Dive Log, January 31, 2005

Actually, I'm combining 3 days here. We ended up going to Manta Ray
Bay three days in a row! It's just been so great lately! We saw Spotted
Eagle Rays on every visit. Day one we saw three eagle rays, one of them
was just a baby. The second day we saw one hanging out getting cleaned
by the cleaner wrasses. We were able to hang out with it for 10
minutes. The the third day we saw 5, a threesome, followed later by a
twosome. We may have to rename the site "Eagle Ray Bay"!

Another great highlight was the Flying Gurnard spotted by Mike Ho. It's
a very difficult fish to see unless it's moving. When it spreads out
it's pectoral fins it resembles a giant moth. But, when not moving, you
don't see it because it blends in perfectly with the sandy bottom.

We've been seeing Humpback Whales and Dolphins between dives. On the
29th, a pair came within 200 feet of the diver's bubbles. Just a bit
too far out of the diver's visibility. Then today there was an
unusually large pod of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins hanging around Turtle
Pinnacles. (my guess is 100 to 150 dolphins) We spent the entire
surface interval watching them frolic and spin.

We did our second dive in the Turtle Pinnacle area in hopes of catching
a glimpse of them... but they did not come close enough to see. So, we
just listened to them while we watched the turtles.

Mother Nature had been very nice to us lately.