Diving Lanai, HI in January

I'll be on Lanai (at Manale Bay Resort) in mid-January giving a business presentation (I know, rough job, but somebody's gotta do it). I'll have time to do two AM dives on two of the days I'm there. Is the diving there good enough to be worth the trouble of hauling my uw camera gear, etc. over for only 2-4 dives? Water temps, etc.? Any insights would be appreciated.

I think that based on Rand's excellent Monk Seal photos from there - the answer is yes. Not too often you get to photograph one of those.

Cheers

James

Thanks for the compliment James But it was the Island of Niihau that I shot the Monk seals, it's a bit (Well, a lot) further north. 2 hrs. north of Kauaii. Where I've dove in Feb a few times and seeing the Humpback whales and hearing them underwater is really cool. Worth the dive just to hear them.

Not sure if the Whales hang out there or not. As I've yet to make it to Lanai, but the Mauai dive ops run over there so it must be fairly good for them to do that. I've heard the lava tubes have holes in the top where the sun comes in, that's pretty cool. So, could be a great spot for sunbursts. Probably wouldn't pack all my dive gear for just a couple dives though.

Rand

Temps in Feb 2004 were 77 and 78 F and Oct 2004 Temp was 81 F when I did dives at Lanai from boats out of Maui. The 'First Cathedral' lava tube is a must-see (RS13mm FE shot attached). Saw bandit angelfish, a Hawaiian endemic, on both trips. DM said they were rare but I saw 3 at one time there. I don't do what there is the way of dive support on Lanai itself.

Tom