Keep Calm and Dive On (Advanced Open Water Cert)

kai = ocean

Prior Experience

Troy and I got our Open Water Certification on our honeymoon in Cozumel, back in 2000. Since that time, we’ve been sporadic divers. The first few years, we dived about once a year, back in Cozumel and in the Keys. Then we had Riv and dive trips became even more sparse, only venturing out when we stayed at Sandals resorts in Jamaica, which include diving in their all-inclusive packages. Jamaica does not have great visibility or very healthy reefs, and while we had fun, it didn’t drive us to seek out more dives.

Last year when we came to help Riv move to O’ahu, we did a couple of shallow dives close to Maunalua Bay with an outfit out of Hawai’i Kai called Reef Pirates, and we instantly remembered just how wonderfully vibrant fish and reefs can be and we vowed to do more diving.

And then we moved here, so we should level up and do our Advanced Open Water certification! The ocean is calling our name . . .

Session 1 – Deep Dive + Boat Dive

Corsair Plane Wreck

During a training mission in 1948, this WWII aircraft’s engine started to sputter. The experienced pilot made a smooth water landing, wheels up, flaps slightly extended, and was promptly rescued. Even though the plane wasn’t damaged, it also wasn’t buoyant and was sunk rather than towed in. After decades underwater, the plane is no longer quite as intact but it is a nice shelter for moray eels and squirrel fish.

The dive site is considered advanced because of its depth (109′) and its unpredictably strong currents. It qualified as our “Deep Dive” in the advanced certification. We only were able to get about 15 minutes of bottom time due to the depth, but that was plenty of time to survey the locals, including a huge patch of garden eels whom I had fun playing with by waving my hand in their direction and having them pop down into their holes (which they live in their whole lives)!

Anglers Reef

On this reef dive (48′), our dive master Dray found a beautiful Hawaiian Day octopus who put on quite a show. The reef itself is fossilized, so not very colorful, but the fish were beautiful, including a slipper lobster and a peacock flounder.

Session 2 – Wreck Dive + Peak Buoyancy

Baby Barge

Our second wreck dive was the Baby Barge, a flat barge that was sunk in the 1980s to act as an artificial reef. It’s largely degraded, so there’s no entry points, but there are lots of shelves and ledges for all kinds of tropical fish to enjoy. We were generally around 73′ and really enjoyed exploring the entire structure, which houses lots of bluefin jack, trumpet fish, and my favorite – the yellow-tailed Coris.

Keanu’s Reef

Because you can see Keanu Reeves’ Honolulu mansion from the dive site (a nice-looking, multi-leveled, white circular compound), the dive shops calls this site Keanu’s Reef. Pretty cute, right? We saw so many fish at this reef, including large clusters of blue-striped snapper that I thoroughly enjoyed chasing – making them scatter and then reform their giant balls 🙂 We saw tons of parrot fish chewing along the reef in large groups as well as tons of urchins and even a few thorny starfish (who are bad news for reefs). On the return trip to Koko Marina, we passed through a canoe race of about 200 single-man outrigger canoes!

Session 3 – Fish Identification + Navigation

We had initially planned to wrap up our third and final session at the end of October, but due to windy conditions, we postponed until November 6, which happened to be the day after the presidential election. Troy and I were both feeling traumatized, and I even considered postponing the dives again, but then I figured I needed to get into nature and gain perspective, and that turned out to be the right decision. Nature heals. The world is breathtaking. There is so much good and worth saving. So we kept calm and dove on.

Koko Craters

We had done this reef last year as one of our shallow dives, but we enjoyed it even more this time. There are three Buddha statues around the site, and sooooooo many huge honu! We saw at least 8 large sea turtles, and I stared deeply into their eyes (from a comfortable distance, of course) and begged them for wisdom. One mature matriarch seemed to tell me to breathe deeply and relax. She didn’t tell me everything would be alright, but I choose to think that’s what her ultimate message was.

Turtle Canyon

Despite its name, we didn’t see any turtles at this shallow dive, but we did enjoy the typical native fish – squirrel fish, trumpet fish, jack, butterflyfish, and lots of gorgeous triggerfish – both the humuhumunukunukapua’a and other equally beautifully crazily-patterned triggerfish. A large group of them hung out with us while we were on our decompression stop. Troy and I made a square using our compass to complete the last skill for our advanced water certification, and then we celebrated with a shaka.

Thanks, Reef Pirates! Your dive masters and boat captains are awesome, and we had a very fun and very safe experience!