The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (Or Not)

   For almost as long as I have been vacationing in Kona, I have included an outing to the Mauna Kea Beach

The Most Beautiful Beach in Hawaii

Hotel.  Or rather, to the eponymous beach, which is routinely rated as the prettiest beach in Hawaii.   I always thought that the snorkeling here was excellent and the beach, protected by a reef, was an super place for the kids to play.  Now that we are living here in Kailua, Sandra and I find that we rarely go to the Mauna Kea.  Unable to remember the last time we were there, we packed a breakfast and headed up Hwy 11 towards Kawaihae. 

    "Breakfast?" you ask.  Well, just like several of the major resorts that have captured beaches, the MKBH is required to provide beach access.  Roughly the first 30 vehicles that show up at the guard house are awarded passes.  These passes aren't

Elegant Hermit Crab, Kahalu'u August 2013

recycled through out the day, so we have long known that if you want to go to this beach, if you were going to make the long drive, you should plan on getting there early or risk being turned away. 

     If you make the drive and are refused access, Beach 69, just south of Hapuna, is an excellent beach for the kids to play on and provides some shade for the adults.  49 Black Sand Beach at the Mauna Lani (also requiring a beach pass, but far less popular than the MKBH) is good for snorkeling.

    So, we arrived about 8:30, ate our breakfast in a shady spot near the beach, and did a little reading.  As you can see from my picture, it was a beautiful day and the beach was as lovely as ever.  We entered the water a little before 10.  The water was fairly clear.  As is the case everywhere in the world, a fair amount of the coral is dead or dying.  There remains some pretty patches...but for how long?   The variety and numbers of fish were just OK.   Long ago, I saw a Sunset Wrasse here.  This was back in the days of snail mail and Jack Randall was kind enough to send me back a note in which he explained

Cone Shell Hermit Crab, Kahalu'u  August 2013

waifs.  On this day, there were no unusual fish.  Achilles Tang was present in reasonable numbers.  (Surprising, as we saw at least two spear fishermen.)  And we ran across a pair of Milletseed Butterflyfish.   The only invertebrate of note was a Crown of Thorns Starfish.

     Our overall impression was that from a snorkeling standpoint, the reef at the Mauna Kea did not justify the hassle.  For those of you who just want to go the beach, it remains lovely.  There is relatively little shade, though, so you might want to keep that in mind.

    Right here in Kona, at the heavily touristed Kahalu'u Beach Park, snorkeling has been rather good of late.  In addition to the immature hogfish, which has persisted for a couple weeks, we have seen a couple interesting hermit crabs, whose photos grace this blog. Isn't it nice to know that Calcinus elegans and Celipaguras strigatus are still out there?

Coris flavovittata Chillin' at K Bay.  August 2013

Hermit crabs can be hard to find, but they are handsome and fascinating animals.

    Speaking of handsome and fascinating, how about this Yellowstripe Coris that we found yesterday at good old K Bay?  I was amused to find that the common name has been changed to Blackstripe Coris.  Its still C. flavovittata and a rare and wonderful fish to find at K Bay.  Along with an immature cleaner wrasse and a host of others, the fish at Kahalu'u were every bit as good as their well heeled brethren at the MKBH.

    Where ever you put on your mask and fins, good luck and see a fish for me.

jeff

    

   

Summer is the Time for Hogfish (It Says So in the Bible.)

     Are you familiar with Sharpe's Rifles, that amusing series of books written by Bernard Cornwell?   Set in India and the Iberian Penninsula Cornwell follows the career of Lt. Richard Sharpe, an up from the ranks

Hawaiian Hogfish imm  Kahalu'u August 2013

 superstar of fisticuffs, riflery, with a dazzling romance around every turn. If you are acquainted with Sharpe, you will remember Sergeant Hakeswill, the villain who has it in for our hero.

    Hakeswill is a despicable swine.  Obsequious to superior officers, he's obese, a talented liar and prone to making the most outrageous statements that he justifies by declaring, "Says so in the Bible."

