Summertime

   As the seasons move along, the reef treats us to a parade of delightful immatures.  In the last two days, I

Hawaiian Cleaner, Labroides phthirophagus Kahalu'u 2009

 had the chance to snorkel both the Ironman side of the pier and my favorite spot, Ho'okena.  I'm shocked to tell you that in comparison, the pier won.

    It was cruise ship Wednesday, so there was lots of action around the pier.  Making my way through the mob, I swam out to the palace and then back in, not seeing much until I got to the third swim buoy.  There I spotted an immature cleaner wrasse. He was almost as long as my little finger, but not nearly as chubby.  He had set up home in a coral head about five feet deep where he was plaguing a variety of fish. (They can't resist to come to a cleaner, but so often the plucking seems painful.) He afforded me many close looks and I carefully noted where he was relative to the swim buoy and the sand around his particular coral refuge.

Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse L. dimidatus Amed, Bali 2009

   This particular immature is interesting, as it is virtually identical to the immature Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse, L. dimidatus, found elsewhere in the pacific.  Here in Hawaii we have a single cleaner wrasse.   Throughout the western pacific there are two.  The aforementioned blustreak and the Bicolor Cleaner Wrasse, L. bicolor.  The immature of the latter sports a handsome chartreuse stripe.  My conclusion is that our fish and dimidatus share a more immediate common ancestor.   I'm including a picture, sadly taken with my first underwater camera, hence not very good, of the adult dimidatus in Bali.  Looking for this picture among the Bali portfolio really made me want to go back.  Great fish, great people, fascinating culture,  delicious (if somewhat monotonous) food. Only downside: Hotter than the hinges of Hades.

     But I digress.  As I got to the shore, I realized that I had another ten minutes to swim.  "Why not,"  I

The Male Pearl Wrasse, Kahalu'u 2012

  asked myself,  "don't I swim back out and see if I can find that baby cleaner wrasse whose location I so carefully noted?"   Try as I might, I could not relocate that lovely little fish.  Cleaner wrasses tend to pick a spot, the cleaning station, and stay there.  I'm sure there is a message here. Perhaps, "don't ever count on being able to swim back to a fish on the reef."  On the way in the second time, my persistence was rewarded with a male Pearl Wrasse.  This was the first time I had ever seen a male pearl at the pier.  Unless I'm mistaken, it was my first immature cleaner wrasse, as well.

    The following day we headed down to Ho'okena,
a spot where we almost always see something special.  The day was gorgeous.  After a morning rain the sun was out, the sky clear and a mild breeze was keeping it cool.  The water was a pleasant

  temperature, too.  Very near the entrance, I saw a maturing Red Shoulder Surgeon, almost adult size, half gray and half yellow.   He was deep and we couldn't get a good picture.   Further out,  we found a coral head with at least two pairs of Potter's Angelfish.  They were about thirty feet deep.  On the way back in I was imagining what their names might be:  Beatrix, Colonel Sherman, Harry and Hermione (By this time the dashing young wizard must have swept her off her feet)  


     The best summertime news is terrestrial, today as we motored home from our late morning swim we saw our resident pair of Kalij Pheasants with a brood of six chicks.  The chicks were already as big as small chickens.  We can look forward to more of these beautiful birds at Casa Ono.

Kalij Pheasant at Casa Ono. 

aloha,
jeff




 

   

Its King Kamehameha Day!

   Rolling into the parking lot on Saturday morning, I knew something was up.  Not only were all the parking spots taken, but all the illegal parking spots were occupied,  as well.  I back tracked to my secret alternative parking spot and  made the slightly longer walk down to the pier.   As I hit the malecon, it was obvious

The Women's Six is Ready to Race

that an outrigger regatta was in progress.  The smoke from a dozen barbecues wafted across the bay, there were bunches of people on the pier, and (biggest clue of all)  there were canoes in the water.
 
   But these weren't just any canoes.  There were at least four koa canoes paddling near the pier waiting for their turn to race.  As I neared the pier, I ran into signs trumpeting the Kamehameha Day regatta sponsored by the club that calls the Kailua Kona pier its home; hence the Kai Opua King Kamehameha Day Regatta.

