Kua Bay

     Recently I received an email from one of our regular readers asking if we could meet, exchange notes and possibly go snorkeling together.  Shortly after that Sandra and I met Bob Hollis at Kahalu'u.   Bob is a retired park ranger from Southern California and enjoys identifying fish as much as I do.  Or as he puts it, he's a fish nerd.  Yesterday, at his suggestion, we went to Kua Bay.  He was very enthusiastic and I was more than a little curious.  Kua Bay, also known as  Manini’owali Beach, is one of two parts of Kekaha Kai State Park, the other being closer to the airport and accessed by a road so rough that I deem it impassable in a passenger car.

Kua Bay on a Sunny Day

     Sandra and I have been snorkeling at Kua Bay before and had a tough time getting out.  As the entrance is across from a national veterans cemetery, we named it Cemetery Beach and took it off our list.  Bob thought that yesterday would be a good day to go there as the wave predictor forecast small surf.  If the surf had been small the day Sandra and I went, we almost certainly would not have had any trouble. 

    If you check out Tripadvisor, you will find that this beach is a favorite of people who like to "go to the beach."   We arrived before 10, parked without problem and walked down to a glorious patch of soft white sand.  The sand is so fine that it made me wish I had brought a grass mat or sand chair on which to place the bag containing my mask.  There are no tables down on the beach and the fine sand gets on everything, including the inside of your mask. 

     The soft sand extends some distance into the water making for an easy entry if there is low surf.  Like Magic Sands, and other such beaches, when the surf is high, the beach is used for surfing and losing your

Paletail Unicornfish  Longshore Photography

equipment on entry would be a definite risk. We got in easily and headed out past the lava on the right (north) side of the small bay.  We curved around to the north for about 75 yards.  As we did, the water became quite clear.  Snorkeling over a lava reef about ten feet deep we saw many of the usual suspects and  the coral was delightfully intact. 

     At that point, where the lava shore is parallel to the sea, the bottom drops away to about twenty five feet.  Here, looking at a fine flotilla of black durgons, I caught sight of a pair of Paletail Unicornfish.  they were a bit shy, but my chase got me close enough to admire their small horns.  What a treat.  Bob said that he sees them occassionally.  If my records are to be believed, I had not seen one in two years. 

My best picture of the Paletail Unicornfish

     After a few minutes of chasing the unicorns (Does this remind you of that old song by the Irish Rovers?) we pushed, eventually swimming about another hundred yards.  Along the way I spotted a Bridled Triggerfish working furtively among the corals on the bottom.  He was the dark morph with the white caudal peduncle, which we see commonly at Ho'okena, but nowhere else.

    As we turned for home it was apparent that the wind had come up and, this being time for the Winter Olympics, we were swimming through the moguls.  On the way back we got another look at the Paletail Unicorns, but now there was a school of twenty, all with nobby little horns.  And a bit further on we came upon a mixed school of damselfish including Oval and Three Spot Chromis. 

      After our long swim the exit from the sea went without a hitch.  Gathering up my gear I got things wet and sandy.  In response to my muttering, Bob replied, "Sand at the beach, what a novel concept."  So you

Paramedics Respond to the Shark Attack at Kua Bay

see, he's not only a very good  fish nerd, but he's also a cynic. 

    Kua Bay is famous for something other than a great beach.  Last June there was a non-fatal, but very real, shark attack involving a tiger shark and a snorkeler.  Neither Bob nor I have seen a tiger shark in the wild.

    As he drove he pulled out a self applying military tourniquet that he carries in his pocket while swimming.  The way things are going in the Aloha State, this could make for a very useful Christmas present for your snorkeling relative.  The threat of sharks not withstanding, we had a great swim, saw some wonderful fish and enjoyed regaling each other with lies. 

jeff

jhill257@gmail.com