WARNING: I have a rant that I have to get off my chest before we get to the pretty fish. If you want to skip it, just scroll down.
There is something I have noticed about scuba diving on vacations. The fish are pretty; the people are weird. It's not the dive masters; it's the other vacationers. Yes, I realize that makes me weird by proxy, but I think I must be the exception that proves the rule, otherwise I wouldn't realize their weirdness. Or maybe I'm a fish, and not a diver.
I did two 2 tank dives on this trip, one at Tunnels Beach on the North shore and the other at Koloa Landing on the South Shore. At both of these dives, I was the most experienced diver. That's never happened before! The first couple I dove with at Koloa Landing (I'm going to refer to them as the Stupids) was from San Franscisco and had not been diving in 2 years, although they had brand new BCDs (they vest-like things that attach to tanks) that they had never used before. The dive master spent 30 minutes figuring out how to attach tanks to their BCDs while they sat and watched him and didn't even offer to help. When the dive master asked if we had been diving "here" before, I said, "well, I think I've been here before, but I'm not sure." But when he said here, he meant Kauai in general and I meant "this place we are diving today right now." The Stupids then laughed at me and said that it must have not been very memorable if I don't remember. I let that sit for a little while and ended up correcting them later when they were telling me about their last dive trip in Maui, 2 years ago. I explained that although I believe I did dive in this same location within the last 4 years, I couldn't remember during which of the 4 trips that dive took place.... VINDICATED. Also, when we were getting in the water, the woman was saying that it would take her a while to get down to the bottom because she had to get over her water anxiety. Neither of them used the lead rope to guide them down, so it took them a good 10 minutes to get down 30 feet. During the whole first dive, every time I checked on them, they looked like they were bickering, if you can even do that under water. Then, during the break, the woman said that what she really wanted to do was a cage dive with great white sharks. How you gonna do that, Mrs. Stupid, if you're scared of open water?
There was only one other diver in my dive group at Tunnels Beach. She was a lawyer from LA that had not been diving in 3 years, when she got certified on a cruise. She also didn't realize that this dive took place in lava tubes, which are underwater tunnels... even though the beach is called Tunnels Beach and is in every guide book about Kauai ever made. It's not the same as cave diving because there are always multiple entrances and cracks that allow light into the tunnels rather than one entrance and darkness. She talked a big game. When we got down on the floor, she was right behind the guide, which is fine, I don't have to be first in line, except that she was kicking up sand in my face so I couldn't see anything. And when you get in the tubes, you have to maneuver by pushing off the rocks with your hands so you don't kick up sand in small places and ruin visibility - I had asked about this before the dive for her benefit because I remember I did this last year, thinking I couldn't touch the rocks. So I got in front of her; I didn't want sand in my face for an hour. I think that contributed to her subsequent freak out right before we went into the first tunnel, which was the equivalent of running around a tree that was really close to a wall. She said she was hyperventilating and surfaced after 15 minutes. Really? But you talked such a big game! Then she said she wanted to continue diving, but didn't want to go into the tubes... which is where most of the cool stuff is and basically the point of this dive. Thanks for being so considerate, Big Game. So the dive master, who was trying to make the dive more interesting, kept picking up dead crustaceans, lobsters, crabs, etc. to show her because there were not a bunch of cool things to look at on the OUTSIDE of the caves (and he was a little weird too.) He would hand her the dead thing and she would take it and look at it like it was a treasure and try to hand it to me. I was like, "No, thanks, I'm gonna go look at those fish." Also, I didn't feel extra safe on this dive because the dive master had to give Big Game so much attention; I was an afterthought. I guess he had confidence in my ability though, because he let me go through the tubes alone while they went around to the other side and waited for me, which was a little scary but exciting at the same time. On the second dive, there is a spot known at the turtle Cleaning Station, it is really neat to see because you are nearing the end of the dive and you are on the ocean floor, then you start to go up a bit because you get to a large lava formation, like a big rock. When you get to the top of this rock, which is about 15 feet under water, there are turtles hovering above it, letting the fish clean them. And it kind of switches from dark to light, with sunlight shinning down on the turtles. In memory, it feels like slow motion, almost like you are the sun and you are rising over the lava rock like it is earth, seeing a little bit at a time. It is I think the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. There were two turtles there this time, one was about 15 years old, small, and then a larger one. They were awesome to look at. But when you see turtles, you look, make a mental picture and go on to the next thing because you don't want to freak them out. The dive master and I were on our way to the next thing when we realized Big Game swam right up in between the turtles and scared one off, but the little one was still there. He was kind of floating with her for a few minutes, which I admit must have been cool. But she was not floating. She was sloppily standing on top of the rock, letting her fins hit around on coral and the other critters that were there. That's a big bad in diving. If you accidentally tap coral, it is the equivalent of Godzilla's tromp on the city (Yes, Preston, there is only one Godzilla - this is an ongoing argument). I think Big Game may have been the most stupid person I ever met. To top it off, she was vomiting when we surfaced and splashing it around. I just swam off a little bit because I didn't want to get vomited on, but the dive master had to stay and help her because it is his job. He was giving me this look like, "This is so gross, I want to swim away too." Then Big Game said, "I made fish food!" Thanks, Big Game. Thanks so much.
