From: leej@diver.vlsi.sgi.com (Lee Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Maui / Ed Robinson Diving
Date: 10 Apr 92 21:59:34 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.

This is a review of one day of diving I did in Maui this week.
I was on a trip that I neither earned nor paid for, so I could only
complain a *little* that I got only one day of diving.

Short summary:               
  I *highly* recommend Ed Robinson Diving Adventures.
  Do *not* dive the inside of Molokini.  The back wall is 10**3 x better.
  Do it during the humpback season.

Ed Robinson has two boats - one ~30' that holds (?) divers.  We were in
the other boat, a 16' (?) Boston Whaler that (barely) holds 6 divers.
Our divemaster was Sue (Mrs. Ed) Robinson, and the captain was Roger,
apparently a long time buddy/assistant of Ed's.  For those of you that don't
recognize Ed Robinson, he is a well known photographer on Maui, and 
you've probably seen his pictures somewhere.  He has published a good
book on Hawai'i critters in conjunction with Ann Fielding.  I think that 
book, in conjunction with Rod Canham's "Underwater Hawai'i" is a very
good reference.

We left the Kehei boat ramp at about 0700.  Sue and Roger asked us where
we wanted to go, so I said "Back side of Molokini" before anybody else
could get an answer out.  We would have been there in about 20 minutes,
but we kept stopping/redirecting to look at whales (which was just fine
with all of us).  At one point, I was carefully looking at 9:00 where
I had seen a whale spout.  A scream went up from the other side of the 
boat, and I turned around to see a splash you wouldn't have believed.
Apparently an adult humpback had breached completely out of the water
about 200 yds. from the boat (at 3:00, of course).  Throughout our ride
out to the dive site, we saw flukes going down, whales cruising along
the surface, spouts, etc.  Waaay better than any whale watching trip
I've ever been on.

We got to the backside of Molokini and were given a very thorough dive
briefing by Sue.  Those of you that have dived with Dive Makai on
Kona will recognize much of the format and content - Sue is apparently
on very good terms with Lisa and Tom.  Unlike Dive Makai, we were told
there would be a 60' depth limit, and a max time of 45 minutes.  The
seven of us slipped over the side and found a perfect wall.  The backside
of the crater literally drops straight down to 200', so the wall starts
at the surface.  Take that you Bloody Bay Wall and Sipidan fans!  We also
had been blessed with excellent weather and perfectly flat seas.  The 
visibility was (in my estimate) 120', and I was the most conservative 
of the bunch.  Water temperature was about 74 degrees (early April) and
I was glad for my full length 3mm suit.  The other divers were using
tops only provided by the Robinson's, but I think they were envious of 
my suit (Sue was wearing a top and bottom suit that I would have guessed
at 5mm).  

We immediately encountered all the standard Hawaiian tropicals, and 
started swimming along the wall at a comfortable pace, pausing once
in a while to check out a moray or whatever.  However, this was not to
be an ordinary dive.  As soon as we had all settled into our dive, I began
to realize I was hearing something besides bubbles.  Sure enough, it was
humpbacks whistling and groaning to each other.  It was amazing - what a 
soundtrack for a dive.  While you read this, try to imagine all of it 
taking place with this exquisite ethereal singing filling the water
around you.  Sue turned and cupped her hands around her ears - a pre-arranged
signal indicating to listen for the whales.  It wasn't really necessary - 
the looks on *all* of our faces showed that we were all listening.  I will
add here that it made the sound of motor boats going by all the more 
intolerable.

We were about 10 minutes into the dive when Sue began flapping her arms
wildly and pointing down.  Knowing there were only about two animals that 
could cause that response, I looked down and there (at about 100') swam
a 9' wingspan manta.  I dive with a US Divers Monitor II and it said we were
already at 62'.  Willing to risk Sue's ire for this, I nosed over and headed
down to about 80' to watch him (I decided to show *some* discretion in the
matter).  About 10 seconds into it, I glanced to my left, and saw Sue,
firmly gripping one of the other divers by the hand, parked right next 
to me enjoying the show.  Finally, the manta did one of those wingtip 
flicks that look so easy, and disappeared into the depths.  On with the 
dive, not before a few Hawaiian high-fives were exchanged.  I saw a small
(2') whitetip reef shark on the ledge at about 100' but couldn't get 
Sue's attention to point it out to the rest of the group.  She has an 
elastic "banger" attached to her tank with which she can call everybody's
attention, so when it started banging again, I looked at her and saw her
giving the "shark" sign.  I looked where she was pointing and saw a 
4-5' whitetip cruising along the same ledge.  What a dive.  After 35 minutes,
we did a 3 minute safety stop at 15' and went back to the boat.  Sue
said that it was the first manta she'd seen in over a year at that site.

