This morning we had a awesome group of divers!  We had a mix of experience divers, first time wreck divers and even advanced open water students.  I would like to give a big thanks to our Dive Master Brian K for helping out today.  You did a great job Brian.  Now lets talk about the dives.  As we pulled up to the first dive site we all got geared up and waited for the call from the captain that it was safe to get in the water.  Once we all got in the water our group ventured down into the deep blue to find the Sea Tiger ship wreck at about 130 ft.  Conditions were good with no current and 60 foot of visibility.  As we swam around the deck of the wreck (100 ft) we encountered giant green sea turtles, moray eels, frog fish and huge schools of fish.  It was a great dive!  After that we headed over to horse shoe reef.  On this dive most of the group followed Brian our DM and Eric and I went off to do his navigation portion of his advanced class. It was another great dive!  Thank you to the following, Eric Lau (AOW),  Carolyn & Adam Bonaventura,  Michael Peterson, David & Kyle Majewski and Lyndsy Meyer for choosing Ocean legends.

Mahalo,

Greg Williams

Ocean Legends

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the Ocean Legends crew!

Want to see it in person? Come by the shop and see it on display!

]]> http://www.oceanlegends.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1273 0 http://www.oceanlegends.com/blog/?p=1277 http://www.oceanlegends.com/blog/?p=1277#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 07:51:21 +0000 admin http://www.oceanlegends.com/blog/?p=1277

Today was a special occasion. Halloween is just around the corner and we decided to host our very first Ocean Legend’s underwater pumpkin carving contest!

The day started at the shop and our two anxious underwater carvers arrived early with their already scooped out pumpkins. Patrick brought two pumpkins and decided he was going to improvise his design while underwater on his rebreather. Dave, our second carver and scuba diver, already drew out his design of a dive flag and Ocean Legend’s name. Both contestants brought their carving knives and diving knives along with extra weight so the pumpkins won’t float away!

After loading the van and the other scuba divers gathered in, we drove off to Waianae boat harbor! The harbor was busy as usual for a sunday and we waited patiently for our charter to arrive. Our divers included Patrick, Dave,  Marcus (instructor) and three Discover Scuba Divers.

Underwater pumpkin crew!

Everyone was excited to be out by the water and the sun was shining brightly in Waianae. Around 1pm, the boat arrived from it’s morning charter and we quickly loaded our diving gear onto the South Seas II. Captain Don gave his quick briefing and then we were off to Turtles!

On the first dive, we descended down with our pumpkins in hand to a sandy patch. Patrick and Dave took their scuba diving knife and started carving! After 30 minutes of meticulous slicing and cutting, both Dave and Patrick finished their creations. We weighted down the pumpkins with lead and went for a little tour down the edge of Turtles. The visibility was clear and the fish were out in swarms. What a great day to be diving in Waianae!

Our second dive was at Turtles again except we traveled south from towards little fish garden. As we explored around little fish garden, I looked up from spying a trumpet fish and there was a HUGE MONK SEAL! I grabbed Patrick by the arm and pointed to this amazing marine mammal. They are such a treat!

Overall, it was a great way to celebrate Halloween and Mahalo to everyone who participated in the first annual underwater pumpkin carving contest!

However, there can be only one winner …

The winner for this year’s underwater pumpkin carving contest is … DAVE!

Congratulations Dave!

Ocean Legends – Jeanie – MSDT

This morning Colette, Jimmy, and I went out aboard the Kahala Kai to check out the Sea Tiger and as a treat the deep mooring at the Kewalo Pipe.  All I can say about the dives is wow.  We have marine life everywhere.  Dropping down the line at the Sea Tiger we found 2 frogfish, several large eels, a couple of turtles, and schools of reef fish waiting for us.  To top it off a 5-6 foot white tip reef shark came cruising by to check out the wreck while we were down.  Making this one of the best Sea Tiger dives I have done in a while.  Back on the surface we made most of our surface interval still moored to the wreck, before heading over to the Kewalo Pipe.  At the Pipe, we hooked up to the deep mooring, giving us easy access to some of the best reef the South Side of Oahu has to offer.  Amongst a myriad of reef life, from coral to eels, reef fish, and nudibranches, we also had a rare guest make an appearance.  Thats right a Hawaiian Monk Seal swam by and checked us out for a couple of minutes before continuing on its way.  On a side note, if you take a close look at the seal’s back you will see a radio transmitter, along with a numbered tag on its hind flippers.  Thanks for coming out for a fantastic pair of morning dives.