The Pretty Fish Part starts here!!
There are lots of pretty fish in Kauai. And some endemic species too. I don't take my own underwater pictures, although I would like too. But I think it is really hard to capture how beautiful it is underwater sometimes, and while you are busy trying to take a picture that wont satisfy you, you miss really beautiful stuff. I have found some images from other websites of some of the fish I saw on these dives. All of the fish and underwater creatures here were pretty, but these fish are kind of unique in that I haven't seen some of them before. The links to the other websites are underneath the pictures. I did not take these pictures!!
On another note, I have gotten to a point in my dive "career" where I want to see sharks. Before, I was adamant that I did not ever want to be in the water with sharks until I was in the water, then I really wanted to see one. I don't want to go looking for sharks on a shark dive or anything, but I would like to happen upon one, a white tip reef shark specifically because their mouths can not unhinge and therefore it is harder for them to bite you, and you can pet them. I don't really want to happen upon any other type of shark. But alas, I did not see any. The two best things I saw were the turtles are the silver schooling fish (the first and last pictures), so if you are sick of ready this super long post already, just read those two captions and look at the other pretty pictures... that I didn't take.
This is a guide to the different types of fish found in Kauai.
I saw two turtles on each dive. The turtles at Tunnels were beautiful and healthy, while one of the turtles at Koloa Landing had growths on him and fishing line wrapped around him. That was very sad to see, considering how majestic these turtles regularly are. The dive master on that dive told us that they would actually put turtles down when they get growths like that because it disables them. (This part is copied from the above rant, just in case you skipped the rant) On the second dive, there is a spot known at the turtle Cleaning Station, it is really neat to see because you are nearing the end of the dive and you are on the ocean floor, then you start to go up a bit because you get to a large lava formation, like a big rock. When you get to the top of this rock, which is about 15 feet under water, there are turtles hovering above it, letting the fish clean them. And it kind of switches from dark to light, with sunlight shinning down on the turtles. In memory, it feels like slow motion, almost like you are the sun and you are rising over the lava rock like it is earth, seeing a little bit at a time. It is I think the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. There were two turtles there this time, one was about 15 years old, small, and then a larger one. They were awesome to look at.
(click to see image website)
I don't remember ever seeing a parrotfish before (top, click to see image website). It reminds me of the fish in a children's book, Rainbow Fish. they look like they are smiling. I saw this fish while Big Game and the dive master were looking at uncool dead things. She (I know it was a she because she was purple; boys are blue) was swimming around with a yellowish horned fish, but I can't remember exactly what it looked like, so I couldn't identify it. It may have been a filefish or a triggerfish, but I think it was a Shy Filefish, which is an endemic species (above, click to see image website).
This guy is really rare! They move around alot. The dive guide said the only place they ever stay long enough to photograph is at Koloa Landing, where we dove, and that if you see a pic of one, it was probably taken there. I don't know if that is true, but it sounds cool. Dragon Eel (Click for image website)
Nudibranch (pronounced Nudie-branch) means basicly "naked lungs" ... or sea slug. This is not the nudibranch that I saw on my dive; I couldn't find a picture that resembled it. It was yellow and small, and really rare and I believe endemic, but google doesn't know about it I guess.
(see image website)
I don't think this is the fish I saw, but they look like the ones in this picture. The ones I saw are called something similar to Akelee, but google doesn't know that word either. They swim in schools, thousands, and they just shimmer. Last time I dove at Koloa, I saw them but didn't know what they were. They surrounded me and swam around me; it was like I was in a living cylinder of sliver. They don't seem spectacular, but they are in a big school. On this dive, they swam past us really fast, in mass. Again, thousands of them. When they swim by fast like that, it means something is chasing them. Not a shark or anything, just a bigger fish, like a Wahoo or something (the google images of Whaoo are mostly of dead fish because it is popular to eat and catch, so you can google that because I am not posting dead things on here). They did this twice, the first time we didn't see what was chasing them. The second time we did, 5 larger fish swimming after a school of thousands. It was so cool. But nothing will ever beat the Cylinder of Silver. If I ever become a super hero, that is what I'm going to call my fortress.
(see image website)
