Its Christmas in Kailua, With All of the Fish At Home

   Christmas Eve came to Kailua this year as gentle as a lamb.  The weather was not too hot or humid and,

Can the Green Flash Be Far Away?

 although many of our friends and family are scattered around the lower 48, we still had a very special evening of companionship.

     Sandra and I met our friends Ross and Donna down at Alii Villas. We participated in the nightly Alii  Villas sunset ceremony.   There were no whales this evening, but I was lucky to catch a sailboat as it cruised beneath the setting sun.  I was even luckier to catch two aspiring super-models in their Christmas finery.  To make the evening complete, we all were treated to a green flash.   Très Hawaiian!

    As the light crept from the Hawaiian sky we made our way back up past the condos, many of the balconies were decorated for the season.  Our friend Sandy came out

Super Models: Donna and Sandra on Christmas Eve 2015

and danced on her lanai with here life size singing Santa,  It made for quite a show, but heaven only knows where Saint Nick is going to live the remainder of the year in a tiny condo.   Perhaps she will perch him in the corner and give him a Mai Tai. 

    Soon we left our friends behind for the lights of village and the Christmas eve service at the church.  We arrived in Kailua about half an hour early for service, so Sandra and I wandered around taking pictures of the lights. The village is beautiful every night of the year, a few Christmas touches make it even more so.

   Last Christmas Eve, while we were waiting in line to get into the church, I had serendipitously discovered that one need not belong to the Moku'aikua church (the oldest church in Hawaii) to sing in their caroling  choir.  The choir congregates

Christmas Eve in Kailua  2015

on the lawn outside the church and sings our favorite carols as the parishioners enter for the service.  The previous year I had sort of walked around the front wall, through the parking area and edged my way in, joining a dozen of what I assumed were the regulation church choir.  This year, as the choir started to sing, many more people joined in.  Soon we were two dozen willing voices greeting the faithful and the birth of our lord.  O Come All Ye Faithful, indeed.

    If anything, this year the singing was even better.  The highlight came when we sang Silent Night.  A gentleman songster behind me suggested that we sing the well known verse in German, enough of us agreed and it was included as the last stanza to

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!  Alles Schläft; Einsam Wacht.

this Weihnachtszeit classic.  The first verse was sung in Hawaiian...even knowing the melody did not permit me to fit all the written syllables into the song.  The German verse was not so disadvantaged, as it was not in the song book.  We all sang our hearts out and it was ausgezeichnet, if I do say so myself.

   About 4 AM, while visions of sugarplums danced in the head of my slumbering sweetie, it started to rain.  In fact, it rained pretty hard for about three hours.  This was unexpected, as it had not rained for about two weeks.  And it put a new twist in our Christmas tradition, the hunt for the Christmas wrasse.

    In general, we don't swim the day after a first rain, as it seems a bit unsanitary.  Not only that, rain water percolates through the lava and makes the bay cold.  With all this in mind, Sandra was given permission to opt out of the search for the Christmas wrasse on Christmas Day.  To

The Christmas Wrasse by the Rescue Kiosk  Kahalu'u, December 25, 2015

combat the cold, I cut up one of her old wet suits and made myself a bit of a snorkeling vest.  In deference to your sensibilities, I am not including a picture of myself in this erzatz vest, which I wore beneath my swim shirt. I would like to note at this juncture that all the pictures included in this blog, with the exception of my classic and enhanced picture of the palace with the church behind, were taken on this very day.  No file pictures, or (shudder) pirated pictures, in the Christmas Eve blog.

     Down at Kahalu'u a group of locals were setting up for a Christmas morning party.  While this was no surprise, we were relegated to a rain spattered outer table under a cloudy sky to don our gay, er, snorkeling, apparel.  Soon your faithful Tyro was afloat, his new vest buoying him up.  Flouting my usual strategy (to head out towards the Menehune Breakwater), I swam to the right, over by the rescue

Male Pearl Wrasse by the Rescue Kiosk 2015

kiosk.  While the water there is always less clear there, experience suggested that this area would provide the best chance for a Christmas wrasse.

    As the sun broke free above Hualalai, the Gods of Old Hawaii smiled upon us.  Over a lava outcrop, in about a foot of water, was a young Christmas wrasse.  He was small, but already bore the adult markings.  Driven along by a helpful eddy, I chased him over the reef taking a score of pictures.  Frequently I was in water less than a foot deep, but riding the current, I was able to stay flat and enjoy the chase.  Mostly I got pictures of the wrasse swimming away, but luckily he turned a couple times, looking back as if to say, "Oh.  Are you still there?"  Which I was, until he dodged around the reef, never to be seen again.

