By ODA Dive Team Coordinator, Dive Master, and Advisory Board Member Gary Liebmann
Our recent outing on Sunday, October 27th proved to be an overcast and rainy day. The winds had been blowing from the northeast for a couple of days and the bay looked a little angry.
As the afternoon approached, I received a couple of phone calls from our volunteers inquiring if we were still a go for the clean-up dive or if we should cancel it. I spoke with the boat captain, John Hansen, and while he admitted that the conditions weren’t perfect, he thought it would be safe to conduct the dive if we still wanted to. That was all I needed to hear!
As usual, the volunteers started to gather at the Maunalua Bay beach park promptly at 1:30, eager to load the boat and get under way. We had a full manifest this time out with 12 divers not including the divemaster. The divers included Christopher Ashmore, Victoria Cox, Michael Del Pra, Ray Goodrich, Crystal Gray, Luke Kaplan, Bill Metzler, Dan Okamura, Pete Quinn, Ed Sisino, Bailey Young, Rose Zhang, and me. Of course, I can’t forget to mention our amazing top-side photographer and deck hand, Temple Liebmann!
Captain and Boat Owner John Hansen pulled up to the boat launch at 2pm, and we quickly loaded all our gear into the Na Makana, excited to get underway and underwater. As soon as we headed out, I gave my dive and cleanup brief while everyone was suiting up and preparing their gear.
Conditions were a little rough so the captain and I decided it was best to avoid going around the corner to Fish Camp this time and stay closer in at Spitting Caves. We have done a lot of cleaning at Spitting Caves over the last couple of years and the fruits of our labor were becoming apparent, I knew that we would not need to bring down more than two buckets.
Shortly after departing we arrived at our drop site and the captain maneuvered us into position. We had already discussed that because we had 13 divers who we were going to have to make two drops. The boat must get really close to the wall to make the drop which can be dangerous especially when in neutral. After the first six divers made their giant stride entry the captain spun us around and gave the remaining seven divers the signal to jump in.
This is actually a photo of the boat as we were returning to the vessel after the dive (see the orange float bag
that pulled the debris to the surface), but I wanted you to see the view we divers get.
There are more cool photos of the boat in the phtos gallery below!
Once all the divers made their way down to the dive site at about 45 feet, we began the delicate task of snipping and unhooking the fishing line off all the coral heads. There was plenty to clean but the visibility made it a bit challenging this time. There was a lot of surge and the white wash from the sea cave made cleaning a bit challenging.
I was happy to see our team really focusing on the line instead of just grabbing handfuls of lead. The lead is great and makes for impressive bucket weights but the real problem that we face is the entanglement that all the fishing line creates with the reef and sea life. This takes quite a bit of time to remove, as you may be able to see in some of the photos that our underwater photographer, Crystal Gray, was able to capture.
The minutes ticked away fast and before I knew it we had reached our 30-minute stop time. I called the dive and waited for the divers to empty their bags.
The bucket handlers began inflating the lift bags while the remaining divers made their way away from the wall so we could get to a safe spot for Captain John and the Na Makana to pick us up.
After every diver was safely back on the boat and we hauled the buckets aboard, we made our way back to the Maunalua Bay beach park.
Once safely back, we unloaded the gear, weighed the buckets and spread it out on a tarp for group photos. We ended up with two buckets, weighing in at a total of 119 pounds. We estimate that we removed about 500 yards of line!
After we cleaned up our mess many of us decided to head over to Kona Brewing to talk story and enjoy some of the delicious Pu Pu’s (Hawaiian appetizers) together.
I can’t wait to get back out for the next clean up dive to ensure our adopted sites stay clean and safe for ocean life, and thank YOU for making these cleanup happen with your financial support.