    Lucky for me, there were a half dozen booths in Queen K Place, the nearest of which staffed by a comely twenty something who gave me a quick interpretation.  Not being a native of Hawaii, I did my best to understand her without asking her to repeat. 

    The regatta is a club regatta, as opposed to high school teams, and its about the only event in Kailua Kona on KK Day.  Hilo and Honolulu both have parades.  We, here in  the home of the king, have the regatta.   Clubs from around the island travel to Kailua with their canoes for the races.  The canoes are not exactly antiques, as they are still being produced.  But may of them are quite old.  Each of the koa canoes racing here belongs to its club.

    With this information in hand, I took a few more pictures and then donned my geeky snorkeling apparel and hit the water.  There were lots of paddlers in their team shirts flopping around in the sandy shallows, undoubtedly refreshing after a hard paddle.  As I swam out, a canoe with six serious young men made a swoop through

Digging For Home

 the swimming area.  Soon I was out on the starting line, about ten yards past the last swim buoy.  From here I had a good view of the race committee boat, where stood the starter with his big red flag.  To my right were eight koa canoes, glowing like old gold on the azure sea.  The canoes were positioned behind a starting line of large colorful flags.  What pageantry.  The Kailua interpretation of the Palio di Siena.  Mama mia!

    The flag went down and off they went.  Unlike the big canoe race on Labor Day (where they race to hell and back) this is a sprint.  They went down and back twice to a line of flags about 150 yards away.

     This gave me time to look for a fish and I snapped a mediocre photo of a Blue lined Surgeon.  I have a

Koa Canoes with the Kamehameha Day Crowd

 feeling that this fish isn't all that unusual, but its not very colorful.  Mostly you have to be aware of it and know the shape.  Suffice it to say, that while I took a moment to look at the fish, I made sure I didn't swim onto the course!

    I surfaced and readjusted the camera for this exciting photo of the finish.  Following that I swam in, showered and bid Aloha to my friends at the Kamehameha Day Regatta.       

Aloha to you, too!
jeff

Blue Line Surgeon says, "Go Kai Opua!"

The Palio di Siena is a race around the medieval piazza of Siena in Tuscany.  The riders, wearing costumes of their contrade (wards), rival the pagentry of the King Kamehameha Day Regatta in Kailua.

Na Kahumoku

    What, you may ask, is Na Kahamoku?   If I told you that it was a new offering at the Big Island Grill,

 would you believe me?  Possibly a mound of rice, a layer of raw ahi smothered in Manhattan clam chowder.  And topped with two Rocky Mountain Oysters.  And they only serve it on Wednesday as Tuesday is butchering day at the Parker Ranch.   You very well might, as loco moko is only slightly less complex and disgusting.   BIG will serve you a steaming portion of that surfer classic for about ten clams.

     But no!  Na Kahumoko translates to "Keepers of the Island."  It is a service organization at Kealakehe Middle School.   The charming trio at right is in the vanguard of NK.  If you are lucky, like Sandra and I were, they will drop in while you are down at K Bay and teach you about a fish or the coral. Or maybe they will teach you how to fix your home computer.

    All kidding aside, I think it is super that these kids are promoting conservation as opposed to the assassination of the animals we hold so dear.   Na Kahumoko is most definitely Pono!

jeff

Kahalu'u Shy with addendum

   Still feeling the glow of our encounter with the rare transitional phase Black Surgeonfish, Sandra and I headed down to Kahalu'u for a late morning swim.   The day was overcast, but conditions were pretty

Pugnacious Lagoon Trigger  "Whadda You Lookin' At?"

 good.  There was no current and the water was warm and, like the sky, only a little cloudy.

    Early in our swim I encountered an aggressive Rectangular Triggerfish.  About a week ago I had a similar experience, with one of these small fellows charging me, coming repeatedly within inches of my mask.  As I Prepared to capture an image of this interesting behavior, the Canon D10 informed me, "No Memeory Card".   As they say on Ork, "Shozbot!"
 