     So how lucky was this?  We had found our Christmas wrasse not fifteen minutes into the swim.  It seemed wrong to abort the swim so early and the water really wasn't all that cold.  With that in mind, I pushed on.  Immediately I saw a Star (of  Bethlehem) eyed

Juvenile Surge Wrasse near the exit, K Bay Christmas 2015

 Parrotfish.  Like the Christmas Star for which he may or may not be named, this old brute guided me, in very short order, over field and fountain, moor and mountain to a male Pearl Wrasse.  (I suppose if you read a Christmas Blog, you have to expect some schmaltzy Yuletide lyrics.)  In any event, the Pearl Wrasse was in a patch of clearer water and we nabbed the picture you see here. 

    I proceeded counter clockwise out to Surfer's Rock and then turned for home.  I saw nothing of much interest until I made it almost all the way in.  There, I saw a very young Surge Wrasse.  First cousin to the Christmas wrasse, we see the juvenile surge less commonly and the adult surge wrasse only rarely.  These are fast moving fish, always a challenge to photograph.  I took lots of pictures, but still felt lucky to get one usable photo. While I watched, this dark young trout captured a small urchin. He proceeded to bash the urchin against a rock and then chomped him down.  Do you ever wonder how the wrasses digest those spines?  I guess the urchin was a bit like the crunchy almond roca you might hope to find in your Christmas stocking. What a great foil to the Christmas wrasse, not to mention a fine conclusion to our Christmas snorkel.

    As I conclude this Christmas blog, I'm going to leave you with lyrics to my own version of Little Town of Bethlehem, which I confess to singing soto voce along with the Moku'aikua choir.

O little town Kailuaville, how still we see thee rise,

Upon thy deep and dreamless reef, the silent fish swim by.

How Brave On Christmas Day!

Yet in the dark depths shineth, the phosphorescent light.

The sharks and rays who sleep by day, will swim with us tonight.

The Keiki dream of sugar cane, while Maui seeks the sun.

Please save the fish and grant this wish:

God bless us everyone.

O little town Kailuaville, how brave on Christmas Day.

While pilgrims pray and palm trees sway, the dolphins swim the bay.

Yet ‘neath your shining waters, the Christmas wrasse doth dwell.

His brilliant colors herald in Our Lord, Emmanuel.

May the Christmas Season find you happy and safe with good friends and family,

jeff 

A Night Snorkel at Kahalu'u

    Our friends Bob and Kim Hillis are leaving the island at the end of the week, moving to the mountains of  Arizona far away from the ocean.  With that in mind, Bob has been running down a last minute wishlist,

K Bay was as dark as a cow's tuckus on a moonless night.

doing some things that he had hoped to do on the island and saying goodbye, after a fashion, to some of his favorite places and activities.  Upon his list was a night snorkel at K Bay with your humble correspondent.  I was flattered to be on his short list, and so earlier this week we made it happen.

    Somehow I was reminded of a little story by Thomas Mann:  Antonio Krüger verliß seinen heim und bekundet kein grossen schmertz dabei.   Antonio is leaving home and goes around saying goodbye to all things familiar, but doesn't feel any pain.

 I dropped Sandra off at the sometimes Chateau Hillis, where she and Kim sat around with a dram of Gilbey's while Bob and I motored down to K Bay.  When we got there it was just about as dark as a cow's tuckus on a moonless night (courtesy of The Stranger in The Big Lebowski).  The lights in the parking lot had not yet come on, according to a friend we
met in the lot, they are timed according to sunset in the summer.  The only lights available emanated from the restrooms and with that bit of lost light we made it to a table in the shelter.

Short Arm Sand Octopus thanks to  dmcleish.com

    Before we could get changed and into the bay, we were accosted by an attractive twenty something who had misplaced her cell phone in the dark.  Bob, the sometimes Don Quixote of Kailua Kona, sprang to her aid with his dive light.  this failing, he ran back to the car for his cell so they could call her phone which, she being a damsel, was buried deep in her picnic basket. 

