A Kona Frogfish Tale

   This tale begins about a week ago.  I was supposed to go snorkeling with Bob Hillis on his day off, but I was not feeling quite right and sent him off swimming by himself.  This worked out well, because he went in

We Findum Frogfish.

at Kona Makai, our old home court rarely visited in our dotage, and he saw a frogfish.  Bob emailed me a report along with a photograph that evening.

   The next day it was raining.  We have just lived through a significant period of inclement weather.   (There was measurable rainfall six days out of nine, and here we thought we lived in the desert.)  However, with a frogfish at stake, a little rain wasn't going to keep me out of the water.  And Bob was available to point the way to the frogfish.

    Hence, at about 10 AM me and Chingachgook found ourselves on the rocks in front of Kona Makai.  This day we traded a little rain for very calm conditions.  The tide was midpoint and the sea virtually flat, if speckled by rain drops.  It was almost embarrassing how easy it was for Bob to swim out to the spot where he had seen the frogfish the day before, look up and say, "He is right below you."  

    At this point I need to say a word about frogfish.  They are lumpy and cryptically colored, therefore difficult to see.  This guy was perhaps nine inches in length...a pretty big fish.  He was positioned between two corals and so was more visible than he might have been.  He was a

 light gray green which blended well with the coral.  All this aside, frogfish are renowned for staying roughly in one place for days, weeks or months.  You may recall that last fall John Hoover thought we could find a frogfish over a month after I encountered  him at City of Refuge.  On that day, we did not find the frogfish, but it certainly reinforces the expert's belief that this fish stays in one place.

    Bob and I took multiple pictures of the frogfish.   And I took a couple pictures of Bob with the frogfish, which was about twenty feet deep and at the corner of the lava reef straight out from Alii Villas.  Being a better diver, he was able to descend the twenty feet and hang onto the coral to attempt a photograph.  He had read Hoover and Randall, and on at least one of his dives attempted to count the dorsal and pectoral rays, satisfying himself that this was indeed Commerson's Frogfish. (Lacking his diving ability, I took his word for it!). This says quite a bit about Chingachgook's ability to stay submerged at twenty feet and also a thing or two about the frogfish. i.e.,  He is exceptionally sedentary and remarkably tolerant of  close approach.

    Having our fill, finally, of the frogfish, we swam north along the shore in front of Sea Village, seeing a fine

Chingachgook counts the dorsal rays.

school of bicolor chubs.  John Hoover listed this fish in the Ultimate Guide, providing us with a new fish, and a handsome one, for the list.  Further on, I spotted a large trumpetfish that had eaten something slightly too large for complete swallowing.  He was swimming along with a red tail protruding from his mouth.  Depending upon one's thoughts on indigestion, it was pretty cute.  Definitely photogenic.

    Back at the ranch, Sandra was happy that I had seen Kermit's aquatic brother, but also a bit jealous.  It was no surprise that the next day we hauled all our stuff down to Kona Makai, only to decide that the conditions were just a little too rough.  To compensate for our lost opportunity, we repaired to Kamana Kitchen for a fine Indian lunch, saag paneer and chicken tikka masala.  Yummy.

Find the Lovely Lakshmi At Kamana Kitchen

    The Kamana Kitchen is run by a family from Nepal, where they apparently eat food similar to that served in Delhi.  The pater familias has imported a bevy of young female relatives to serve in his restaurants and at the Nepal shop in the Kona Inn shopping center a few blocks away.  Although our beloved Sri Jana was working in Hilo, where she also now attends the university,  her cousin Lakshmi stood in admirably.  One has to wonder, are all the girls in Kathmandu as pleasant as these two? And is all the food this delicious?  And where is the yak butter?  Food for thought.

   Over the next few days the ocean continued rough, but last night it was extremely still.  So after dropping off our yard debris, we went back to Kona Makai.  Well, the ocean was not calmer than three days earlier.

The Fishpond Entry at Kona Makai Wasn't This Rough!

 But how long is a frogfish supposed to stay in one place?  I was determined to get out there, if only so I could write this blog. And Sandra was darned if she would be left behind.

    So down on the rocks we went, noting sadly that the tide was low, making it more difficult to get out onto our preferred lava shelf.  And modest sets were rolling in.  Brave of heart, we slipped into the water and swam out through a myriad of bubbles, over the lava tube and into the bay.  The underwater topography at Kona Makai is quite distinctive and we are extremely familiar, so it was no problem to find the correct spot. Alas, there was no frogfish.  We swam in widening circles and could not find our friend within five yards of the spot where he had resided so cooperatively four days earlier.

    At least we were rewarded with an adventure.  As we entered the bay the swell increased and my lovely wife required two attempts before she sat triumphantly on the lava.  For us, there is always a sense of

The End of the Tale!

 accomplishment when we complete our swim at Kona Makai.  (It is the inability of the swimmer to accurately pick a time between sets for his or her exit, as well as rapidly changing ocean conditions, that make Kona Makai an intermediate swim on most days.)

    Up on the deck, the residents and tourists were reading their papers and enjoying the morning sun.  As we were waiting for our suits to dry, a brown booby flew close to shore and then swiftly back out to sea.  So on this day we traded an unusual bird for  an unusual fish.  And we are both safe and sound up in Casa Ono to tell the tale.

jeff