Fun trip to manuka bay

Went boat camping this week to manuka bay. Takes about 6 hours at trolling speed to get there. Went offshore on the way down to look for a group of orcas that we're reported to be in the area. Unfortunately didn't find them. Did see a big hammerhead shark and dolphins and missed a couple marlin. Once in shore we caught a couple Ono that Alan reeled in.

Fun few days camping with friends. On the way home we did a deep dive at auau crater and bryn reeled in a large rainbow runner.

Ahi

Caught a nice yellowfin tuna couple weeks ago!

Had some friends out that we're in town for their wedding. They had a crowd of friends and family in town so they were hoping to catch some good eating fish for the week. Straight out of the harbor we found a group a hundred spotted dolphins cruising south toward VV buoy. We tagged along and worked the edges of the group where big tuna often hang out and after an hour we got a solid bite. Caleb's dad got into the chair and had the fish up to the back of the boat in about 20 minutes. He did a great job for someone more accustomed to walleye fishing. It was a perfect catch and the wedding party had more than they could eat for the week.

We also saw humpback whales and pilot whales during the charter....

I'm back....

It's been awhile since posting...

We've been real busy. There have been plenty of manta rays and dolphins and there are still a few humpback whales hanging around. Conditions underwater have been great even though we've had a lot of windy days. Viz has been excellent and the temp is around 76 degrees.

Spent a week out of the water for dry dock. Had annual coast guard inspections and repowered the boat with new cummins engines. Boats running well and it's good to be back to diving. I don't mind turning wrenches but diving is more fun!

Yesterday's private charter went really well. We had returning clients that swam with a whale shark with us last year and got to watch scout actually stand up and walk across the back of the whale shark! Was very exciting and coool. Between dives we headed out to catch an Ono or Mahi Mahi and ran into a small group of Pygmy killer whales. They were moving slow and were easy to swim with. Super chill animals that look a lot like melon head whales. Heading back into shore we dropped off the divers in garden eel cove where there were a couple hundred spinner dolphins playing around and let the ladies on board spend about 40 minutes swimming with them. That's always scouts favorite part of the day. The dolphins were very social and friendly.

On our way home we dropped the lures back in the water and hooked up with a nice Ono that was around 23 -25 lbs

Everyone got to take home fish and everyone was happy!

Another day in paradise

Great private charter today... No diving... Just looking for critters and we saw a lot of em!

We watched a few humpback whales on our way up to garden eel cove where we found 200+ spinner dolphins. They were very friendly and spent a lot of time hanging around our snorkelers. Scout spent about an hour swimming with them as well. After everyone was tired we cruised offshore and found a couple groups of pilot whales... There were no sharks with them unfortunately... We were hoping to see some oceanic white tip or silky sharks. The pilot whales were fairly spread out but there were probably around 50 in all.

On our way home we found a hammerhead shark cruising on the surface and we tried to get in to swim with it but it wasn't interested.

Another fun day!

Tough day for scout

Morning charter we dove around pine trees ( kohanaiki )

Divers saw 2 sharks, 2 turtles, 2 lava tubes, a baby frog fish and more...

Between dives we swam spinner and spotted dolphins... Scout had a blast!

2nd dive at freeze face was fun for everyone with lots of critters and background chatter from the dolphins and whales that were cruising around nearby.

After the charter we hung out at the beach with some beers and wine with some turtles that were sleeping together and played fetch da coconut with scout! Poor dog had another tough day!

Whales & dolphins oh my!

Great private charter today with Alan's family in from North Carolina. We were greeted outside the harbor by a group of spinner dolphins that rode the bow as we headed offshore to look for whales. We barely made it a couple miles before we spotted a lone bull pilot whale cruising south. He was friendly and stayed on the surface near the boat. We knew there must be more nearby and they weren't hard to find. The nursery group was about 15 mothers and youngsters with a couple juvenile bulls. We were watching this group slowly moving south as I was noticing activity all around us. Within a half mile or so of us I was seeing fins and spouts all around us until everything seemed to converge in one spot. A group of spotted dolphins came in from the south as a couple more bull pilot whales escorted a young humpback whale into the fray until there was a pile of fins all swimming together! It was amazing to see three species of marine mammals all swimming together and in a very playful manner. Both the dolphins and pilot whales were wrapped around the humpback as the whale was spinning around and seemingly enjoying all the attention. The humpback was spinning and twisting around as the dolphins and pilot whales took turns riding the pressure wave in front of him! Sooooo cooool! The spotted dolphins bailed after about ten minutes and continued north but the pilot whales and humpback continued to swim together for around an hour. It was an epic show and something I've only witnessed a few times in my 15 years in kona. It seemed unlikely to find a better show so we took our group into the marine preserve for some snorkeling and chillaxing where we found a small reef shark sleeping in a lava tube.

Another great day in kona!

Scout likes playing with balls at the beach

Fun in the sun.... Got to hang out at a friends vacation rental on the beach

It's one scouts favorite places

Mine too

Rebreather

We had six rebreathers on the boat today... New prism2 . The new units look great and performed well. Everyone had fun and there were no bailouts.

Lots of whales and dolphins around

Shark attack up at kiholo bay yesterday. Hopefully the surfers arm will get successfully reattached. An eye witness claims the shark was a great white. It launched itself out of the water during the attack and the witness was sure of what he saw. Great whites are known to visit Hawaiian waters during the winter months. The big swell that's in made the water at kiholo really murky so the shark probably thought it was attacking a turtle or seal.

Great Humpback Whale day!

Private charter had a great day! The first whales we saw wouldn't leave us alone. We shut down the boat and they hung out with us for about thirty minutes. They would cruise around and chill out upside down directly under the boat. The water was flat and clear and nearly water skiable !

One whale was vertical in the water with its nose about five feet underwater right next to our bow for around ten minutes. Im not spiritual but everyone felt blessed by the whale gods.

On the way home we saw several more whales( at least 20) including a mother with a calf that must have jumped out of the water fifty times. No exaggeration! The little guy seemed happy to be alive but apparently didn't want to be in the water.

Got a call from a friend who was with a 25 foot whale shark and they were only a mile away. We got there as fast as we could but it wasn't interested in hanging out with people and disappeared before we got there. We kept looking for it for about 15 minutes with no luck but we did find a scalloped hammerhead cruising on the surface. It also was uninterested in people and dove before we could get in the water with it.

We were so distracted by the Whale activity that we never made it inshore to swim with the spinner dolphins....oh well

Lots a fun on a beautiful kona day!

Best fishes!

Champions tour @ hualalai

Watching Tom Watson golfing at hualalai