   Problem solved, we left the sweet young thing and her keiki to their barbecue in the dark and made our way into the chilly water of K Bay.  On this night snorkel, I had chosen not to bring my camera.  a multitude of reasons framed this decision.  First, it is difficult for an old trout like myself to swim with a flashlight in one hand and operate a camera with the other.  Additionally, we had seen little on our previous night snorkels to push me in the direction of repeated near drowning experiences. And lastly, my attempts at photography on those occasions had been, well,  miserable.  Luckily, as it turned out,

Kellogg's Scorpionfish  photo Bob Hillis

Bob brought his camera along and although my photo processor hates his camera with a passion, I have managed over a few hours to render a few of his pictures acceptable for the blog.

   We had been out in the bay for only a few minutes when I saw Bob stalled by the shore.  He had found a very small octopus.  The head was about as big as one of those tiny tangerines that they sell at Costco.  At times the tentacles were drawn up under the body, while at others they dangled below, they appeared about as long as my fingers.  Bob dove down and took a couple pictures while I illuminated the critter with my light.

   Although this technique would yield a few good images later on, he did not get an acceptable picture of this fascinating animal.  Aside from it being cute as, and only slightly larger than, a bug, the octopus was remarkable in one other respect: it did not flee.  We watched it for several minutes and at extremely close range.  Bob dove twice for

Peppered Squirrelfish, S. punctatissimum  December 2015

 pictures that were  taken at about 18 inches.  John Hoover suggests that this is the short arm sand octopus.  I'm including a picture from the internet, with thanks to dmcleish.   Bob was concerned that  because of the way this animal changed color and textures, he might have been a very small day octopus.  I'm giving you a link to a page from D. McLeish which shows the short arm sand octopus doing all the things that we witnessed.  It was a very cool experience with an animal I doubt I wlll see again.  .http://dmcleish.com/Maui2013/Short-arm-Octopus/index.html

    We had been away from the octopus for only a short while when I spotted a small scorpionfish sitting on a rock in the shallows.  By virtue of being atop the rock, he was only two feet below the surface.  This fellow was equally patient and here you see Bob's picture with my processing.  I'm calling this fish Kellogg's

Banded Coral Shrimp, Kahalu'u, December 2015

Scorpionfish.  Sadly for me, I have seen this species one time previously, during the day, in essentially the same spot, the larger stones just outside the entrance at Kahalu'u. On that occasion he sheltered at the bottom of a rock, but I was able to dive down and get an excellent picture which is very similar to this one.

    We saw the expected cardinalfish (bandfin and irridescent) and spotfin soldierfish, which we see by day, and peppered squirrelfish, which is primarily nocturnal.  I found a cracker jack undulated moray with his handsome gold head threatening us from beneath a coral.

    As we swam along we got some excellent looks at a variety of shrimp, which are difficult to photograph and identify.  This was different from our previous night snorkels where the shrimp were much more difficult to see.  My guess is that we saw four species well, but it is difficult to put a name on them.  The exception was a handsome banded coral shrimp, only about 4 cm from claw to claw.

   Luckily as we looked at the various shrimps, the lights came on in the parking lot.  It was much easier to find our way in with those lights to guide us.  Ashore,  we were greeted by

Henderson's Hingebeak Shrimp Kahalu'u December 2015

several families of islanders who had come to the shelter to enjoy the evening.  One clever fellow knew how to turn on a couple lights.  Switches were located on the posts...what a surprise.  On a our previous night snorkel at Kahalu'u,  many fluorescent lights were on, but that was not the case this evening.  At any rate, we were able to enjoy all the children racing around inside the shelter and find our car, in the now well illuminated parking lot.

   Back at Chateau Hillis there was plenty of schmerz to go around. We bid farewell to our friends and I bundled Sandra into the Honda for the sad trip up the hill.  Fair winds and good fish, amigos.


jeff

Klein's and Regal at the Pier

   You may have noticed that the blog has been on a bit of a short holiday.  Well, the hiatus wasn't exactly a walk on the beach.  Somehow or other your doughty correspondent ended up with a a sore back.  This was sufficiently severe to keep me out of the water for more than a week.

The Kailua Pinktail Trigger

    During this time I worked on a small school of paper mache fish ornaments for the Christmas tree.  My finished product is better than it was two years ago, but I doubt that my fish are ready to be sold down on Alii Drive.   Perhaps if some generous vendor gave me a corner of a booth at the pre-Christmas stroll, I could pass the work off as being done by school children and donate the proceeds to one of the local educational institutions.  But then what would we put on our
tree?  Rhetoric aside, I'm including here my holiday masterpiece for this year, an anatomically questionable pink tail triggerfish with the Kailua malecon rendered on her flank.

