Diving The North Side

Today I had the privilege and opportunity to dive on the north side of Maui (West Maui Mountains), an uncommon dive area for work. Our goal was to collect Titan scorpionfish. And the north side was a great place to find large adults. We couldn't pass this opportunity up. Conditions were suppose to be smooth as glass...very rare. And MOC only gets to go once every year. That's how choppy it can get.

I used to live in Kahakuloa and the commute to work was treacherous, lots of windy roads and single lanes. It was extremely cool to see the side of the cliffs from the boat and even see my old apt, which is attached to a very large and beautiful house on the cliffside.




I broke my deepest depth record of 118 feet today. I hit 128 feet!! That was awesome. In tropical waters you can't really feel the changes, such as pressure when you descend. But I did feel an unusual tingling in my body. I wasn't sure if I was getting narced or if it was the pressure. But it did make me nervous for a few seconds. These pics are not from todays dive but I did try to catch this Bandit Angelfish at 50 ft. I was unsuccessful, but I almost had it.


Environmental conditions were different than what I was used to diving on the south and west side of Maui...very surgy and lots of dropoffs (150 ft and deeper). The first dive was like a rock wall covered in cup coral, sponge, and various hard coral. The second dive was at 50 ft and the bottom was covered with enormous boulders. No sand at all. Coming back to the boat on the first dive was a bit intimidating. The visibility was about 20-25 ft of just solid blue water. So you're basically suspended in blue water with nothing to focus on. You no longer see the rock wall or the bottom, but you can see the waves. You basically need to use some navigation skills and guide yourself back to the boat. I had a great day at work. It definitely beats sitting in an office.