    Well, I'm here to tell you that summer is the time for Hawaiian Hogfish immatures.   While I may or may not be an overweight mendicant, it says so in the bible.  Which is to say that John Hoover, in the Ulitimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, says that this fish is common in the summer.  Hoover's book is the bible for identification of fishes on our reefs.  He has many pictures showing different color patterns and lengthy text, in which he deposits little pearls like this.

H. Hogfish imm  B. albotaeniatus  Classic silhouette

      Common may be an overstatement.  Before Sandra and I saw one at Ho'okena last September, we hadn't seen an immature hogfish for years.  Of course, last year was the first that we started living year round in Hawaii.

   This summer we have seen two, the lone hog I reported at the pier in July and now this fellow at K Bay.  Here's the really cool thing about this guy:  He seems to be hanging around in the same spot.  Sandra discovered him a week ago.  That day I had the camera sans memory card.  Yesterday, in warm, cloudy water we had the camera, but the battery needed recharging.  Luckily I was able to come up with these two pictures of what I still consider a very rare fish.   But its common in the summer.  Says so in the bible.  Look for Junior Hogfish about ten meters to the left of the entry in the near shore rocky rubble.

Hawaiian Dascyllus imm   Kahalu'u  August 2013

   I saw two other nice immatures on the outing yesterday.  Careful to conserve battery power, I managed to get this nice picture of an immature Hawaiian Dascyllus.  This fish isn't rare, but sometimes hard to photograph.  Not only is it quite small, but like baby anemonefish, it darts for cover,  albeit in cauliflower coral, when approached.  Most often when we see immature dascyllus, we see several.  This guy was solitary.  Perhaps he was out of cover searching for his lost brothers and sisters.

    Out in the bay a found a large live Humpback Cowry.  I have good reason to fear that even here at Kahaluu, people remove cowries and other shelled molluscs to take home for their collections.  So I put a nice big piece of coral over this handsome living animal before bidding him adieu.  
    
    Most often, before getting out at Kahalu'u, I will take one final swim over to the Menehune Breakwater.

 Its good exercise, the water is clearer there and sometimes we see something special.  Yesterday we hit the big casino.  Sitting on a lump of coral only two feet deep was an immature Freckled Face Hawkfish.  This immature is so distinctive, that I play it as a separate fish on the list.  Forster's Hawkfish after the species name. (I do the same thing for Red Labrid Wrasse and Dragon Wrasse.) 

    As I was circling, preparing to dive down for a picture, I saw the tail of a Stout Moray Eel protruding from the adjacent coral head.  Picking my handholds with a bit more care, less Señor Stout mistake my fingers be mistaken for a quintet of Vienna sausages or a small octopus, I was able to nab the picture at right.  This is my best photo ever of this handsome and moderately uncommon immature.  I just love the chartreuse cape on this little guy. 

    So be assured that Obadiah Hakeswill will never get the best of Richard Sharpe.  And that immature Hawaiian Hogfish are common in the summer.  Says so in the bible.

jeff 

An Octopus, the Gilded Trigger and Razorfish Redux

   Despite its position in the title, I am going take the liberty of dealing with old business first.

Day Octopus and Manybar Goatfish

As I am not entirely bonkers, I sent my field notes of the Kona Crab and probable razorfish, along with my inferior pictures (as opposed to a link to the last blog) to John Hoover and Jack Randall.  Even though they didn't get to sing Ragtime Sandra Gray, they were both interested enough in the fish-crab association to write back.  Dr. Randall was quick to compare our newest finding to the well known association between day octopus and manybar goatfish.  The picture at right was taken by yours truly at 49 Black Sand Beach.  He also noted the association between Bluefin Trevally and Blue Goatfish.  Although one sees these two species hunting together all the time, its difficult to photograph, as they are on the move.