    A few days ago I finally got back in the water.  Sandra was kind enough to drop Bob and I off at the pier.  She went grocery shopping at the KTA while we went for a swim on the Ironman side.  Going out, we didn't see much.  While I was dawdling a short distance

Day Octopus  Photo Bob Hillis

  away, Bob got a look at an octopus about twelve feet down.  The handsome fellow obliged him with this excellent picture. Of course, he was long gone by the time I made it out to the fourth swim buoy.  As octopi are somewhat territorial,  I'm going to give that area a good look for the next few weeks.

     One word about the photo.  Most photographers who expound on underwater photography emphasize that processing your pictures is a significant part of the art.  My processor, a version of Ulead dating back about ten years, despises the photographs that I receive from Bob's Olynpus.  This is surprising, as his camera and the one I currently use are closely related.  Unable to fiddle with the picture on the computer, I downloaded it on my Samsung 4

The Blacklip Butterflyfish,  C. kleinii, December 2015

phone.  There is a cracker jack app called photo (what a surprise) that allows processing.  It gives you the option of a variety of balances and permits a change in contrast, which it refers to as pop.  Having used that trendy photo processor to get the picture I wanted, I then emailed it to the computer and, voila!, Here you are.  The new picture is still pretty much rejected by the aging Ulead and I'm left wondering, after all the travel through the email and the phone, "How do it know?"


    But I digress.  

    Just as I reached the exit, I was treated to a most excellent fish; flitting about in the rocks just off the sand was an incredibly handsome adolescent Klein's Butterflyfish.   Although he was in constant motion he was extremely approachable.  The combination of clear shallow water and dazzling sunshine made for a spectacular photographic opportunity.  I hope you will agree that we made the most of it.

Regal Parrotfish Immature showing tail crescent

  About twenty five years ago, my boys showed me a Klein's (aka blacklip) butterflyfish at Kahalu'u on a calm day out by the Menehune breakwater.  Shortly thereafter, they
found a citron (aka speckled) in the same general location.  Suffice it to say, they have been good little fishwatchers from an early age.  So impressed was I with these two finds that I named this area Butterflyfish Flats.   Among my myriad of fish related documents, there still exist maps of K Bay, rendered by my hand, with that name denoting the shallows by the Menehune Breakwater. Sadly, it has not proved to be a dependable spot for unusual butterflyfish.

Regal Parrotfish Immature showing vertical bands

  Since those germinal sightings, lost in the shadows of time, I have seen Citron occasionally in Hawaii and in several locations: the pier, the Dog Beach and bay near the Hyatt all come to mind.  On the other hand, although Sandra and I saw blacklip butterfly in Bali, where it is not at all uncommon in Lipah Bay.  But it wasn't until this year that I saw another here in Hawaii, with Peter and Marie up at Mahukona.  I have seen blacklip both times I have returned to that charming little bay.  However, it has always been a shy fish, invariably swimming away from the camera.

   Bob Hillis says that like the Milletseed, Klein's butterflyfish is not uncommon at diving depths.  I wouldn't know.  Seeing one so close and shallow, with such perfect lighting was an early Christmas gift. 

    Sandra and I returned to the pier yesterday.  As I had hoped, the Klein's butterflyfish was right where we left him, in the shallows by the first rocks, halfway between the first swim buoy and the sea wall.   Even more than octopi, an unusual butterflyfish will stay in a spot for quite a while.  With any luck, this handsome fellow will remain in the shallows by the pier through the Christmas holiday.

    Sandra had eschewed her wet suit, so we swam at a brisk (the operative word for the water temperature) clip out to the last swim buoy.  We had been in the water for only fifteen minutes, but sweetie was already

Male Regal Parrotfish showing pale vertical stripe

chilled.  While this may answer the question, "How is Sandra like a fine white wine?" (they are both chilled), she was having none of it and headed back to the beach. 

   I tooled around for awhile, looking to no avail for Bob's octopus.  As I made a general search, I was pleased to see an initial phase  regal parrotfish.  With the accompanying photos to help, you may recall that the immature regal is a light beige (ecru to the sartorially inclined) with a series of darker vertical stripes.  In fact, it is not a visually attractive fish and one might easily overlook it if not for the pale crescent on the rounded tail.

