By Dive Instructor and ODA Advisory Board Member Gary Liebmann
Conditions looked great for a much-anticipated cleanup this past Sunday, July 21st. We had to be selective on our volunteers this time around as the usual boat we take out, the Na Makana, was unavailable to Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) in July. Instead, we were told we would be setting sail on the Honey Ann, another one of the vessels our dive boat o partner Aaron’s Dive Shop uses.
The Honey Ann is a Six Pack boat and limited to seven scuba divers in addition to one crew member. This vessel is a little trickier for the cleanups as it is much smaller and requires back roll entries versus the usual giant stride entry most of our volunteers are accustomed to.
All things being considered, we decided on a manifest to include the following divers, Michael Del Pra, Crystal Gray (Our Amazing Underwater Photographer), Jerritt Larson, Bill Metzler, Dan Okamura, Bailey Young, and me. My wife Temple Liebmann was our deckhand. She helped us into our gear and ensured that we made it in and out of the water safely. Temple is also responsible for capturing all the topside action with her camera.
We all gathered at the Maunalua Bay boat launch and just after 1:30 the Honey Ann pulled up to the dock captained by OG. This was Captain OG’s first time with ODA, and he was looking forward to being a part of our crusade to help clean this corner of Oahu.
Once we loaded the boat we were quickly under way. It was a short ride to the dive site, so I gave my dive briefing while everyone started to gear up. I decided to split the group into two teams, each team had one bucket, with the hope that we could fill them both up.
The conditions seemed favorable; winds were not terrible at about 17 miles-per-hour; however, the surface was a little choppier than expected when we finally reached the drop site at Spitting Caves. We would’ve liked to have made it a little further around the corner closer to Fish Camp, but with a smaller vessel and wavier-than-expected surface conditions, we decided to play it safe.
We all began our back rolls off the boat and as I began my descent, I looked up to ensure that everyone was safely in and beginning their descent. As I peered back over my shoulder, I noticed a friendly Hawaiian monk seal swimming around the boat as the last few divers were making their entry! This beautiful critter is one of the reasons we do what we do!
As I continued my descent, I realized that this was not going to be an ordinary cleanup.
I could tell the current was increasing as I descended and when I finally reached the bottom at about 55 feet, I was having difficulty catching up to the divers who entered before me.
When the group finally all gathered in an area that was close enough to manage, I watched as volunteers were holding onto rocks with one hand while trying to clean up with the other. At one point, I had to pull myself along the bottom to meet-up with some of the divers to check their air consumption.
Just then I saw one of the volunteers point and as I looked to the side, I saw a beautiful Hawaiian monk seal swimming around us. He was very playful and was just swimming between the divers curiously observing. Considering there are only an estimated 1200 of these beautiful mammals left in existence I knew this was a special moment and I just had to spend a moment holding onto a rock and taking it all in!
Shortly after, at about 20 minutes into the dive, one of the volunteer divers alerted me that they were close to our reserve of 100psi of air. The current was relentless and quickly taking its toll on us!
At this point, I decided to sound the alarm and begin banging my tank, this signal would let the divers know to stop cleaning, empty their bags into the buckets, and prepare to lift the buckets and end the dive. Something I found very interesting was, as I began to signal by banging my tank, the Monk seal started to swim playfully through the group and at one point right up to Crystals camera lens!
As we began to move the buckets back away from the wall and to a safe point to begin our ascent, I could tell they were not as full as we would like them to be .That being said, I was able to reconcile this by reminding myself that we were lucky enough to experience the fruits of our labor, by witnessing the playful activity of one the most critically endangered marine mammals in the world, right in the area that we work so hard to clean!
We all made it safely back on the Honey Ann and began our short trip back to the boat launch. We unloaded and began weighing our haul.
Each of the two buckets weighed about 20 pounds for a total weight of 40 pounds. There was almost no lead on this take, just about 1,000 yards of fishing line pulled from the reef. Honestly, that is what we are really after: the line is what is killing the reef and entangling the wildlife, so not a bad day’s work in my opinion!
As always, we ended the experience with some PuPus and drinks at Kona Brewing company where we all talked about our amazing experience with our friendly Hawaiian monk seal visitor!
I’m sure you want to help the remaining monk seals survive! If so, your donation today will help us continue to clean this area and ones like it. Thank you!
