OUR CREW

Hometown: New Canaan, Connecticut
Favorite Kona dive site: Yes
Favorite marine animal: Octopus. No, wait – nudibranchs. No, wait – blackstripe coris. No, wait – scrawled filefish. Okay, pretty much all of the animals.
Favorite local restaurant: Kaimana Kitchen
Favorite quote: “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” Abraham Lincoln
Favorite topside activity: Topside? What’s topside?

Hometown: Attigony, France
Favorite Kona dive site: Touch of Gray
Favorite marine animal: Dolphin
Favorite local restaurant: Umeke’s
Favorite quote: “Live and Let Dive.”
Favorite topside activity: Playing music

Hometown: Somewhere in the middle of the country
Favorite Kona dive site: Tubastrea Tunnel
Favorite marine animal: Spanish Dancer
Favorite local restaurant: Quinn’s Almost by the Sea
Favorite quote: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.” Grandma
Favorite topside activity: Hanging out with my wife, doing nothing or anything at all.

Hometown: Jackson, Wyoming
Favorite Kona dive site: Touch of Gray
Favorite marine animal: Tiger shark/Godzilla
Favorite local restaurant: Da Poke Shack or Sushi Rock in Hawi (it’s worth the drive!)
Favorite quote: “Be excellent to each other. Party on dudes.” Bill and Ted
Favorite topside activity: There are topside activities?

Hometown: Orlando, Florida
Favorite Kona dive site: Suck ’em up
Favorite marine animal: Boxfish
Favorite local restaurant: Phuket Monkey
Favorite quote: “Air is for tires.” Kerry Key
Favorite topside activity: Eating

Hometown: Santa Cruz, California
Favorite Kona dive site: Twin Sisters
Favorite marine animal: Octopus
Favorite local restaurant: Annie’s
Favorite quote: “When one tugs on a single thing in nature, they find it attached to everything else on earth.” John Muir
Favorite topside activity: Slapping da bass

Hometown: Fargo, North Dakota. You betcha!
Favorite Kona dive site: Eel Cove
Favorite marine animal: Nudibranchs and other teeny invertebrates
Favorite local restaurant: Mi’s Waterfront Bistro
Favorite quote: “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Abraham Lincoln
Favorite topside activity: Hiking and bird watchin up mauka with the dogs

Hometown: Birmingham, England
Favorite Kona dive site: Golden Arches North
Favorite marine animal: Mantis shrimp
Favorite local restaurant: Big Island Grill
Favorite quote: “It’s so fluffy! I’m gonna die!”
Favorite topside activity: Ballet

Hometown: San Leandro, California
Favorite Kona dive site: Freeze Face
Favorite marine animal: Frogfish
Favorite local restaurant: 808 Grindz
Favorite quote: “The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish.”
Favorite topside activity: Hanging out and exploring with Nalu

Hometown: Oak Ridge, TN
Favorite Kona dive site: High Rock
Favorite marine animal: Tinker’s butterflyfish
Favorite local restaurant: Merriman’s (Waimea)
Favorite quote: “If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” Carl Sagan
Favorite topside activity: Cooking

Hometown: Montreal, Canada
Favorite Kona dive site: The last site I dove, for the first time
Favorite marine animal: Raccoon butterflyfish
Favorite local restaurant: Sansei
Favorite quote: “I feel a lot more like I do now, than I did 10 minutes ago.”
Favorite topside activity: Anything with Miki

Hometown: Bloomington, MN
Favorite Kona dive site: Suck’um Up
Favorite marine animal: Humpback Whale/Monk Seal
Favorite local restaurant: Quinn’s
Favorite quote: “Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.”
Favorite topside activity: Hiking, Bowling and Stargazing.

Hometown:  Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany

Favorite Kona dive site:  Suck ’em up/Big arch

Favorite marine animal:  Harlequin shrimp/frog fish/shark

Favorite restaurant in Kona:  Kona Brewing Company

Favorite quote:  “Don’t dream your life, live your dream.”

Favorite land-based activity:  hiking, beaching, camping, editing videos

Hometown:  Torrance, CA
Favorite Kona dive site:  Black Hole
Favorite marine animal:  Flamboyant cuttlefish
Favorite local restaurant:  Broke da Mouth
Favorite quote:  “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.”
Favorite land-based activity:  Land??

Hometown:  Tuscon
Favorite Kona dive site:  Pyramid Pinnacles
Favorite marine animal:  Cuttlefish
Favorite local restaurant:  Loko Wraps
Favorite quote:  “Do all the interns get glocks?”
Favorite land-based activity:  Travel the island and not fall in lava

Hometown:  Bismarck, ND

Favorite Kona dive site: The Dome

Favorite marine animal:  Whale shark

Favorite local restaurant: Original Thai

Favorite quote: Dress like the shark you want to see in the world!

Favorite land-based activity:  Land-based?

Hometown:  Libertyville, IL

Favorite Kona dive site:  Pu`uhonua O Honaunau (Two Step) at night!

Favorite marine animal:  Octopus

Favorite local restaurant:  Shiono Sushi

Favorite quote:  There’s diem to carpe!

Favorite land-based activity:  Beach Volleyball

Hometown:  Lyman, WY

Favorite Kona dive site:  Crescent Beach

Favorite marine animal:  Manta Ray (specifically Kenzie)

Favorite local restaurant:  Rebel Kitchen

Favorite quote:  “It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea–whether it is to sail or to watch it–we are going back from whence we came.” – John F. Kennedy

Favorite land-based activity:  Eating cookie dough and/or taking naps

Hometown:  Key West, FL

Favorite marine animal:  Squid

Favorite local restaurant:  Kona Inn

Favorite quote:  “You’ll never, never know if you never, never go.”

Favorite land-based activity:  Rambling around

Hometown: Hawaiian Ocean View Estates, Hawaii
Favorite Kona dive site: Dog Beach
Favorite marine animal: Katie
Favorite local restaurant: Big Jake’s BBQ, because bones
Favorite quote: “You can come!”
Favorite topside activity: Wandering and getting other dogs lost

Hometown: Kainaliu, Hawaii
Favorite Kona dive site: Dog Beach
Favorite marine animal: Goatfish
Favorite local restaurant: Outback Steakhouse, because bones
Favorite quote: “Time for bed!”
Favorite topside activity: Sleeping on a lap. Or in a sunbeam. OR…sleeping in a sunbeam on a lap!

Hometown: Kailua Kona, Hawaii
Favorite Kona dive site: Dog Beach
Favorite marine animal: Bird wrasse
Favorite local restaurant: Ruth’s Chris, because bones
Favorite quote: “Let’s go for a hike!”
Favorite topside activity: Chasing coconuts on da beach