Until December, they were commuting from Kona so Kendra could keep diving with Dive Makai. Unfortunately for us, they both finally got tired of the 90 minute each way drive and finally moved closer to the restaurant. Luckily for us, there is no way that Kendra can stay dry all the time, so we are hopeful that we may be able to get her to come along on the boat a couple of times a month.

That is the personal news, but I’m sure you’d also like to hear about how the diving has been around here over the past year. Well, it has been great. For instance, last summer we had a fantastic adventure day. On the way down south we found a group of pilot whales loafing at the surface. Everybody jumped with snorkels and had several minutes of more or less joining the group. After that fantastic encounter, we spotted a group of about 15 Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris.) Because beaked whales were my primary interest when I worked for NMFS, I was first in the water. Unfortunately, beaked whales are shy animals and I only got a brief look at one young animal who stuck around. It was still a thrill for me though to finally see a live specimen of a beaked whale. Up till then, I had only seen either small samples collected from fishery bycatch or dead stranded animals. Being up close with live animals in their natural habitat was a truly unforgettable experience for me. The rest of the adventure day was excellent as well with good weather and plenty of spectacular diving.

Over the winter this year, we were lucky to not lose a single day of diving to bad weather. In fact, we only had one day with pretty big surf. On that day some of the other operators in town cancelled, but we had an adventurous group who all wanted to go diving. We powered out through the waves and had a couple of great dives at Ka’iwi where we saw Tinker’s butterflies, bandit angels and flame angels.

Finally, let me tell you about a dive I did just a couple weeks ago at the beginning of April. It was one of the best dives of my life. We dove at Manta Ray Bay, right outside the harbor. MRB has been a consistently good dive all winter with regular sightings of bicolor anthias, scarlet cleaner shrimp and even a reticulated frog fish. On this day, however, we didn’t see any of those things because we were distracted. Within about 2 minutes we saw a manta ray swimming directly at us. Although the site is named “Manta Ray Bay,” this is really a rare critter at this site. Well that was pretty cool, but before I could even really point it out, I saw what was following close behind, a big tiger shark.

It’s a hazy shot, but at least it proves there was a big shark out there. To get this shot I found myself chasing after the shark as it swam away. For just a moment it occurred to me that chasing a big shark might not be the smartest thing, but I really wanted to see it, so I kept going.

Now that’s a rare and “get your heart rate up” thing to see underwater. As if that wasn’t enough for one dive, as soon as the tiger shark disappeared into the distance we saw three eagle rays being cleaned. At this point we were all pretty amazed just how exciting the dive was and didn’t think it could get much better. Then the spinner dolphins decided to buzz us.

It’s always a treat when the spinners decide to grace us with an underwater show of the proper way for mammals to swim.

This isn’t real uncommon at MRB, but given the pace and all the other amazing stuff we were seeing it was just too much. The dive could have ended right there and it would have been a top ten lifetime dive. But the icing was still to be applied to the cake. We spent some time just sort of swimming around, looking over our shoulders every now and again to be sure there wasn’t a tiger shark sneaking up on us, and basking in the glow of all the big critters we had seen. The final surprise though was a little fish that is exceptionally rare in Kona, the blue stripe pipe fish.

These little guys are VERY rare around here. We’ve visited them several times since and now the male is carrying a bunch of eggs so maybe we’ll see some more around.

This is a really neat fish, a close relative of the seahorse. While not the adrenalin producer that the tiger shark was, the rarity of blue stripe pipe fish made an already spectacular dive into a once in a lifetime dive.

So that’s all the news from Kona and Dive Makai for the last year. Kimberly and I are very excited about continuing the Dive Makai tradition of providing fun and educational dives to all our guests. We know that you all have high expectations when you dive with Dive Makai, but we are confident we can continue to meet such high expectations on every dive. So, if you are going to be in Hawaii, come diving with us and let us show you how great diving here can be.

Aloha and see you in the water,

Mike and Kimberly

 

Christmas 2005

Aloha and Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) from the Big Island of Hawaii,

I know, Christmas was 4 months ago, but here’s the story. When we started to plan the new web site, we thought we could have it up by the middle of January. So, we decided to combine the Christmas letter with the big announcement of the new site. Who knew these things take so long. Anyway, we’re up now, so Merry Christmas a bit late, and here’s what happened in the last year or so.

Well it has been quite a year for Dive Makai and family. First, as some of you know, ownership of Dive Makai changed hands this year. After 30+ years of Tom and Lisa manning the helm, they decided it was time to let someone else take a watch. That someone is us, Kimberly and Mike Henshaw.

By way of introductions, I am a current PADI instructor, a former SSI instructor and a USCG Captain. I also have a B.S. degree in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from UC San Diego and a J.D. from UCLA. I grew up in Seattle, Washington, but spent the last 18 years or so in San Diego, California. Owning a dive charter is my 3rd career. Right after college I went to work for the National Marine Fisheries Service as a biologist. I worked in the Marine Mammal Division doing both genetics and life history work as they related to monitoring the California gillnet fisheries and the Eastern Tropical Pacific tuna fishery. I really enjoyed the job, but due to some, as it turned out, flawed thinking I decided to go to law school. After practicing for a couple of years I knew that a legal career wasn’t really for me and that I needed to get back to the sea. My wife Kimberly and I loved Kona, we had been here several times, so started looking for an opportunity here. It took awhile, but once we heard about Dive Makai being for sale, it all fell into place very quickly and before we knew it we were here.

Kimberly is a new diver, but is the real brains behind the operation. She has a B.A. in Business Management, so takes care of the business end of things. Before moving to Kona, she managed the Williams-Sonoma stores in San Diego (she is a fantastic cook) as well as a small international consulting firm. Most recently she was the office manager for a San Diego couple who have written two best selling business books and are sought after public speakers. Her title there was “Duchess of Details,” a moniker she continues to embody with Dive Makai.

We also have two children. Amber is 5 and is already bugging me to take her diving. She is the underwater model you can see on the Junior Divers page of the website. We also have Cade, who is only 1. He also loves the water, so it is only a matter of time before he’ll be underwater with the rest of us.

Our future divers

In October, shortly after the official business transfer, Tom and Lisa threw us a party to symbolically “pass the torch” to Kimberly and me.

The torch is passed

It was quite a night, with food, fun and lots of good friends. The highlight of the night was a slide show that Kendra put together chronicling all 30 years of Dive Makai. It had everyone in the room both laughing and crying.

So we are what has changed at Dive Makai, but now let me tell you what is staying the same. First we continue to run the same small, personally guided scuba tours that have made Dive Makai the best scuba charter in Kona for more than 30 years. We still have the best and most knowledgeable crew in Hawaii, most of which you will recognize from your past trips. Part of that crew continues to be Tom, who loves what he does so much that he has decided to keep doing our reservations as the “Voice of Dive Makai.” So when you call or email it will be a familiar voice that helps you book your diving. We think he’s crazy to not just retire, be we are very, very happy to have his help and his knowledge of Kona diving.

You might be wondering what is going on with Lisa. Well the short answer is she is moving to the Solomon Islands. For the longer answer, click here for Lisa’s story in Lisa’s words.

Kendra is sort of still on staff at Dive Makai. In August of last year Kendra married Chris Ignacio, her first love from 10 years ago. Chris owns and manages a restaurant, the "Back to the 50's Highway Fountain," on the other side of the island in Lapahoehoe.

Kendra & Frogfish