    John Hoover was kind enough to send my information on to John Earle, who he put forth as the expert on Razorfish (genus Iniistius) in Hawaii..  Here is his interesting response:

I have seen Iniistius associate themselves with all manner of non-threatening critters that stir up the sand, up to the size of rays, and also with anchors dragging in the sand.  A good hunting strategy for them, but I doubt this is a case of commensual hunting as one sees with octopus or Gymnothorax meleagris  [Whitemouth Moray] with Parupeneus [goatfish]  species and jacks (with the possible exception of the anchors ;-)  Nothing in it for the ray, crab, goatfish, etc.

Blackside Razorfish (Picture borrowed from the internet)

   I am including a purloined picture of a Razorfish, so you have an idea of what I assume we saw hunting with the Kona Crab 40 feet below.  I have never seen this species of razorfish well, except a couple times  in plastic wrapped containers in the meat department at the KTA or Oshima's up in Kainaliu.  Its nice to know that razorfish have a good time out in the sand before they end up as pescado.

     Moving right along, as we had guests last week and were determined to show off the best of Kona snorkeling, we went to two of our favorite locations.  On Monday we went to 49 Black Sand Beach at the Mauna Lani (following a morning walk out to the Puako Petroglyphs.)  The water was clear

and there were lots of handsome fish among the plentiful coral.  Fairly early into our excursion, Sandra tugged on my fin and pointed to a large octopus ten feet below us.
He was an excellent fellow, changing textures and colors.  If you are observant, you can see both his eye and his siphon in the accompanying picture.

    The next day we rolled down to Ho'okena.  On the way, we stopped at the Peace Garden on Painted Church Road.  Amid the multiple memorials commemorating the world's religions (whether or not they are peaceful)  there is a large planting depicting the our galaxy, the Milky Way.  In the Galaxy Garden, different plants represent different types of stars, nebulae, etc.  There was even a black hole at the center.  Brad, who teaches astronomy at the local college back in Mt. Vernon, Wa. was in Hog Heaven (to complete the religious metaphor).  Here is the website for the Peace Garden, including a Cracker Jack picture of the Galaxy Garden.  http://www.paleaku.com/

Gilded Triggerfish  X. auromarginatus  Ho'okena August 2013

    Finally, at Ho'okena the sky was a bright blue, the waves were small and the sea crystal clear.  Sounds like the perfect opportunity for underwater photography.  Luckily, there was a school of Gilded Triggerfish in about ten feet of water (way shallow for this species) and among them was the magnificent male you see pictured at right.  It just goes to show that if you hang in there, God will provide you an excellent fish aand a lovely day to take the picture.

   I hope you have lots of them,

jeff

In the words of the great P. T. Barnum,
"There's a sucker born every minute."  And that goes double when your dealing with an octopus!

When Brad and Dale Are on Vacation, They Really Have a Good Time!

   

  

Kermit the (Crab) Frog

     Early this morning my sweetie asked me to look at the wave predictor and, lo and behold, calm

conditions were predicted for the Kona Coast.  Sweetly she asked if we could go to Ho'okena, even though we will be going there again with our guests later in the week.  Not being the sort of guy who wants to disappoint his Honey, I cleared up the breakfast dishes, got our snorkeling equipment together and off we headed to the south.

    Lucky for us, on arrival we got a primo parking spot and, with our trusty old binoculars, were able to pick out the dolphin pod in the bay.  Wiki wiki we got down to the water and swam out toward the dolphins.  On the way out we saw the expected Yellowfin Surgeons and Gilded Triggerfish.  As a treat, Neptune sent us a pair of genuinely large Ulua.  This is not an uncommon fish, but, the cheesy  Island Insurance commercial not withstanding, you don't see the really big ulua very often.

     Although the dolphins were delightful, I was also keeping my eye on the sandy bottom 40 feet below.    