-Mike, PADI IDCS, Ocean Legends

Hawaiian Monk Seal

Aloha divers!  This morning I had the pleasure of diving with Mark and Cindy from Orlando, Florida as well as our own divemaster Mike Marcello.  Avid digital underwater  photographers Mark and Cindy enjoyed getting close ups of sleepy green sea turtles, yellowmargin morays, and an octopus as well as some fantastic wide-angle views of the YO-257.  Conditions this morning were picture perfect with no current and 80-90 feet of visibility.  Our second dive of the morning was at Nautilus Reef.  Cindy the “expert octopus spotter” found not one, but two octopus sitting on the reef and were not the least bit camera shy.  DM Mike also found a magnificent snake eel, which are a rare treat in Hawaii.

All in all it was a great day to be out diving, and we look forward to diving with Mark and Cindy again tomorrow!

Mahalo, Liz Manley – MSDT

Our two new PADI Open Water Scuba Divers had three full days of classroom, confined water training and open water training, but they conquered it all! Congratulations Dayton and Ron! You two did a fantastic job!

On the third day, we sailed out on the Kahala Kai to finish the final Open Water dives for their certification. It was a sunny, very hot day and the boat was buzzing with activity and anticipation for the afternoon charter. As Dayton and Ron suited up and put their gear together, we road out to our first dive site – Turtle Canyons. The visibility was good and we zoomed through some surface skills. After that, we descended down to the bottom to work on buoyancy. Ron floated in mid water like a pro and after some fine tuning, Dayton hovered beautifully. After other underwater skills, we went exploring. We arrived at the cleaning station where a big Hawaiian Sea Turtle and a smaller Hawaiian Sea Turtle were getting cleaned by black trigger fish. Turtle Canyons is almost always a great spot to see some turtles!

Time for a clean!

After boarding the boat and taking apart gear, we cruised over to our final dive – Nautilus Reef. The visibility was over 40 feet and immediately in the water, we saw a HUGE STING RAY! It was incredible to see such an amazing creature flapping its fins and swimming off into the distance. Dayton and Ron were also excited to see such a rare animal in this area. As we floated down to the bottom, the ray was gone and the dozens of sea urchins sprinkled on the bottom. We avoided them with care and began our last underwater skills. Ron once again rocked the hovering and Dayton navigated us beautifully back to the boat!

Overall, we had a great day and it was a pleasure to dive with you Dayton and Ron!

Mahalo and I will see you in the water soon!

Jeanie – Master Scuba Diver Traier

Big thanks to Jessica and Marques Thomey.  They were a cool couple that came out with us to try scuba for the first time.  As soon as we jumped in the water they both looked like natural scuba divers.  The first site was turtle canyons where we got to swim with the giant green sea turtles and also watch the reef fish eat of their shell to clean them.  Its a great example of teamwork.  The second site was Horse shoe reef where we hit our max depth of 40 feet.  On this dive we explored the reef and found moray eels everywhere. Both dives we had great conditions with good visibility and no currents. Thank you guys and we hope to see you again soon!

Mahalo,

Greg Williams

Ocean Legends

Jessica and Marques Thomey

Wow what another great day on the water.  I would like to thank the following divers… Richard Wainscoat, Lisa Kemp and Jason Kemp. Richard was finishing his open water certification with one of our instructors Marcus and Lisa and Jason were taking the discover scuba experience with me.  Congratulations to Richard for completing his open water class and becoming a new certified diver! Also Big congratulations to Lisa and Jason. You guys did great for your first time diving.  Both reefs we dove ( Turtle canyons and Kewalo pipe ) were full of  life with turtles, fish, ells, and octopus as well as great conditions with great visibility and no current.  Thank you again for choosing Ocean Legends dive center for your underwater adventures.

Mahalo,

Greg Williams

Ocean Legends

Lisa, Jason and Richard

This Morning was great! It all started out with a cool morning as I met my group of divers and we set up our gear for the first dive site. Thank you to Bridget, Marc and Patrick.  You guys are great divers. The first dive was the Sea Tiger ship wreck.  Great conditions with no current 60 -70ft of visibility, huge green sea turtles awesome eels and a cool frog fish.  It was a great dive and my group of divers were great too!  On the second dive we went over to Nautilus reef.  This reef is about 35ft and another dive with great visibility and no current. We saw more cool eels and a nice skeleton of a big king crab.  Thank you again for choosing Ocean Legends for you dive center and hope to see you again soon.

Mahalo,

Turtle sleeping on Sea Tiger deck

Greg Williams

Ocean Legends

Sea Tiger Ship Wreck In The Deep Blue!Nap time!

Today we welcome two new Open Water divers to the Ocean Legends family!  Alix and Julia passed their open water dive skills with flying colors, and we enjoyed seeing a total of 5 turtles being cleaned at Turtle Canyons.  Congratulations and we can’t wait to do more diving with you girls again for your Advanced Open Water certification!