After about a year and a half time past, I was excited to get a green light from my old dive partner J.P.!
Being a family man means little time for diving! Jesse stopped by on Saturday and I told him the reaccount of Jarricks 1st Ulua. Hearing his story got him amped and we planned a drift dive from Kolekole beach park to Hakalau. I was excited because I had heard of a nice ulua house and was hoping to find it so that J.P. could get a crack at scoring his first ulua. Two first uluas in one weekend I thought....now that would be epic!
I woke up excited and started driving to Hakalau. I reached there and the water looked murky with a bit of swell. Jesse reached there a little after me and we loaded up in my car and drove to kolekole.
Upon reaching there we saw big swells with surfers. Not really feeling the green light we decided to just dive out of hakalau and swim right to kolekole.
The right side of the bay was protected the most but there was a little surge. We suited up and got an early start at around 10am haha! We reach the right side point and the water finally starts to clear. There is nice structure but not too much fish. Jesse takes a few shots but misses. After all this time he still however is able to hit the depths pretty well.
We swim and swim and swim and no fish! We come across a few whiptails and I signal Jesse to drop. He drops and swims down and fires at something else. Coming up im laughing hysterically at his accuracy percentage. He reports there was a nice kumu down there and tells me the gun lacks power due to the old bands. I continue to laugh and tell him to try the "mana gun". My goal of the dive was now to shoot a nice uhu with J.P.s gun, not only for the challenge but to spite him as well. hahaha.
I come across another whip whos busy feeding and see if I can dive bomb. I drop 25% and wait. The uhu continues to feed and does a circle and I go for it. I get within range and give a few kicks more and pull the trigger of old faithful. (Omer Cayman Carbon 110cm) Thud! Stone shot! I swim up and look for J.P. and there is a symphony of bubbles erupting from my mask due to the fact I am laughing up a storm!
We swim some more and I find a nice ledge with a small potential ulua house. I signal J.P. down and he hits the bottom at 55ft. He sees some uhus and 2 big joes which he chases and swims through the house. No fish but he comes up saying "Ho Keenan you pushing my luck today!" haha. We decide to turn around as its nearly 12:30pm.
I see Jesse bolt and he laters tells me he saw a nice ulua. We continue to swim back and I see JP drop again. A blue whiptail swims up from the reef and JP is on it. He connects and another uhu is added to the stringer. We hit the bay and the water seems to be much clearer and calmer than in the morning. We both get on shore safely, swap more laughs, stories and rest under a shady tree.
The Dark Knight rises! Hopefully we can continue to get more dives in!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Jarricks 1st Ulua
After a long hot week of muggy, voggy Hilo weather I was ready to jump into some clean, clear, cool water. Jarrick Dasalla texted me earlier in the week telling me the water out hamakua was flat with no wind. He was looking foward to diving Paauilo, where the weekend previously he had lost an Ulua on a big strike. He wanted to scout more of the underwater structure to form a conclusion of his own of where and how the ulua's pin his pole down far out from the cliff's edge.
I also had told him my ulua story and he was excited and hopefully to just see one. He met me at my house at 9am and we loaded up and headed out. We joked about him spearing his first ulua and how he never got to really use the remora reel on his aimrite 120 SV. We were both surprised when we pulled into the clearing and no fishermen in sight! We suited up and hiked down to the water. Jarrick and his friends also did an excellent job of trimming the trail with a pair scissors.
I wanted Jarrick to sample the "mana gun", so I told him to jump in first and try and spear a nenue for palu. As we both got in the water, the inside was a little surgy and murky but the outside was nice and flat with 0 wind. Jarrick shot a nice nenue with the "mana gun" and I shot a pualu with his aimrite.
I told him that was enough to start paluing and we swam out to the house.....
Upon reaching there, the current was pulling in the complete opposite direction then it normally does. Straight inwards towards the landing and back towards Hilo. The water was also extremely warm at 79F. We both reached the house and I pointed it out to Jarrick.
"Ho this is deep!" was his reply. I took a drop down straight to the bottom of the house and peeked inside. There were two smaller uluas inside swimming in circles and I saw that the cave went all the way through the other side. My watch read 72ft and I decided to head back up. Upon ascending a nice 20-25lb ulua comes straight up towards me. I line up my gun and make a pretend stone shot. (Good mental practice! haha).
As I hit the surface I yell to Jarrick "Did you see that ulua?" He replies "Ya how come you never shoot?!" I laugh and reply "All you today!" haha. We both laugh and keep watching the house below.....
I spot a bigger ulua swimming along the bottom and yell to Jarrick whos a little down current but he didnt see it. I look back down and cant see it either. :( I tell Jarrick to stay above the house while I palu the nenue. I grab the nenue from his back and swim directly up current and start cutting the fish up. Nothing comes around and I see the smaller uluas in the cave earlier swim along the ledge and out towards the deep. Thinking they were gone I drop the carcass down till it hits the ledge and drops to the bottom in front of the house.