First, I noticed a group of Garden Eels.  Then, off to the side, I spotted two animals working in concert on the sandy bottom.  One was a fish, probably a Yellowstripe Goatfish, although it was too far away for me to be certain that I had identified what type of fish it was, much less the species.  It could have been a razorfish or some other wrasse. The second was clearly a crustacean.

    Doing my mediocre dives, I was able to close to within 30 feet or so of this pair.  I could clearly see that I was looking at a crab that was forging across the sand by pushing with its rear legs. I knew immediately that this was a Frog Crab!  His forward propulsion was in direct contradiction to those famous marine biologists, Tom and Dickie Smothers who sang, "Crabs walk sideways and lobsters walk straight. And we won't let you take her for your mate."  He was pushed along by a remarkably frog-like extension of his rear legs, leading with a pair of enormous pincers, his eyes erect on stalks.  The attendant fish worked around him, similar to a Multiband Goatfish teaming up with an octopus.

     I'm afraid that the picture above is the best I could do at this extreme distance.  Sandra thinks my picture looks quite a bit like that staple of our diet here in Hawaii, the Costco rotisserie chicken. Believe me, it was a Frog Crab.   I'm including a purloined picture so you can get a better idea what this animal looks like.   Interestingly, there were no good pictures in Google images of a frog crab in the wild.  More on that momentarily.

    This was my first frog crab.  Our friend John Hoover tells us that this was a Kona Crab, Ranina ranina (Linnaeus 1788) which means Frog frog.   "How did good old Linnaeus get one of these crabs?"  you may ask.  The answer is that they are widely dispersed in the Indopacific and are quite edible.  Hence, European sea captains were probably been offered them as food in trade and a few specimens undoubtably made it back to the curiosity collections of Holland.  They are trapped commercially even here in Hawaii, but the catch is regulated.  Consequently, most pictures on the internet are directed towards the chef, as opposed to the wildlife biologist.  Hoover goes on to say that the crab lives below 30 feet and is rarely encountered in the wild.  (Unless you count plucking them from traps!)

    We completed our circuit, encountering a school of Oval Chromis that deftly evaded my attempt at photography. 

Let's Go Bucks!

   Lately I have become enamored of an old tune, Ragtime Cowboy Joe.  As a child I bore the indignity of a Canadian father whose only interest in athletics was hockey.  Living in Portland, the only professional sports we attended were the Portland Buckaroos, who, purely by default were my childhood athletic heroes.  Before each period the Bucks would skate around their end of the ice to a peppy organ version of Ragtime Cowboy Joe.  Following which we would get out our cow bells and yell,  "Let's Go Bucks!"  With that in mind, as we swam in, I composed this ode to my sweetie whose enthusiasm had spawned this days adventure.  (In the event that you are not familiar with the tune, I'm including a version by the Flying J Wranglers of Ruidoso, NM.  I hope you will take the time to enjoy their singing.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et_ZyqIa36E

Ragtime Sandra Gray

Way down in Ho'okena where the big fish  play,
You can swim with an Ulua or a Manta Ray.
But the hottest thing in the whole damn bay,
Is Ragtime Sandra Gray.

 (refrain)
She likes to sing raggedy music to the Dolphins,
As she bobs, back and forth upon the ocean.
With the sharks, she has never had a quarrel.
You can hear the dolphins chortle as she sings into her snorkel.

And they jump, every time they see her comin',
Cause the Dolphin folks all say.
She's the high falutin', rootin' tootin, Snorkelin' Girl from Hookena!
Ragtime Sandra Gray

Raggy Scorpionfish, S. venosa (Cuvier 1829)   Bali 2009

She sings her raggy music to the crabs and fish.
She could cook 'em in a chowder or most any dish.
But she like pipe her snorkely tremolo.
So she sings to her friends below.

refrain

I'm including a pic of the Raggy Scorpionfish, taken with the old $89 water camera at dusk in Permuteran, Bali.  My only regret is that I wasn't thoughtful enough to sing Ragtime Cowboy Joe to this magnificent stonefish. 

jeff





   

Pier Beats City. Details at 11.

