By Maui Volunteer Dive Team Coordinator Lloyd Johnson
Our ODA-Hawai’i ocean cleanup crew set out to remove debris from Maui’s coastal waters on the 18th of July. The target site, Dragon's Teeth, is difficult to reach.
Makaluapuna Point - the site of Dragon's Teeth
We can get there via a shore dive, but the current is strong. We sometimes use scooters, but there's just too much drag. So, prior to this day, we made multiple trips to the site and staged piles of fishing tackle for later pickup. The site is a mess because it’s a popular fishing site and a lot of lines at get caught on the corals and rocks, detach from the fishing poles, and get left behind. If it was a popular dive site, divers would likely clean up what they could, but conditions barely make it feasible to reach.
With very short notice our dive boat partner ProDiver reached out to me to assemble volunteers for a calm day coming up. I managed to get the following divers to join me: Michael Dougan, Rae Duran, Tony Franks, Lindsey Gorsuch, Laurinda Hampton, Bobby John, and Mark McCutchen. We boarded ProDiver's boat (named B&B Scuba) at Kihei Boat Ramp and began the long cruise to Dragon's Teeth. There were two additional volunteers who joined us using scooters on a shore dive: Barry Lewis and Brian Siefert. Thanks to Barry for taking the photographs!
Hope this photo doesn't make you seasick :-)
Arriving at the site the sea was calm enough for our mission. After securing the anchor, we entered the water and fanned out to find the staged piles and collect more. Using lift bags, we sent baskets of trash to the surface where it was intercepted by our snorkelers and ferried to the boat.
Our crew was diligent about picking up every pile of abandoned fishing gear.
Once on the boat for our surface interval (break from diving), our captain announced that the sea was already getting rough, and it wasn't safe to remain there for a second dive. I quickly switched to a full tank and reentered to retrieve the last of our staged trash. When I got back onboard, we took a quick roll call and made a hasty departure.
ODA Crew with Catch of the Day
Back at the boat ramp we weighed our booty, 206 lbs. The bulk of the weight is lead which gets converted into dive weights. We don’t need fishing weights rolling around on the ocean floor damaging small benthic life.
Are you a diver living in Maui? Would you like to join our crew and help clean up your island’s coastal waters? Great – please email us so we can beautify the local ocean waters together!
