Another phenomenal day in Hawaii

I had another outrageous day in Hawaii. It started with getting up well before the sun did, I felt like I was back in Seattle getting ready to go to work b/c of how early it was (5:30 am). After not being able to sleep well the night before, I just switched rooms, have a new bed, and have been lounging around for a few days reading in bed; it finally caught up with me. But back to the main point of this blog. So on the road at 6 am with one of my roomies (his last day at the house) we headed out to meet with another ex-intern. We pick her up in Pearl City and head out for Wai'anae (it is pretty much as far away as you can get from Hawai'i Kai and through rush hour traffic even). Shortly after 7:30 (oops we were suppose to be there at 7:30) we arrive at the boat dock with gear in hand to go diving!!! Again all I can say is it was amazing. Everything was picture perfect. The weather, outstanding, the sights great, snacks and beverages superb! The first dive was a 90 ft sunken Mine Layer called the Mahi. It was sunk in 1982 to be an artificial reef. I can say that it has succeeded. We saw so much coral. Also so an some beautiful fish, Eagle rays just hovering in the current, some Nudibranchs (I was soo excited on the inside), Urchins, and a well hidden frogfish. The visibility was excellent (compared to my good old puget sound). After surfacing we headed toward the second sight on the boat. Along the way we got a special treat by seeing Humpback whales spouting, fluke slapping, and we even got the amazing (sorry for the overuse of that word) privilege of getting to see one of the large beast breaching. We could see the complete chest and the entire pectoral fin clear the water before he/she came crashing down. WOW!!! The second dive to me seemed unneeded after such great things already, but life just got better at Papio Place. We could actually here the whales between breaths, again an huge range of fish. Puffers, triggerfish, surgeons, convict fish, trumpet fish, more nudies, urchins, and a grand palette of coral. Some got lucky enough to see a taco (octopus) unfortunately I missed that. I am so excited and ready for my next expedition (I can't believe I waited this long to go diving here, I hope to set up another trip shortly after I get a job and am making some money).