  This week Sandra and I are hosting two of our dearest friends, who have come to Hawaii to enjoy the fish, 

Christmas Wrasse, City of Refuge, August 2013

 the Kilauea volcano, the Mauna Kea Observatory And, of course, the excellent company.  The first day was dedicated to fine cuisine, etc. and the telling of lies.  On day two, it was time to hit the water.

   We always start at the pier.  Its the safe place to make sure all systems are go. On this day there was a modest swell and the water was fairly cloudy. Brad and Dale enjoyed the fish and the delightful cool water, but it was far from the best possible show.

    Having consumed a variety of barbecued fish the night before, we set out for City of Refuge the next day.  The Painted Church and the Pu'u Honua were excellent.  The park was hosting a large blubbery monk seal, replete with a childish autobiography, indubitably composed by one of the twenty somethings, looking cute in her Smokey the Bear Hat.

Loco Moco,  Breakfast of Surfers (and Snorkelers)

    After the requisite Tiki Face picture, we headed over to the Two Step entry.  City was pristine, with flat, crystal clear water.  There was the usual group of Thompson's Butterflyfish accompanied by Three Spot Chromis and Hawaiian Dascyllus.  In the corner, Dale spotted a gorgeous Christmas Wrasse.  This fish is becoming progressively less common and I'm treasuring every encounter.  Good spotting, Dale!  Otherwise, it was usual suspects.

     That evening our guests took us out to the Big Island Grill.  B.I.G. was hopping with noisy locals meeting and greeting.  I ordered the loco moco.  In the past, we have left it to the children to order this famous surfer dish.  A large bed of rice, a heaping helping of roast pork, two fried eggs, bathed overall with brown gravy.  It was yummy and it took me two days to finish the scrumptious left overs.

     All of which brings us to yesterday.  Our guests had departed to try their hand at volcano watching and Sandra and I, left to roast in Kailua, repaired to the pier for a swim.  The water in the bay was refreshing  and dramatically more clear than it was two days earlier.   We'd been swimming  for only a few

Nesting Night Sergeant, Kailua Pier, August 2013

minutes when Sandra called me over to the sea wall.  She had discovered a large Green Sea Turtle feasting on the algae growing  inside an even larger tire.  As I watched the turtle, a Night Sergeant made a couple runs at me.  It seemed that he was protecting a nest inside the tire.

    A bit further out, we encountered a Zebra Moray Eel, slithering around on an afternoon hunt.  While I was fiddling with the camera, Sandra watched the eel catch a small fish.  How exciting is that?

    Way out in front of the palace, we saw a single Saddleback Butterflyfish.  Turning seaward, I was virtually in the middle of the bait ball of Big Eyed Scad.  This time the ball was composed of large adult fish.  Previously, we reported on an interaction with Black Durgons.  They were present, but so were a variety of other fish.  A bevy of Ringtailed Surgeon were on the bottom and a large

Lined Butterflyfish Accompany the Bait Ball

school of Lined Butterflyfish was hanging with the scads, as well.   The bait ball, as always, creeped out my swimming companion, who kept her distance while I dived into, and otherwise annoyed, the enormous school of silvery fish.

     Soon we headed for home.  Opposite the outermost swim buoy, in about fifteen feet of water, I spotted a very small Day Octopus.  Initially, he was white, which is a pretty unusual appearance for this animal.  Soon he changed colors and textures, blending in with his background.  He permitted us to watch him for about five minutes, swimming and perching twice, until he disappeared into a crevice.  What a treat.
I sang him the Octopus Doxology and we headed on in.

    Be you in Honaunau or downtown Kailua, there is always a chance that some excellent animals are waiting to say hello.

Zebra Moray Looking for a Bite.  Kailua 8/13

jeff

Find the Octopus and Win a Prize!

The Resident Monk Seal Basks on Her Private Beach at the Pu'u Honua.