We were up early this morning for breakfast before heading to the dive shop to rent tanks for some shore diving. Because we missed a dive yesterday, due to the crazy surf, the shop offered us a replacement boat dive, so we signed up for a twilight dive to come just before our night manta dive. As a result, our manta dive got moved to tomorrow when we already had two morning dives booked...so tomorrow is a 4 dive day! Yahooo
After getting our tanks and gear loaded we headed out to see what the conditions were like at the near by shore diving sites we had checked out earlier. We were a little late getting out there and as a result the surf was quite strong again. We decided to go in search of a site south of Kona called Two Steps. It was described as a protected cove with lots of fish and turtles so that sounded like our best bet. It was a bit farther away than we were expecting but we found it and the entry looked doable...so we suited up and headed in. There were indeed 'two steps' (actually rocks) where we got in so the entry was pretty easy. The dive was nice...lots of coral and pretty fish. Not too much surge or current. We explored for about 45 minutes and then headed in. Our exits were not quite as graceful as our entries but there was a lot of group effort to get everyone out with their gear and limbs intact. We only had a few pulled muscles, bruising and minor bleeding. Success!
It was funny watching all of the sun bathers who were basking on their towels on the lava watching the creatures from the black lagoon hauling each other out of the surf! LOL
One of the highlights of this dive was the huge turtle that was hanging around right at our exit point...it was almost like he was trying to help us get out...or maybe he was just coming close to get a good laugh at the clumsy humans!
After getting our tanks and gear loaded we headed out to see what the conditions were like at the near by shore diving sites we had checked out earlier. We were a little late getting out there and as a result the surf was quite strong again. We decided to go in search of a site south of Kona called Two Steps. It was described as a protected cove with lots of fish and turtles so that sounded like our best bet. It was a bit farther away than we were expecting but we found it and the entry looked doable...so we suited up and headed in. There were indeed 'two steps' (actually rocks) where we got in so the entry was pretty easy. The dive was nice...lots of coral and pretty fish. Not too much surge or current. We explored for about 45 minutes and then headed in. Our exits were not quite as graceful as our entries but there was a lot of group effort to get everyone out with their gear and limbs intact. We only had a few pulled muscles, bruising and minor bleeding. Success!
It was funny watching all of the sun bathers who were basking on their towels on the lava watching the creatures from the black lagoon hauling each other out of the surf! LOL
One of the highlights of this dive was the huge turtle that was hanging around right at our exit point...it was almost like he was trying to help us get out...or maybe he was just coming close to get a good laugh at the clumsy humans!
Once we had towelled off and stowed our gear back in the cars it was time for FOOD! On our way to the dive site several of us recalled seeing a sign for a place called Burgers and Beer which is pretty much perfect for this crowd so off we went. After quite a few miles of searching we were unable to locate this restaurant or even any hint of the sign...it was a bit of a Twilight Zone moment...we were SURE we saw it on the way out...but now it was gone! So we all headed back to our resort and then decided on Humpy's for lunch...burgers of course :-).
After lunch the boys were fading fast and needed naps so while they headed off to bed the girls showered up and went out for a bit of shopping. There are lots of cool little shops and art galleries in the area and was even a flea market open today. We shopped for about 3 hours then headed back to rendezvous with the sleeping beauties for dinner. We dragged ourselves away from Bubba Gump's tonight and went to Outback Steakhouse instead. The food and service was good but not quite as good as Bubba's.
We just heard that the Manta dive was cancelled tonight due to the high waves so we are really hoping that things will be calm enough tomorrow to get our 4 dives in. Apparently there was a big storm that hit Oahu and we are feeling some of the aftermath from that.
I'm sure the dive shop will do the right / safe thing. They have been very excellent to deal with so far. Very funny, flexible folks who really look like they love what they do.
Now it's time for bed to the sounds of the pounding surf :-)
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