I'm in Half Moon Bay, following a good week of diving. It started out with drysuit dive training on Sunday and Monday. I got drysuit certified because you can stay warmer in a drysuit because you're dry when diving in cold water. On Friday after Thanksgiving, Dad, Robin and I went to San Carlos Beach Park in Monterey. We had great conditions. We saw tons of jellyfish like in the movie Finding Nemo. It was so crazy with jellyfish that we had to turn around and swim the other way. Dad took the photos.

Today, we went diving at Pt Lobos Reserve. Even though it was raining, we were dry because of our drysuits. I saw many brightly colored nudibranches, crabs trying to disguise themselves as seaweed, and even seals! It is rare to see seals when diving. They looked right at me, like dogs waiting for a treat. To bad Dad didn't get photos of the seals this time. But he got other cool stuff.

Today I did two dives in Monterey -- one at Coral Street and one at San Carlos Beach. San Carlos was more interesting because I saw a big crab, about one foot in diameter, and a big fish that appeared to be hunting in the kelp. There were also many bright yellow nudibranchs and some of them had little horns. I also saw many sea cucumbers that were also yellow. I also saw a keyhole limpet, which looks like a black round blob with a keyhole in the middle. I dove with dad on both dives and with Robin too on a dive.

Yesterday was my first day diving in cold water! I dove at the most popular dive spot in the U.S. called San Carlos Beach Park, Monterey, California. I had to wear a double wetsuit and hood because the temperature of the water was 57 degrees. I saw many starfish and was surrounded by a kelp forest. We also saw beautiful nudibranchs and baby flounder. There also were anemones waving in the current.

Today I dove at Leleiwi, Hawaii. There were many turtles in the water. I saw a purple, yellow and blue nudibranch. The ocean was calm, but right after we got out, it started getting really wavy with a lot of surge. This was my 10th scuba dive!

On June 8, we went to a new dive spot called Honaunau. It is on the South Kona side of the Big Island. We saw a three foot peacock grouper, and we went into a lava tube underwater. Heraldo dove with Dad and me.

Today I dove for an hour at 30 feet. The fish above is a scorpion wrasse, a.k.a. rock mover. I practiced buddy breathing with my dad, and Robin came too. Even though we went to the same dive spot as the other day, we went a different way this time. The corals had a lot of texture.

Today was my last day of open water training. I am now a certified diver!

I did a controlled swimming ascent from the ocean floor. I also had to take off my BC and tank underwater and put it back on. My instructor also made me take of my mask and put it back on, and clear it underwater. We saw a scorpionfish.

Bill was a good instructor. He was very patient.

To see new photos, click:

Jonas Dive Blog June 3, 2010

Today I had two dives. In both of the dives, there were about 15 turtles (honu). We also saw a moray eel and it was about 6 inches in diameter.

Bill (my instructor) is the guy who is with me in all of the photos. My dad is the one taking the photos.

We were diving at Leleiwi in Hilo, Hawaii.

To see photos from today, go to:

Jonas Dive Blog June 2, 2010

Hi, this my new dive blog. I am 11 years old, and I just started my scuba training.

Today was my first day of dive training at Richardson's Beach Park in Hilo, Hawaii. I saw a honu and a panther flounder. It was sandy. But we didn't see too much because we were training. The training involved buddy breathing, hand signals, and naming the different equipment that I am using.

To see all of my photos for today, go to:

Jonas Dive Blog June 1, 2010