Upwellings: Pre-hurrican dives at Lonetree-Big Arch/Freezeface and Shark Alley 7/25/2020

The day before Hurricane Douglas was scheduled to slam into the islands we snuck out for a couple of dives along the Pine Trees area of west Hawaii. Since there appears to be a kerfluffle over dive boats mooring near the point at Freezeface we moored at Big Arch. Actually there may not even be a mooring at Freezeface anymore, so we had to swim down there.

HIghlight of the day for me was that I got to see three animals I'd never seen before. Gosline's fang Blennie, Steindnacher's Moray, and Crown of Thorns Star Shrimp.

We got to the entrance of the Freeaeface swimthrough, and there was enough surge that I decided not to take the camera in there. So I swam around to the north and caught the group as they exited.

EArlier, though we cruised briefly through Big Arch and Janine found a couple of Tom Smith nudis on the ceiling. I only got one out-of-focus shot because I was too clumsy and lazy not to flood the area with bubbles. Immediately after leaving the arch we stumbled onto a very large Devil Scorpion, a Gold Lace nudi, and a rare Steindachner's Moray.

Another highlight of the day was finding a couple of Day Octopus that had gotten a room. They seemed like they didn't mind people watching.

See the two sets of eyes?

Shark Alley inshore lava tubes and caverns were calm, if a bit murky, and we went through them looking for nudis. I did end up finding a couple of White margins laying eggs. Back out toward the deeper ocean Janine found a Crown of Thorns Star with two teeny shrimp underneath. Are Crown of Thorns Shrimp even a thing? I guess they are. Near the end of the dive someone spotted this very large Frogfish. Meanwhile, as I puttered around the pinnacle near the mooring I found a Gosline's Fang Blennie poking its head out of a hole. Yay!