56 replies to this topic

[Travelnsj]

Hi Chuck,

Just got back yesterday. Man that flight is Hell!

You must be getting the rain I had in Palau for a day. On my no dive day (day before yesterday) the wind were kicking up and there was a storm north of Palau.

Sounds like you had a good time. Hope to have my report posted tomorrow. Everytime i go to Palau, I never think it can get any better. I am always proved wrong! WOW.... this was the best trip ever.

I read your note that you found the reason for reef hooks. I have made an apparatus that centers the hook on my BC. Made up of plastic clips and steel rings. Well I encountered such strong currents at Blue Corner and Peleliu (3 to 5 knots) they snaped! With a full BC.....That was fun burning air grabbing that hook.

Walter if you read this I now KNOW what SNAP BOLTS ARE!!! LOL.

Also Kamala if you read this, I talked to Sam and he will see you at the show about a SD trip next year!

[chinacat46]

Well it's Sunday here in Kosrae and on Sunday nothing goes on so I'm reading and using the internet as well as scoping out the tide pools. It's just as well I can't dive since it's been raining on/off today and yesterday. I dove yesterday in the rain and other then reduced viz the diving was awesome though. In fact the diving here is excellent. I've done 6 dives here so far bringing my total for the trip to 80 over 74 hours of bottom time too! The hard corals here are not to be beleived best I've ever seen bar none. My only disappointment with the diving is the quantity of fish. The diversity is good but the amount shows the effects of all the fishing they do here. They preserve their reef but not their fish! That being said I have seen some cool things here. On my first day diving I was the only diver except for the divemaster and the cook from the resort. The rule here is dive till you get to 500 psi and then do your safety stop. My dives are averaging 76 mins and an average of about 40' according to my computer. The very first dive we had a 5-6' grey reef shark checking us out the whole dive. It was strange since it was a drift dive and started at 80' as we moved down the reef and back up to shallower depths the shark just stayed with us getting as close as 10' or even closer. The cook is a fairly new diver and was a little freaked. The divemaster said he's never seen anything like that nor have I. On the second dive we were graced with two eagle rays and it was just me and the divemaster. The next two days there were two other divers besides me and the divemaster. Yesterday was awesome on the first site which was just outstanding(all have been but this one was the best so far) coral formations we saw a school of black snappers after jumping in and then I stuck my face down in the coral and seaweed and started finding nudibranchs. I've found them on all the dives but on this dive I found 7(3 different kind). Later in the dive I saw the mother of all porcupine fish. Must have been close to 3 feet and had a huge head and eyes. Then we all saw a turtle but very near the end I found the grandmother of all octupus. The biggest sucker I've ever seen. I yelled on water and the divemaster heard me. He came over and was blown away as well. He called Chris over as Rob had already run out of air and was back on the boat. It's hard to say how long this guy was but his head would dwarf a basketball(NO CRAP!) The place I'm staying at is called the Village Resort and is very similar to the place I stayed at in Pohnpei called the Village Hotel except I like this one a lot better. The bungalows are similar but this one has a frig and coffe and coffemaker. The frig is stocked with drinking water, oranges and the famous Kosrae green tangerines(great!). They also have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Red Hook ESB in the resturant. Thought I died and went to the parking lot of a Grateful Dead concert! The diving boat here is also a lot nicer then the other Village except the engine which is smaller so the boat is slower. But since we only do two dives a day and I'm in no hurry that isn't a big issue. The boat is a 26' catamaran which has room for 6 customers plus crew. I hope to do 8 more dives here Monday thru Thursday and then fly to Hawaii on Friday. Saturday I'll board the Kona Aggressor for my last leg of the trip. Be home in two weeks!

[Blublood]

Great stuff.....Oh man....it wouldn't take much. Enjoy we are all living vocariously through you!

[Travelnsj]

Chuck,

WOW what great reports! And to think i thought i did great the last 10 days by getting around 22 hours of bottom time!! You definitely out did me

But we must compare notes on Palau and Kona when you get back.

