I cant tell you how long I have waited for the day to see and film a Humpback whale in the water. Today my wish came true.
We just disconnected from the mooring at the LCU when Capt Randy again spotted a whale about 200 yrds off the bow. With engines cut off, we drifted as the juvenile humpback whale just lingered at the surface. As if curious, the whale then slowly approached the boat. Lucky for me, we had drifted around so the stern was facing the whale. I quickly grabbed my camera and got on the swim step. Christie (Capt Bruce instructor) and I must have looked funny with our heads in the water but we were given a show of a lifetime. The whale made about 7 passes almost directly under the boat, like it was checking us out.
This video is just a portion of the 5-10 minutes total footage.
Please enjoy it and remember to respect all laws regarding protected species, as much as I wanted to, no body entered the water.
We guess, 20 -25 ft long and sex is unknown.
Special thanks to Capt Bruce's Scuba Charters, thats twice in a row for me and whales from "The Beach" Way to go Randy, you rock!
Aloha All,
3D dive site maps/slates for Hawaii are coming soon!!!
Some of you have heard me talk about these already, well now I have something to show!
These new logbook sized slates will be great for training, briefings, or just as a keepsake for your log book. (also will be available other sizes TBD)
The price is still being calculated, but it will be in the $15 ballpark range for the waterproof slates.
The final corrections are in process for the Corsair, San Pedro & YO-257. The Sea Tiger and Mahi are still in development (as seen in photo album)
Pupukea MLCD (Sharks cove), and sites on other islands are in the works too!
Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Mahalo
Drew Wheeler
click on image to view larger 
On a recent dive, I had wrangled a small octopus to show a client and wouldn't ya know it but the little guy crawled up my arm and on to my face. Now I have had larger octopus on my head and face before with no issue (see photo section). However on this particular day, this octopus was unable to find amusement by this and proceeded to let me know that he wanted no part of it and YES THEY CAN BITE!
Don't worry Nate, your Uncle Drew is fine and I blame myself more than the octopus! At least the Conger eel didn't have teeth. This guy has a sharp beak like a bird! OUCH!
I know I will probably hear an earful from the PETA extremist's, but I was doing no harm and was well aware of the risk, and as I like to say: Octopus = 1 ScubaDrew = 0
Make sure you turn up the volume.
The San Pedro wreck dive on Oahus south shore often is a resting place for whitetip reef sharks. This last Tuesday, I entered into their domain. The smaller one was about 4 ft and the larger was more like 6 ft.
Beautiful animals, I can never get tired of filming them!
With a final equipment check as the sun sets, we prepare to embark on a mysterious journey beneath the waves with only our lights to reveal what lurks in the dark.
Fish huddle against the rocks, colors masked with a grayish hue. Lobster and crab scurry about under cover of the dark. Eels on the prowl along with the occasional shark, scour the reef for dinner.
Sit back and enjoy this magical tour "Diving after dark".
Aloha again everyone and sorry for the long break between posts,
This summer has been busy! The North Shore has been perfect for diving just about every day so far. The marine life in Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District is continuing to flourish. Thanks to all that help maintain the protected status!!!
I did have a significant breakthrough with my HD camera. I finally figured out the “Tele-Macro” setting that allows me to get extreme close ups with amazing clarity. The camera must be completely motionless or it looks like an earthquake. This can be tough to do with current or surge, but I managed to stay still enough to get some good stuff. Here is a quick little montage that Jamie has put together. I hope you enjoy it!
YouTube version. This is easy to view but loses much of its quality when posted.
To view much higher quality format, download DivX player here for windows and here for Mac.
Then click here to view my Stage6 Channel
Here is a first!
While diving Turtle Canyon on Oahu's south side, I witnessed some very odd turtle behavior. Turtles are known to "hide" under ledges, rocks and coral heads to sleep. I guess all the best spots were already taken so this turtle found the next best thing....a diver. The first diver was me, but since I couldn't get good footage of myself as the shelter I called over my fellow instructor Randy from Oahu Dive Center and....well you just watch what happens.
On a recent dive with a client, we were lucky enough to see a great example of marine life working together.
In this case, inside the cathedrals at 3 tables/firehouse on Oahu's north shore, we witnessed a Moray Eel, a Bluefin Trevaly, a Peacock Grouper and a Goatfish hunting the reef together. Most often we will will see one or the other feed together but this was great to see all 4 at once. Personally from my experience, the goatfish and grouper are just freeloading and do little to actually flush out the food. Check it out this little snippet!
Recent Comments