We went back around to the front of Molokini to see 19 (I counted) boats -
many very large - parked inside the crater either disgorging or reboarding
snorkelers.  There were a few divers in the crowd, for whom I felt great
pity.  The five gentlemen on the boat were asked to take a brief snorkel
around while the two ladies "inspected the prop".  The snorkel was fine,
but from what I could see, it would have been an incredibly boring dive.

We got back, and Sue had already switched our gear onto fresh tanks for the
second dive.  They had planned to dive a location called "Reef's End" as
a second dive (sleeping whitetips are common), but our unplanned descent
toward the manta made that unworkable (Sue and I were the only divers with
computers).  So, we went to a location called Red Hill (Do *all* Hawaiian
islands have a dive site called Red Hill? :-).  They promised us turtles
there, and sure enough, we had half a dozen sightings while we were on the 
surface gearing up and getting our briefing.

They warned us that there would be some current, so
we all got into the water and headed toward the bottom (40') so we could grab
a rock and hold on.  I *hate* bashing reefs, so I tried to lie on the sand
or just kick a little to stay in place.  Directly underneath the boat, we 
had four green sea turtles swim around us - a major hit for turtle fans.
We then let the (light) current carry us along as we inspected the 
various coral heads.  At one coral head about 2' in diameter, Sue stopped
us, and I put my hands at the base of the head to hold on.  She came over
and none-too-gently removed my hands.  Then I saw why.  Three different
morays came streaming out of the head - none of them the typical yellow-margin
moray you see in Hawaii.  There was a dragon moray, a zebra moray, and
a leopard moray - all in the same coral head!  The dragon eel in particular
was quite aggressive and it was one of the few times in my 13 years of 
diving that I've actually felt at risk from a marine animal.  This puppy
was looking for food, and fingers seemed to be a good emulation of fish
or squid or whatever.  Sue had brought along some squid and managed to get
all three of the eels to come virtually all the way out of their holes
to get their share.  What a sight.  As the dive continued, we came upon
two more turtles, including one that we kind of snuck up on, and managed
to get within about a foot of.  

Sue also took us to the opening of a puka (cave) where she pointed out
three little dragon wrasses (juvenile rock movers).  Again, she had promised
those in the pre-dive briefing, and had a sign to indicate that's what they
were (very Lisa Choquette-like).  We went up through the puka, but with the
exception of a *big* trumpetfish, there wasn't anything interesting. 

Finally, we went around the corner of the point and the current really
picked up.  This was being done as a live (non-anchored) boat dive, so
as people got low on air, they would do a brief safety stop and then
ascend.  Roger was floating along with us and picking up divers as they
surfaced.  Finally, it was down to Sue and two divers (including myself).
We were out over sand and really flying (reminiscent of Cozumel).  With
nothing much to look at, we started doing barrel rolls and other 
hydro-acrobatics and digging on the whale songs (that were even louder
on this dive than the previous one).  At one point, I was a little 
concerned to see Sue purging her octopus about 10 seconds at a time - 
was she afraid Roger wouldn't see our bubbles?  Had we drifted farther
than normal?  Just in case, I purged my octopus for a while too.  It turned
out to be unnecessary.  We ascended after a 2 minute safety stop that took
us over the 50 minute mark and saw Roger 100' away just loading up
the most recently ascended diver.  

We reboarded and were given sodas and bearclaws and more fresh pineapple
(they offered all that between dives but I passed it up - I also skipped
the Kona coffee they were passing around).  All in all, a *great* day 
of diving.

I have nothing but good to say about Sue and Roger - I think their   
leadership was excellent, and they gave our group of divers at *least*
as much freedom/responsibility as we collectively deserved.  I had the 
impression that if we had been six very experienced divers with computers
hanging from our belts, we would have been pretty much free to do whatever
we wanted.  Sue did an excellent job of both pre-dive briefings and showing
us what she promised once we got down there.  

I *think* the charter cost is about $90 for two dives (mine was included
in the incentive trip I was on), but you'd want to check.  If you get
Sue or Roger on your charter, please tell 'em Lee Jones said hi, and that 
you were referred from the net - I think they'll get a kick out of that.

Regards, Lee
From: davew@hp-ptp.ptp.hp.com (Dave Waller)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 16:59:08 GMT
Subject: Re: Mail Order
Organization: HP Pacific Technology Park - Sunnyvale, Ca.