If you get this e-mail before you get on the Aggressor in Kona....a couple of great dive spots i have found were Spaceship and the Arches.

Keep up the great diving.

Scott

[chinacat46]

Well things are winding down here in Micronesia. It's Good Friday(9am) and I fly to Honolulu today at 3:30 pm. I get to Honolulu Friday morning 2:30 am 13 hours before I leave. Got to love the date line when traveling east. I really enjoyed Kosrae after being disappointed with Pohnpei. I ended up doing 15 dives total here including one night dive. My total bottom time for 15 dives was 18:51. My shortest dive was the night dive at 68 mins and my longest was 78 mins. I sited 8 eagle rays, 10 turtles, one moray, one lobster, one decorator crab, two crabs, many hermit crabs of varying size, 30-40 nudibranchs(8 different kinds), a few grey and black tip sharks as well as positively ID 14 types of butterfly fish. I'm upto 89 dives total on the trip with Hawaii still to go. I had hoped to do 120 dives but after only doing 10 dives on Pohnpei instead of 16 I pretty much shot a chance of doing 120 dives. But the diving in Pohnpei didn't justify the extra 6 dives. I did 7 days of diving here in Kosrae and 3 of them I was the only diver. The other 4 days there were 2 others besides myself. The diving here is great. When I look back at the 5 spots I visited the only one I wouldn't return to is Pohnpei. Palau was my favorite with Chuuk(Truk) tied with Kosrae for 2nd. If you like diving wrecks you must dive Truk Lagoon. No place like it anywhere in the world. I'd do it sooner then latter though as the wrecks are 61 years old and with the warm water and all the O2 hitting the insides these wrecks won't last forever. Yap was good but definitely was quite as good as I expected. I think the Typhoon that hit last April definitely did some damage to the reefs. But diving with Mantas is a thrill you must experience. The water temps were 81-82 in Yap and Palau, 82 in Truk and Pohnpei and an ungodly 84 degrees in Kosrae. I'll probably freeze in Hawaii. My next update will after the Kona Aggressor and will either be from Hawaii or Colorado upon returning. I'm bummed the trip is winding down but I still have a great week of diving to go!

[Travelnsj]

Hi Chuck,

I know how you feel about being bummed out. Been home for a week and already planning my 6th trip for next year. When i was on the dive boats in Palau people would ask me how many days i was there for....I would only answer 8 days, 7 days.....left. I really got depressed when it was only 3,2 and then Only 1 day! Next year i am planning 12 days!

I think you will probably have closer encounters with the Mantas in Kona than you had in Yap. I am interested in hearing your opinion between Yap and Kona!

Safe Diving!

Edited by Travelnsj, 24 March 2005 - 04:41 PM.

[Cold_H2O]

Dove with the Manta's off Kona... A truely wonderful experience.. Would do it again. I did buy the video and watch it ever so often.. Let us know how your dive with them goes.

[chinacat46]

Well it's all over now put on your shoes!(Sung to Baby Blue by B. Dylan)

