By Oahu Divemaster & ODA Advisory Board Member Gary Liebmann

It was another beautiful Sunday afternoon on the southeast side of Oahu on February 18, 2024.

The trade winds really started to pick up while our Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) team began to gather at Maunalua Bay Beach Park while were waiting for the vessel Na Makana (the boat of our partner Aaron’s Dive Shop) to arrive. The ODA team was anxious to get back out there, so we weren’t going to let the winds deter us!

Captain John Hansen arrived to pick us up and after a short boat briefing, we were under way. The south easterly winds were blowing forcefully, and the surface was looking a little choppy, but we still made our way out to the cliff wall in search of abandoned fishing line and lead.

As we made our way through the channel markers, our Dive Team Leader Glenn Roberts began to brief everybody about the plan for the day and what measures we should take to remove the fishing line while preserving the integrity of the reef.

We had a total of 10 divers along for the ride, mostly seasoned volunteers such as Henry Bennett, Gary Liebmann, David Marcelli, Glenn Roberts, Chad Schmidt, Ed Sisino, and Rose Zhang. We also had three newer volunteers along with us, Ellie Cory, Bill Metzler, and Baily Young. They are the most recent additions to ODA, and we truly appreciate their help and dedication to cleaning up the bay! I don’t want to forget to mention our deck crew help and topside photographer, Temple Liebmann. She was busy trying to capture the most “flattering” photographs of us as we were awkwardly trying to put on our wetsuits while dodging the waves! Notice I'm not posting those photos...;)

As we neared our destination, Captain John notified us that our usual spot we like to clean, Fish Camp, was going to be too dangerous due to the wind and waves, so we made the call to divert to Spitting Cave. This site has always proven to be a great “honey hole” for us and is a little more protected from rough conditions.

As we were suiting up, I gave the safety brief and notified everyone that we were going to drop in five minutes. The captain got us as close to the drop site as possible, but we ended up having to make two drops to avoid hitting the wall. Eventually we all entered the water and began our negative descent to the bottom below.

Spitting Cave bottoms out at about 50 feet but most of us were able to stay within the 30–40-foot range to find plenty of lead and entangled coral that needed our attention. The visibility was great, about 60 feet and the current wasn’t too bad, a little surgy, but that was to be expected knowing what was happening at the surface! Other than being a little cold with an average temperature of 76 degrees, (I can only imagine what our California volunteers are thinking at this point), it was a great day for cleaning!

Right at about the 30-minute mark we had two full buckets and a couple of divers who were at their planned limit of air, so I made the call, and we began our ascent while Glenn and Chad began to raise the lift bags and buckets.

Just to jump ahead a litte, once we get back to land, you can see below -- we use a handheld scale to weigh the debris we hauled out:

The conditions made getting out of the water on to the safety of the Na Makana no easy task, but Captain John expertly positioned the boat and helped us back aboard. After a few minutes of serious pulling, we also managed to land the two five-gallon buckets full of lead onto the swim platform and then the boat began its way back to the boat launch.

Once back to the safety of the beach park, we unloaded all our gear and spread out a tarp so we could begin the separation of lead and line. One of the buckets weighed 76 pounds and the other weighed 64 pounds for a total of 140 pounds. We estimate that there was 300 yards of line in the mix of lead, spark plugs, beer cans, and broken fishing rods.

It felt like a successful trip once again – unfortunately, we’re never at a loss for ghost gear to collect on this part of Oahu. I did notice this time, however, I had to look a little harder to find the obvious piles of debris, so I’ve convinced myself, and I hope that it’s true, that we are making a noticeable difference one day at a time!

We have also recently started a new tradition in which some of the volunteers go out and have some pupus (appetizers!) and a couple of beers afterwards to reward the work well done. This time we ended up at Kona Brewing for some fun and laughter. I almost can’t wait for next month!

If you’d like to enjoy great camaraderie while doing the meaningful work of cleaning our coastal waters, please email us!