Scull Cave Dive

Out with Big Island Divers again! They are our ohana when we come to Kona and that is just the way it is!

Skull Cave has many names, one of which is Suck 'em Up which I dove last December. It is a very requested dive by most people who are just beginning to dive the Kona, Hawaii coastline. Jim, our captain this dive, just for me, told me it was "Scull Cave" which it is also known as because the formations of the rocks have an eye "socket" that you can swim into then swim through the "cranium" cavity and then out through the other eye.



Last time the surge was much to strong to swim through the cave and like it's other name implies it can suck a diver up and out through a hole in the top where spray from surge exits these lava formed caves along the coast.
Dennis is making his way through the cave. The picture below is of the shark deep in the cavern. It is somewhat hard to see through the scatter of sand and debris that kicks up with divers and waves and with a flash on that light is reflected right back at the camera. If you look closely you can see this big guy's eye and mouth, he is facing the camera in fact, like he was just waiting for a photo opportunity! I'm hoping that there might be a few other sites where we saw white tips and got better luck in dark caves taking pictures of these predators!

While we were diving this site we were able to see many fish and while going through the cave we spotted a white tip reef shark sleeping along the sandy bottom towards the edge and bottom of the cave in a sandy area that is perfect for how they enjoy sleeping before nightfall and they start to hunt. All of the dive masters call them "the labrador retrievers of the sea." After seeing so many this trip I am also coming to this same conclusion. They are amazing to see especially when they are about the same length as Dennis... and he is six feet tall!
He doesn't look worried at all...



In the mean time we are always looking for amazing photo opportunities to capture fish everyone would like to have in an aquarium in their home. One of these, for me, is the wrasse. They are so colorful and if you take dead coral and rocks from the bottom and turn them over these fish will come right up to your hand to feed on the algae and small animals on the rocks.


As we were entering yet another lava tube and cave this very large spotted puffer was just leaving. Austin loves the puffer fish and keeps hoping for an opportunity to see one actually blow up in size!

One of the hardest fish to get a really great shot of is the moorish idol. I don't know specifically why this is except that perhaps they are so thin that every time I wait to catch their side, they turn and all I capture is a skinny backside. However, this day was a good day for photographing this moorish idol. Maybe his name was Gill?