My last stop was the Kona Coast in Hawaii for a week aboard the Kona Aggressor. I've never had a bad time on an Aggressor and this one was one of the best. The food was the best I've ever had on any liveaboard which didn't help my growing waistline. A waist is a terrible thing to mind. The diving is very different then Micronesia but that doesn't mean it's not good. The waters off the Kona Coast contain a lot of interesting fish and creatures. The water temp was a bit of a shock after having dived in 84 degree water in Kosrae to come here where it was between 75-77 with most dives at 77. In Kona I wore it all. I first put on my 3 mil hooded vest followed by my 1 mil microprene and then my 3 mil Henderson Gold Core. I felt a bit like the Michelene Man with all that protection on. But it kept me warm and I only needed 12 lbs to get down. Over the week I got in 27 dives and saw lots of interesting things. I continued my never ending quest for nudibranchs and was rewarded with some real nice ones. I think I even amazed the divemasters with my ability to find them. Unlike most of the places I've dived at they actually have cool names for thier nudibranchs in Hawaii. I found many fried eggs and strawberry nudis as well as many divided flatworms and a few fuschia flatworms but the ones I like the best were the ones I only found one of. Those would be the gold lace nudi, the lumpy nudi and the white margin nudi. But I shouldn't forget the 3 spanish dancers I saw on a night dive as well. One of which I found(the divemaster found the other 2). I had never seen a spanish dancer before and it is one huge nudibranch. The 3 we saw were between 8-12 inches. Way cool. But the coolest thing was the Manta Night Dive. I'd heard about this and I've dived with Mantas before but this was special. We had 6 Mantas that night and I got continually dived bombed for 54 mins as I sat on the bottom holding up my light over my head. I have a light cannon which is damn bright and the Mantas really were attracted to it. I had Mantas collide over me, into me, side swiped by wings and tail whipped. It is trully an amazing sight to have a huge Manta sweep down on you with it's mouth wide open. They are very graceful even when two of them run into each other. If you ever go dive off the Kona coast do not I repeat do not miss this dive. I also had an experience in lava tube which I'm happy to say I survived. There was quite a bit of surge and me and my buddy got quite the ride. I know now what it is like to be in a washing machine. The crew on board was the youngest of any liveaboard I've ever been on but they were still very professional and very fun. Did I say how good the food was? Another great thing about this was the boat only has room for 14 and I had booked into the quad room. Well there was only 9 of us so I got upgraded to double for free which considering I was getting $200 off the quad price was a great deal. After a great week on board I flew from Kona to Honolulu and called Alikat. She came and got me at the airport and showed me around the island. She was a very good host and I had a great day with her before flying back to the mainland. While I was gone American Airlines rescheduled my flight back to Denver and moved it from 11am to 12:56pm. Then it was two hours late on top of that. I hate LAX! I always seem to have a problem there luckily it's always been on the way home. But since that was the worst thing that happened on the trip I'd have to say it was one great trip. And it really was a great trip. It really was!!!

Final stats:

116 dives -- 115 hours(exactly) of bottom time. I knew I had to stay down 67 mins on my last dive to get to 115. Everybody was on the boat but me. The crew was wondering if I was ever gonna come up. Everybody else did a short last dive.

10.5 lbs weight gained. Didn't exercise for 8 weeks unless you count putting on and taking off a wetsuit. Drank to many beers as well, but I was on holiday!

[Travelnsj]

Well Chuck......Did I say that Manta Dive would be one of the best dives ever????? See why I have never stopped off at Yap!

Regarding the Lava tube dives were they the Spaceship or the Arches? Those are my favorites!

Every year I go to Kona in July..... when the water is 82 just for those dives. So Chuck what are you doing this July? I need a Buddy!

Can't wait to read your full report. I posted mine from Palau......seems like a year ago!

Edited by Travelnsj, 04 April 2005 - 05:45 PM.

[nextariel]

Hey Chuck, glad you made it back and with incredible stories and dives. Too bad,
you have to get on another boat in less than 2 weeks.

[jextract]

Hey Chuck! I'm so glad that you had a great time and that you enjoyed Kosrae as much as you did. It is the only place I've been where I have seriously considered not coming home from. It's really nice that you had the same experince I did at KVR, that you were the only one in the water besides the DM. And how nice are Katrina and Bruce?

Welcome back, my friend!

[chinacat46]

Jamie,

Katrina says hi. Got to know her better then Bruce. Bruce was only there a few days while I was there. He had been in the US for 6 weeks and got back near the end of my stay. Yeah the hard coral in Kosrae is incredible and depending which part of the island you dive off it's totally different. I to thought about staying there. I kept telling the divemaster I was gonna take his job.

- Chuck