I talk with Jarrick and tell him I want to try palu further out since it was nice flat and clear. I grab the palani from the float and swim out till I can't see the bottom. I start paluing and there is a school of opelu that comes around but nothing else. I look for Jarrick and see him still above the Ulua house. I swim to him and he tells me that there is a small ulua swimming around the nenue carcass biting it.
I look down and sure enough a small ulua at the bottom nibbling the little snack I left. I tell Jarrick that he can make the dive and he should hit the ledge and sneak towards the fish to get a shot off.
He breathes up and goes down.....
He hits the top of the ledge perfect and calmly looks around. I see him line up on the smaller ulua, then start to track something else. His gun fires and he starts to head up. I can't see the fish but can see his reel spinning rapidly. Upon hitting the surface I grab his arm and tell him to breathe. He recovers and I tell him his reel is still spinning! Fish on! The ulua runs straight into the cave and I tell Jarrick to swim out away from the cave. His reel is still spinning and he pulls and keeps tension on the line. He manages to get the ulua out of the cave and starts to pull it up.
I look at him and he signals me to put in the back up shot. Once the fish was secured we both exchanged high fives and started to buss laugh! We head in and Jarrick is super stoked. Ulua weighed in at 19.3lbs using my scale. Another epic hamakua dive!
I also had told him my ulua story and he was excited and hopefully to just see one. He met me at my house at 9am and we loaded up and headed out. We joked about him spearing his first ulua and how he never got to really use the remora reel on his aimrite 120 SV. We were both surprised when we pulled into the clearing and no fishermen in sight! We suited up and hiked down to the water. Jarrick and his friends also did an excellent job of trimming the trail with a pair scissors.
I wanted Jarrick to sample the "mana gun", so I told him to jump in first and try and spear a nenue for palu. As we both got in the water, the inside was a little surgy and murky but the outside was nice and flat with 0 wind. Jarrick shot a nice nenue with the "mana gun" and I shot a pualu with his aimrite.
I told him that was enough to start paluing and we swam out to the house.....
Upon reaching there, the current was pulling in the complete opposite direction then it normally does. Straight inwards towards the landing and back towards Hilo. The water was also extremely warm at 79F. We both reached the house and I pointed it out to Jarrick.
"Ho this is deep!" was his reply. I took a drop down straight to the bottom of the house and peeked inside. There were two smaller uluas inside swimming in circles and I saw that the cave went all the way through the other side. My watch read 72ft and I decided to head back up. Upon ascending a nice 20-25lb ulua comes straight up towards me. I line up my gun and make a pretend stone shot. (Good mental practice! haha).
As I hit the surface I yell to Jarrick "Did you see that ulua?" He replies "Ya how come you never shoot?!" I laugh and reply "All you today!" haha. We both laugh and keep watching the house below.....
I spot a bigger ulua swimming along the bottom and yell to Jarrick whos a little down current but he didnt see it. I look back down and cant see it either. :( I tell Jarrick to stay above the house while I palu the nenue. I grab the nenue from his back and swim directly up current and start cutting the fish up. Nothing comes around and I see the smaller uluas in the cave earlier swim along the ledge and out towards the deep. Thinking they were gone I drop the carcass down till it hits the ledge and drops to the bottom in front of the house.
I talk with Jarrick and tell him I want to try palu further out since it was nice flat and clear. I grab the palani from the float and swim out till I can't see the bottom. I start paluing and there is a school of opelu that comes around but nothing else. I look for Jarrick and see him still above the Ulua house. I swim to him and he tells me that there is a small ulua swimming around the nenue carcass biting it.
I look down and sure enough a small ulua at the bottom nibbling the little snack I left. I tell Jarrick that he can make the dive and he should hit the ledge and sneak towards the fish to get a shot off.
He breathes up and goes down.....
He hits the top of the ledge perfect and calmly looks around. I see him line up on the smaller ulua, then start to track something else. His gun fires and he starts to head up. I can't see the fish but can see his reel spinning rapidly. Upon hitting the surface I grab his arm and tell him to breathe. He recovers and I tell him his reel is still spinning! Fish on! The ulua runs straight into the cave and I tell Jarrick to swim out away from the cave. His reel is still spinning and he pulls and keeps tension on the line. He manages to get the ulua out of the cave and starts to pull it up.
I look at him and he signals me to put in the back up shot. Once the fish was secured we both exchanged high fives and started to buss laugh! We head in and Jarrick is super stoked. Ulua weighed in at 19.3lbs using my scale. Another epic hamakua dive!
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