Black Rock
This is a photographer's dream. Here
the fish are posing pros. They have no fear of photographers or divers, sometimes
making themselves a nuisances by being too close to your camera. They are constantly
looking for hand outs, but we advise against fish feeding. As a result of the
large number of divers and snorklers that visit this place everyday and offer
hand outs, the fish have lost their natural fear of people which make them not
only easy photo subjects, but also easy spearing subjects. Kids with spear guns,
needing some target practice, sometimes use the fish at Black Rock as easy targets.
It is not unusual to see fish with scales and flesh missing. Another result of
fish feeding is aggressive fish. I have seen puffer fish and eels grab the fish
food right out of divers hands. Beside friendly fish, this dive site has an amazing
number of resident turtles. They seem to have retained their wariness of people,
but they generally let you get close enough to take awesome photos but not close
enough to touch. Not only is this a good day dive, it is a GREAT night dive. This
area comes alive at night with tons of nocturnal things to see. The area teams
with free swimming eels, nudibranchs, lobsters and crabs. I see things on this
dive site at night that I have never seen anywhere else. You can see at least
three or four types of eels at night here and if you are lucky you can actually
see them catching their dinner. You can see my favorite nudibranch, the Spanish
Dancer as well as a variety of flat worms. I have seen the rare Harlequin shrimp,
turkey fish, lion fish and many other rare and weird things. This dive has a maximum
depth of 35 feet which makes for nice long bottom times.
All photos and intellectual property
© Erik Stein
Black Rock description By Myke
Capps
E mail to info@scubadivemaui.com
Viewers Since Oct 19, 1997 