By Oahu Volunteer Coordinator and Advisory Board Member Temple Liebmann

I’ll never tire of Spitting Caves.

I think you can see why!

On the bright July 13th morning, I joined ODA Dive Lead Gary Liebmann (who was bravely fighting off a nasty cold) and our crew of fourteen volunteers—Christopher Ashmore (underwater photographer), Scott Barrell, Henry Bennett, Chandler Bosch, Aden Brown, Elena Dobrika, Sebastian Febvey, Ray Goodrich, Jarrett Larson, Kimmie Long, Dan Okamura, Dan Okamura, Noah Stinson, Cameron Yabsley,  and Bailey Young—for another plunge into East Oahu’s wild waters.

That day, the ocean conditions at Spitting Caves were textbook summer trade‑wind swell: east winds blowing 15–20 knots off the cliff face, seas holding at about 2 feet, with occasional sets pushing 2–3 feet.  Our gauges hovered around 79 °F, and the water was pretty clear—easily 20-30 feet of visibility—thanks to the steady offshore push that kept the surface smooth. 

As we set out of the harbor and  geared up, a curious monk seal—its sleek form shining in the sunlight—slid past us on the surface, giving everyone a thrill before arriving at the dive site. Seeing the seal reminded us—this is why we do what we do! And we couldn't do it without YOU...

Because Gary wasn’t at full strength, SSI Instructor and ODA volunteer Bailey Young took point on the underwater team—directing each diver’s search pattern and making sure nobody missed a spot. SSI & PADI Instructor and ODA volunteer

Ray Goodrich oversaw the bucket teams, ensuring every spool of line and shard of lead made it topside intact and that the bucket‑tenders stayed organized.

And thank you to Chris for the great underwater photos documenting the volunteers' diligent work!

Underwater, the divers fanned out along the drop‑off, poking into crevices where nets and tackle like to snag.

Each volunteer works so hard to carefully remove the abadoned fishing line that wraps around the corals. It's not easy to do when you're bouncing around under water and wearing gloves!

Our divers deposit the collected debris into buckets and then send it to the surface by attaching a lift bag that floats and pulls the bucket upward. It's not just the volunteers doing this...the ODA donors are right there, filling these buckets!

By dive’s end, we’d hauled in over 130 pounds of lead—chunks of weights, abandoned fishing sinkers, and broken hooks—and cut away nearly 1,000 yards of monofilament and braided line wrapping around corals.

After all our divers surfaced, grinning wide, we collected the buckets and bucket teams, and headed back to shore.

Back onshore, we assembled our bounty: 5-gallon buckets brimming with lead and coils of line. We separated everything and set aside the lead to be recycled into dive weights and collected the line for proper disposal.

We are one happy bunch when we pose for our "Crew with their Catch of the Day" photo!

Afterwards, at J. Dolans for pizza and drinks, we toasted another successful cleanup—proof that even one dive at Spitting Caves can make a huge difference for our reefs.

If you’d like to ensure our crew can continually head out to sea to remove marine debris, your donation of any size will help make it possible—and we thank you for it!