Trying to Remember....

A male box fish near Black Rock.

We should be spending our vacation time and money working on Oceanus. But Virginia and I decided we need a break. Seems like all we have been doing for the last 14 months is work, work on the boat, work, work on the boat, rinse and repeat. So, we're on Maui -- we flew this time -- for 10 days of scuba diving. We're billing this as a let's-remember-why-we-are-working-so-hard-on-the-boat trip.

Milletseed butterfly fish.

Virginia and I love to dive. I used to dive a lot in the Pacific Northwest, but lately the cold water (48 to 52 degrees) gets to me. Diving in Hawaii is pure bliss. A big part of my motivation for sailing away on the boat, and an even bigger part of Virginia's, is to dive, or at least snorkel, every day in warm, clear water. The reef life is amazingly beautiful and interesting. The experience of weightlessness and total relaxation I experience when I dive is unlike anything else.

Coral-banded shrimp

 So far we have chalked up 12 dives, including a boat trip to Lana'i and an underwater pumpkin-carving contest. (We came, we carved, we got the T-shirt.) We will most likely snorkel tomorrow, since we have to fly home the next day.

Virginia carved a witch to enter in the "Best Use of Stem" category. She didn't win, but we got a T-shirt.

Lest any of you think that all we do is dive when we come to Hawaii, well, you're mostly right. But we do snorkel occasionally on our "rest" days. And this year Virginia won tickets to a luau, which is a story unto itself. The luau was a good one. It had excellent food and the dancing and singing made you feel like you were getting a little Hawaiian culture.

Meantime, back underwater....

Two four-spot butterfly fish at Makena Landing.

A snowflake eel at Makena.

A green turtle at Honolua Bay.

A white mouth moray eel at Black Rock

Mr. and Mrs. Lizardfish hanging out at Black Rock Diner.

Divers in the world-famous Cathedral Number One of Lanai.

Raccoon butterfly fish and a few wrasses make a feast of eggs from a sargent major's nest off of Lanai.

A rainbow butterfly fish off of Makena.

Moorish idol near the Black Rock.

Juvenile longnose butterfly fish near Black Rock.

Hawaiian cleaner wrasse near Black Rock.

A whitemouth morey eel with a three-spot damsel fish.

Two juvenile homosapiens swimming near the Black Rock.

We think this is a Christmas wrasse but it might be a rainbow wrasse off of Black Rock. Or maybe and ornate wrasse. It's tough to tell with most wrasses because the juvenile usually doesn't look like the adult and males often don't look anything like females.

A rock mover wrasse. The juvenile looks so different that it's called a dragon wrasse. Both juvenile and adult are strange-acting creatures. The juvenile can bury itself in the sand faster than you can blink your eye.

Good-bye Hawaii. Next time we see you we will be here on our Oceanus.