By Founder and President Kurt Lieber

It was a great sight to see: a boatload of 14 pumped up ODA volunteers boarded a dive boat in Honokohau Harbor and headed out to a site about 7 miles away. We’ve been to this revered dive site many times, removing abandoned fishing gear. But despite our efforts, the stuff keeps reappearing…so we headed there this day in November Tuesday, the 11^th.

Even though the skies were slightly overcast, the mood on the boat was anything but.

Volunteers for this outing were: Juan Benavides, Kay Cooper, Mark England, Leah Fornwald, Heidi, Henry and John Gallagher, Arthur John, Adam Lewin, Cameron McDonald, Jeff Milisen, Dot Norris, Bo and Jamie Pardau, Buzz Samuelson, Laurel Whillock, and Mark Willefrth.

This event was organized by Sarah Milisen, our Hawai’i team coordinator. But she caught a bug the day before and couldn’t make it. This left her husband, Jeff, acting like a lost puppy and looking for her all day…

Here is Jeff looking for Sarah! ;-)

The seas were nice and flat as we headed out of the harbor and went to a magical site called Golden Arches. It got that name not because of some mysterious underwater fast-food place, but because of several caves in the area.

Once the captain got our boat into position, the divers jumped in and descended to about 60 feet and went to work.

They came back up to the surface after 50 minutes of bottom time, and the captain motored to within a short distance of them, cut the engines while the divers kicked over to us, and climbed aboard.

Once all were safely on deck, they gabbed some fluids and snacks and talked about what they wanted to do for the second dive. The consensus was to stay put and continue where they left off.

About an hour’s break from the underwater activity, down they went. Repeat that same 50-minute bottom time and the captain rounded them up again. This time they actually came up with more debris than the first time. So, it proved to be a good decision to hit this site twice.

It’s great to know that all this fishing gear is now off the delicate corals and will no longer be a threat to said corals or the turtles and fish that call this place home.

Thanks to Kona Honu Divers for continuing to take ODA volunteer divers out on a monthly basis. Great boat AND crew!

And what would these stories be like without Bo’s awesome pictures? Just words on a page, with nothing to show to prove it. Well, Bo comes away with the evidence once again!

Ocean Defenders Ghost Gear Cleanup Crew with their "Catch of the Day"

Great time spent on and under the water. The result is about 2,000 feet of monofilament fishing line removed and 40 pounds of lead weights, along with 25 hooks.

Let’s do this again!

In fact, you can help us "do this again"! Your donation will help us stay at sea doing what we do best - removing plastic, trash, and all kinds of abandoned or last fishing equipment that threatens marine wildlife!