      The following day Sandra accompanied me for a swim and I spent an hour and a half swimming circles in K Bay trying to get a rise out of a triggerfish.  I did get one lagoon to approach me with his trigger up, but basically the exercise was a failure.  So today's encounter felt like vindication.  Sandra got to see the aggressive Rectangular Trigger (usually these guys retreat when you approach them).   I proceeded to let the triggerfish threaten me for several minutes while I took pictures. 

Argus Grouper waiting for his eel to go hunting.

   While Trigger and I were playing, Sandra got bored and swam a short distance away.   She grabbed my attention with a series of ladylike squeals through her snorkel.  She had discovered an Argus Grouper and a small Yellowmargin Moray hunting together.  They were looking nose to nose in the same opening in the coral.  I made it over in time to get a quick glimpse at this symbiotic behavior, but in the process I disrupted the dynamic duo.  The gorgeous young Yellowmargin receded into the coral and the grouper skulked around looking annoyed. You know how petulant those Argus Groupers can be. 

    Sandra came to the surface and said,  "That's what you get for pissing off the triggerfish."

    I didn't get a picture of this interesting behavior.  But I was immediately reminded of a letter to the editor from a reader named "evenhanded".  He was surprised that I hadn't seen more instances of eels hunting

Two Ornate Butterflyfish Out on a Date. 

with fishes, as he had witnessed this many times in Bonaire.   It is of interest that his examples were with members of the sea bass family, very much like the Argus Grouper.  The other pertinent point is that the government in Bonaire strictly protects all reef animals.  They actually make you buy a tag to explore the ocean.  There is no fishing.  You are not permitted to wear gloves.  The laws protecting the reef in Bonaire are the very antithesis of Hawaii laissez faire.  If our government gave the reef half the protection it receives in Bonaire, we would undoubtedly see all kinds of animal behavior.

    Following the eel grouper encounter we made the loop without seeing much else of interest, although I did snap the lovely picture of a pair of ornates you see above.    At this point, Sandra retired to the beach and I continued to swim for a little more exercise.

Square tail Filefish   Cantherhines sanwichensis, imm

   Having completed my supplementary swim, on the way to the beach, I saw a small filefish in the shallow coral rubble.  Looking more critically, I realized that I had a Shy Filefish.  He was about 4 inches in length and gave me one clear shot on top of a chunk of coral.   Dropping down, he swam among the coral rubble, offering me several  sihouettes with his tail spread and his file erect.   Unfortunately, I could not get in position to capture that classic filefish image.  I feel very fortunate that I got one well focused picture.  If you have a chance, take a look at the guide books and tell me who has the best picture. 

    Back in the day, say fifteen years ago, I would see this fish at least once in K Bay on an average two week Hawaiian vacation with my family.  So I've probably seen the Shy Filefish four or five times.  But not recently.  I can't clearly remember the last time I saw one of these furtive fish.  Maybe ten years!

Square tail  Filefish, Kahaluu, May 2013

This is one of those fish that I thought I might never see again.

   Isn't it great to know that if you spend some time at Kahalu'u you have a chance at this unusual beauty?  Is it enough to make you want to petition the people who ought to protect this heavily used gem for some increased protection.  How wonderful would it be if Kahalu'u was protected like the reefs of Bonaire? 

Go Fish,
jeff

A few days later, having had the opportunity to consider the above identification, I would like to submit one more picture,  some additional field notes and a correction.  Completing our swim yesterday, the Redoubtable SKK and I spotted a similar immature.

Square tail Filefish immature, Kahalu'u

However, this one started out quite gray with the white spot on the caudal peduncle and changed coloration to the striped form.  The picture you see was taken a few days ago and already (if it was the same fish) the stripe pattern was not so pronounced.  John Hoover writes that the immature Square Tail Filefish,  C. sandwichensis, has a honeycomb pattern.  He offers no picture.  I now suspect that our "shy" filefish was a little seen immature of the relatively common Sandwich Island Filefish.  If you look carefully, you will see the white spot on the caudal peduncle in the honeycomb pictures above.

Mea culpa,
jeff