Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Hi all,

Well, I am off to another research expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. We will stop at several locations in this trip, and I will try to post updates and photos here as we go along. For those that are unfamiliar with the islands, here is a map to situate you:

http://www.hawaiianatolls.org/about/index.php

The area is closed to the public and for now only researchers have access. We left Honolulu yesterday (7/7/07) onboard the NOAA ship Hiialakai and should arrive and dive at the island of Nihoa later today. Here are two views of the ship (the small red boat is the one we will use for diving):

I will try to post some photos of Nihoa when we get there later today, but I probably won't be taking pictures underwater because we have a lot to collect there!

Aloha,

Luiz

nice looking boat!

very nice. one of those dream destinations.

Up that way, amongst myriad other wonders, you find the monk seals sharing beaches with sea turtles, right?

Have a great time, we know you'll be thinking of us the whole time.

darren

Lucky git...

Good times...

Dive safe

DeanB

We spent the last two days diving around the island of Nihoa. There was a lot of work to do (collecting fish) so I didn't have time to take my camera underwater... But here are a few views of this very impressive island:

These cliffs may not look like much because there is nothing to compare them to in this picture, but they are 1,000 feet high!

Hey Luiz,

Way cool. Very envious. Anything new or out of the ordinary? I may find myself back in Oahu in a month, if I'm lucky.

Yesterday we dove at Gardner Pinnacles, about mid-way up the island chain. The photo above is not mine (I am the one with the tank in the back, I think). My camera was in the housing, I finally had a chance to take some pictures underwater.

So, we found a large aggregation of Galapagos Sharks (Charcharhinus galapagensis), they were small (3-4ft long) and very curious, they really liked hanging out close to the boat. Here are some shots:

More to come, next we will stop at Lisiansky.

Luiz,

Great vis and cool shots. Why are they so small? Have the big ones been fished out?

Dive Safe,

shawn

Hi Shawn, fortunately there is no fishing going on up here, and there are a lot of adults in other places, so we think it is just because the juveniles like to congregate in the shallows around these rocks...

Very cool to hear that. Is there really no fishing or is that what is supposed to be the case? Make sure you post some awesome shots of Tigers feeding on Turtles when you get them.

Luiz,

The gentleman in the photograph looks like Carl Myer?

vr

Andy

Hi Shawn, fortunately there is no fishing going on up here, and there are a lot of adults in other places, so we think it is just because the juveniles like to congregate in the shallows around these rocks...

Well there is no legal fishing ... and hoping very little illegal fishing.

Luiz, I am very jealous ... I hope that you are working hard and having very little fun .

Luiz, let me know if you see any jellies... I am curious as to what is drifting out there...

Thanks,

Wyatt

Hi all,

I've been working a lot, so no time to take many photos and even less to post them! We are now at Kure Atoll and tomorrow night we will leave to Midway Atoll. We spent the past two days at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, the diving there was fantastic, the best visibility I've ever seen. I will try to post some shots tomorrow.

Luiz,

The gentleman in the photograph looks like Carl Myer?

vr

Andy

No! That's a student that works with Carl called Yannis. Carl is on the ship too and was on that dive but I didn't get good photos of him.

Well there is no legal fishing ... and hoping very little illegal fishing.

 

Luiz, I am very jealous ... I hope that you are working hard and having very little fun .

You got it right! I've been doing 4 dives a day working my a@# off!

Luiz, let me know if you see any jellies... I am curious as to what is drifting out there...

Thanks,

Wyatt

No jellies so far, I will let you know if I see any. The water up here is surprisingly warm, at 28 degress N Kure is the northern most atoll in the world, but the water is at a pleasant 27C.

Will try to post some photos tomorrow...

Luiz

Ok, finally had time to edit some pictures. Here are a few of fishes endemic to Hawaii but not commonly seen in the main islands:

Threespot Chromis (Chromis verater)

Bandit angelfish (Desmoholacanthus arcuatus)

Thompson's anthias (Pseudanthias thompsoni)

And one of the most beautiful reef fishes I've ever seen, the Masked Angelfish (Genicanthus personatus); this is the female:

And here is the male:

The Masked angel sells for thousands of dollars per fish in the aquarium trade !

Aloha,

Luiz

Beautiful Luiz,

Dive safe

DeanB

God, that male personatus is insane! Charles D would love that.

Cheers

James