard to surpass in terms of a good day.
So today was shaping up be a stellar day of diving. At least in the minds of the everyday dive professional here in Maui. But I have an obligation to give it the old college try, and sell it as the best dive the customer has ever had.
So I set about my process, with the help of my trusted companion, Divemaster Candidate "Dirty J" (Jaron) and we got the show on the road.
Today's divers were repeat customers. I had started the whole process with them just about a year ago this time when I had convinced them that getting certified to SCUBA dive was a good idea. Once they completed their certifications last year, I got the task of taking them on one of their very first dives as certified open water divers. They had a blast, and to make a long story short, they came back again this year to go diving. They also requested that I take them diving again this year. To a small business, a repeat customer is invaluable, and as a dive professional I do my best to retain as many new customers as I can. So when they ask for me specifically, it is a high compliment in my books!
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| Rare Harlequin Shrimp |
So we set out on our undersea journey at the same dive site that they were trained at one year ago. Now, divers tend to get tired of the same dive site after spending two days of their diving at the same place, seeing the same fish, same corals, same ol same ol. But the fact is, this dive site is usually pretty dang good when conditions elsewhere may not be so good, hence why we use it for our training of new divers. The job then becomes, show them something new, something different, something unique.
Long story short, I was able to accomplish this with just a little luck and cooperation from old mother nature. We checked out some cool stuff, but one of the unique things that I was able to show them was this beautiful and rare, Harlequin Shrimp. These little creatures are amazingly colorful and interesting to look at, and thanks to Uncle Mike, I know where to find one. This one thing alone was enough to make it an awesome dive, but then we lucked on to a turtle just chilling on the reef, which at this particular site, isn't a common place occurrence.
So we finished the dive, and it went very well. As we exited, another dive professional that had been out in the water at the same time asked me if I had seen the Monk Seal. We had not been so lucky, but hell, the customers had a great dive, they thoroughly enjoyed it and stated just how awesome it had been.
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| Hawaiian Lion Fish |
On the way to the next dive site, the sun started to peek out of the clouds a bit and it was looking up from there. I found free parking, which is next to an impossibility, but I found a spot and we commenced our next dive. In the briefing I mentioned that "wouldn't it be cool if that Monk Seal came cruising down to the dive site we were at, and I told them to keep an eye out, because you never know!
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| Spiny Lobster (Dinner on Sept 1st) |
Right off the bat, Divemaster Candidate Dirty J found a rareish Hawaiian Lion fish, these are not exactly the easiest find, but my boy is earning his stripes quickly! Sweet! So we keep on kicking, finding turtles, nudibranchs, eels, you name it we were finding it. Hell we saw one HUGE lobster, and I was wishing it was September 1st, (lobster season) but this big ol boy didn't get that big by being stupid.
It was right after this siting, that out of the corner of my eye I see something big and grey. I quickly turned my head to see a HUGE Monk Seal looking right at me. I grabbed my clanker to get Divemaster Candidate Dirty J's attention along with the other divers, and this big ol mammal looked even closer at me. You can see the beast in the picture that Jaron shot! The day had just become complete, and we weren't even half way done with the dive! As quickly as it appeared, the Monk just swam away effortlessly, no chance of us keeping up.
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| Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal |
The Hawaiian Monk seal is on the endangered species list. There is fewer than 1,100 left in the world, and only found here in Hawaii. Living in Maui, it is not necessarily uncommon to see a Monk Seal, but it certainly isn't an every day occurrence. These animals tend to favor the northern area of the Hawaiian islands, and to see them in Maui just makes it that much more special. This will be my third underwater encounter with a Monk Seal, and my 5th time ever seeing them (twice I have been privileged to see them hauled out on the beach taking a nap in the sun). Amazing animals indeed. I feel blessed to have had this chance to witness this graceful behemoth (500lb) animal under the water, and to get paid to do so, well, it don't get much better than that!
