New Divemasters and a new wreck to explore!

 Aloha! As the big waves pound the North Shore, we have been enjoying phenominal dives off the South, South East and West shores.  Three Commerson Frogfish, two Spotted Eagle Rays, a huge Green Sea Turtle, and a Sting Ray were seen on the Sea Tiger recently. The Y0-257 & San Pedro have hosted tons of large turtles, a White Tip Reef Shark, and the site has been chock full of endemic fish. Kewalo Pipe has unveiled Leaf Scorpionfish, Frogfish, a Dragon Eel, a number of Phyllidias, several Octopus and two Imperial Nudibranchs.  A huge squadron of Spotted Eagle Rays, a Great Barracuda, and a school of Porcupinefish have been seen on the Mahi. Makaha Caverns has been off the hook, with turtles, octopus, and nudibranchs galore.

 During a recent Wreck Diving specialty, we explored three wrecks on the SE side of island: Baby Barge, New Barge, and a previously unexplored barge.  On the second day of course, we explored a new dive site off our boat Deep Ecology 1 on the West side. We descended to the wreck that sits in 98ft of water and located approximately 125 feet off the bow of the Mahi. The barge has been down there some time, judging from the amount of coral growth on the structure. It is a fantastic testament to what an artifical reef can do to the marine environment, with tons of tropical fish swarming the wreck.  A huge octopus, several cone shells, and a giant Yellow Margin Moray were found in and around the wreck as a few Eagle Rays cruised by on their way to the Mahi.  Diving a new site was an amazing experience and we are ready to explore it again.

We would like to congratulate our newest Divemasters: Craig Fujii and Carly Quisenberry. This is a major accomplishment and they both did an absolutely magnificent job.  Welcome to the world of professional diving Craig and Carly!

Tyler

Congrats to Tessa and Galen! The Deep Ecology Family's Newest Instructors

   We are very proud to announce that two of our diving family are newly minted PADI Instructors! Tessa Kinney and Galen Housely completed the PADI Instructor Exam on September 27th.
    Tessa has worked at Deep Ecology for over two years now, as Assistant Manager and Divemaster Extraordinaire.  In addition to her work in the shop and in the water, she has led DE staff and friends on numerous beach and ocean cleanups. While she is moving to Oregon soon, we all hope for her speedy return.  Great job, Tessa!
     Galen joined the Deep Ecology family last summer by taking on Open Water class with us.  He quickly moved thru the ranks by getting his Advanced Open Water, Rescue, Wreck, Nitrox and Divemaster before going thru the IDC.  If he is not SCUBA diving, then he is probably freediving or buying a new piece of diving gear or accessory.  If you want  to try a new pair of fins, ask Galen.  He owns every model ever made.  Congrats, Galen!

Turtle Rescue

Our summer has been very eventful and rewarding with conservation events. Amongst the many beach and underwater clean-ups we have conducted this season, we have also been a part of two influential Green Sea Turtle rescues. The first took place outside of the Three Tables area where one of our instructors/videographers, Ricardo Taveira, was able to locate a tangled turtle. Despite his efforts to set it free, he was not successful and decided to bring this particular turtle to shore. With the help of several good samaritans on the shore and the local Fire Department, this turtle was happily re-introduced into its natural habitat of Cathedrals. This turtle was named 'Izzy' in honor of Ricardo's daughter who was visiting the island at the time.

The second endangered turtle sighting was while taking Deep Ecology customers diving on one of our scheduled exclusive North Shore boat dives. As an eco-conscious dive company we have made it our mission to make routine stops at turtle cleaning stations to check the health and status of our resident North Shore turtles. It is Deep Ecology's policy to make these stops on absolutely every boat dive we do, regardless of the scheduled site we will be diving. As the dive guide took this routine check through the turtle cleaning station, he recognized the danger that one particular turtle was in. Fishing line had completely encompassed and entangled this particular turtle's neck and right fin. With the help of two Deep Ecology dive customers, the tangled mess of fishing line brutalizing this turtle was carefully removed. This turtle, which was named Carl after a customer who helped save this turtle, was also returned to its home with the help of Deep Ecology customers and staff.

You can watch videos of the turtle rescues here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nj_iWFRZYE

and here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ioT0RFtz5k