• Go Diving with Us…

    Posted on by DebC Comment

    A collection of our photographs and video clips to take you diving…
    at least a virtual experience:

    On The Reef from Andrew Cooper on Vimeo.

    Exploring the reefs of the Island of Hawai'i. A small sample of the creatures that inhabit a fascinating ecosystem. A little video, still photos and some appropriate music to complete the scene.

    This is a substantial revision of an older version, now in full HD and with new photographic material.

    This post was updated on July 6, 2016 😉


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  • Happy Fourth of July 2009!

    Posted on by DebC Comment
    © Andrew Cooper, 2009
    © Andrew Cooper, 2009

    July 2: Late Night Packing…

    July 3: Long Flight (five and one-half hours), then we finally disembark in Seattle, collect our luggage, and make our way to the rental car agency (DarkerView.com: “Road Trip” had the story there!).

    We pack our luggage in the car any which way it takes; and using the paper map provided with the car rental, we find our way East.

    We reach Ellensburg, Washington and the Days Inn at some time around 1:00am on July 4th (ummm…that was this morning).

    I didn’t sleep much the night of July 2nd. I didn’t sleep-in on the morning of July 3rd. I didn’t sleep as I usually do on the five and one-half hour flight nor did I sleep as I normally do during the three- to four-hour drive from Seattle to Ellensburg.

    Did I finally sleep when we got settled in our room in Ellensburg, Washington? Ummmm. No. Not until 2:45am. And when I did finally sleep, it was a fitful sleep at best.

    It is a strange bed. There are unfamiliar sounds all about. Worst, I think, is there is no purr next to me. No tickling whiskers in my face. No demands made of my presence. Just unfamiliar sounds and then n-o-t-h-i-n-g…

    It seems like I had finally gotten to sleep, and it was time to get going again so we didn’t miss breakfast. I am still on Hawai’i time…

    First time off Island since moving to Hawai`i. 😐 Going home is going to be interesting 😮

    For several postings about our trip AND our July Fourth, Check out A Darkerview

    I will be putting up several postings about our trip; but not until we get home again. I will also have pictures to post then, too!


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  • Four-Wheel Diving!?

    Posted on by DebC Comment
    The unnamed beach where we made our entry. Photo by Andrew Cooper

    Yep! Four-Wheel Diving on May 31, 2009 along the North Kohala Coast on the Big Island! Okay. Maybe the vehicles didn’t get wet; but it was quite the road to get to the dive site! 😉 Will we make it back up after we have exhausted ourselves in the dive?

    Everyone in today’s group met at Kohala Divers at 9:30am, and we caravan up the Kohala Coast from there to find our dive spot for the day!

    An Urchin shell becomes home to a small, very fast entity at 46ft.

    We’re all here! We gather some suggestions from the dive shop personnel and we’re off!

    ~Check out one possible: Mmmm…NOPE.

    ~Check out next possible: Bump, thump…Mmmm…YIKES! No way!

    ~Check out third possible: Watch that first bit off the highway … umph … bump … ka-thump … Hmmm … this looks passable. Uh, oh … didn’t see that one coming … well, hmmm, hey, it wasn’t that bad … Hooray, we are almost there! Ummmm … how do we get down THAT? Ah ha, there it is … Whew … we made it!

    This is p r e t t y! WOW! Let’s gear up and go diving! FIRST, we scout the area to get familiar with our surroundings and to find the best path of entry that is safest for marine life and for us!

    Thomas is carefully taking a CLOSER look into the reef.

    Okay, now let’s gear up and go diving! Slippery entry where the rocks have a thin layer of alga; but take it slow, one step at a time and the entry is fairly easy. Hmmm, the water is warming up as we move into summer. A little murky close into shore; but looks promising out a bit further on the reef – way out from shore. Oooooh! Now that is a pod of dolphins – spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris longirostris) that is! My camera was not ready 🙁 But Andy’s was! If he ever puts it back on his blog, you can Check out his entry at DarkerView.com!

    Bubbles over a Coral Seascape. Looking up from about 35ft.

    Yes! We are starting to see more fish and less murk! 🙂 Okay, this looks good! Let’s go down here! When I get to the sandy bottom at 46ft, I find an Urchin shell that became home to a small, very fast entity that was in and out of the coral around it, then BACK in the Urchin shell. I was not fast enough (nor was my camera) to snap a picture of it in the short time that I dallied so an ID was not possible and there was so much more to see before I breathe my air tank to its safe limits. The sandy bottom and coral ‘walls’ along its sides made an interesting channel to explore.

    Eeeeek! We both seem to exclaim as I nearly put my gloved hand right on top of him in one (1) foot of water?! A Snowflake Moray (Echidna nebulosa).

    Even though the sand did not have any life in evidence and it took a little while to get to where more fish were hanging out, the coral made it very picturesque! Towers or mounds here and there. Low coral ridges dotted about the sea floor. Although pictures cannot begin to do its beauty justice (even after some modifying), I did my best to capture an essence of what the dive was like in person!

    Despite the particles and murk in the water, it was still something special to see!

    Then we had made our way around a point of coral reef and found LIFE – Marine Life! The fish that had been scarce until now, some shells that still housed their inhabitants, live Urchins; and down in some caves, some LARGE Lobster, and other night dwellers! I photographed a Crown-of-Thorns Star (Acanthaster planci) at 30ft and it turned a nice red because I ‘Flashed’ it.

    On my way to shore to get out of the water and make our way to lunch, I literally stumbled across a Snowflake Moray (Echidna nebulosa) by almost landing a gloved hand right on top of him or in his mouth as it would have been! Glad I still had my face in the water and was able to take pictures instead! 😀

    Now to find my land legs again… What a great dive!

    The long, winding and bumpy road back to the top.

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  • Experiences and Realizations…

    Posted on by DebC Comment

    Growing up may not be a requirement as we age; but we are certainly shaped by our experiences, and our choices resulting from those experiences! As we gain experiences, our vision for our own future gets more focused when we are gently nudged to think about what we want our future to hold; and what do we find most fulfilling.

    Starting in third grade and continuing every year thereafter through High School, my teachers would ask all students to write a short essay about what we wanted to be when we ‘grew up’; and were ‘released’ from the educational institution as adults.

    At the time, I took it as simply writing practice to help us get better at correspondence so that we could communicate well in our careers what ever they turned out to be. My chosen career changed every year and sometimes several times in the same year because everything was exciting and interesting to me! Some of my choices were a veterinarian for large animals, a fire fighter, a medical doctor, a registered nurse, an actress, a journalist; and the list gets very long…

    Now that I have possibly found what my ultimate passion is (classroom interaction such as tutor or teacher), I am realizing that the “When I Grow Up…” essays were a lot more than just writing practice! They were a multifaceted way of getting us to explore what was available to us for long-term goals and to kick-start our investigative skills.

    Every essay that I wrote on that possible ‘dream future’ was in essence, a seed sewn that either germinated as it had been planted; or went to seed from its graft and became something else that was very different from the original. Sometimes, so completely different that I felt like I had been spun around; and I was a little disoriented for a short time as if it were my turn at the piñata.

    Continue reading → Post ID 762


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