    Our hero, John Hoover, lets you know right off the bat that parrotfish are difficult to identify.  Their coloration is frequently variable and often not very interesting.  I have found the shape and coloration of the

Regal Parrotfish male,  Scarus dubius, Kailua Pier December 2015

tail to be a valuable tool when identifying parrots. The terminal crescent is found on the tail of most stages of regal parrotfish.  Only in the male (the final stage of parrotfish development) does the regal tail gain the handsome violet streamers. 

   Shortly after I lost the chase with that shy fish, another unusual parrotfish appeared.  I had not seen this fish before, suspecting that it was a new iteration of the regal, but not ruling out something new for the Hawaii list.  I chased it into the turbid water by the seawall, where it slowed down for a couple pictures.  In the first, you will note the distinct pale stripe on the flank.  Over less than a minute the pale patch, which had me

Merry Christmas 2015

wondering if this was a new species for my Hawaii list, darkened.  As you can see in the second picture, this is a fairly typical variant of the regal parrotfish male, replete with violet streamers.  This was still a good find, being the fist regal male I have seen at the pier.  Obviously, the turbid water did not improve the pictures of the male regal parrotfish, but I hope you enjoy them if only as a lesson in the perfidy of parrotfish.

   Soon I was back at the pier where Sandra waited for me, wrapped up in her towel to keep warm.  Over the past couple of weeks, we have been enjoying utterly delicious weather here on the leeward side of the Big Island.  I fear that if you are reading the blog from anywhere else on the surface of this emerald orb, your weather has not been quite as good.  So in closing I will send you some Kona sunshine and a warm tropical breeze.

jeff

    
   

A Thanksgiving Story 2015

   We got up bright and early on Thanksgiving morning.  There was no watering to be done, as it had rained for the second night in a row, so at least the mosquitoes were happy.  Our friends the Hillises were coming

Black Durgon with electric blue lines.

for Thanksgiving dinner, so Sandra and Kim stayed home in their respective kitchens preparing the meal while Bob and I slunk off to Kahalu'u for a bit of fish watching.  On the way down the hill the DJ at B93 promised to play Alice's Restaurant at 9 AM.  Many families associate that classic American ballad with Thanksgiving and incorporate it as part of their holiday tradition.  I only think of the Vietnam War, which I was very glad not to be a part of, so the tune, for me at least, doesn't evoke any fond memory of a family celebration oriented around a large turkey dinner.  to me, Arlo Guthrie's ballad  evokes Hueys, rice paddies and tough little men in black pajamas who luckily never got a shot at yours truly.  I honor the guys that served in Vietnam, but man alive am I glad that I wasn't one of them.

    I made it down to K Bay and out to the beach without getting arrested for littering.  The

Why do so many butterflyfish swim in pairs?

local chapter of AA had appropriated the kiosk for the day; they needed the entire facility, but a motherly lady engaged in spreading butcher paper on the tables said that I was welcome to join in if I was in recovery.  God bless ya , ma'am. 

     Soon enough, Bob and I were swimming in the clear cool water under cloudy skies.  Early on I saw some very pretty black durgons, which never seem to photograph as well as I would like.  If you look carefully, you may appreciate the fine electric blue lines covering not only the forehead, but the entire body of this ordinarily satin black triggefish.

     On the back side of Surfer's Rock there was a pair of teardrop butterflyfish.  Sandra is forever saying I should write a blog just about pairs.  What is it about women that they think male butterflyfish should be

Elegant Hermit Crabs, Ca. elegans, Kahalu'u December 2015

monogamous?  Or am I missing something here?  Anyway,  this pair cooperated and I came away with this nice photograph.

    A bit further on,  I came across this pair of elegant hermit crabs (Ca. elegans).  Early in the swim, Bob picked up a the shell of a nicobar triton and we examined it carefully, knowing that this was the favorite haunt of the blood hermit crab, Dar. sanguinocarpus.)  In this case, the nerer elegant is living in the most common shell for the species and the other guy is making do with something else.  They do make a fine pair,though.  Viva la difference.

    On the way in, Bob spotted a small stout moray eel.  This guy was so small that, had the coloration not been distinctive, one might have wondered if he was a dwarf moray.  The photograph leaves no doubt as to the identification.  The camera captured a well focused portrait that displays the  nose tubes.  The better to smell you with my dear.  Over in the cloudy water by the second

Stout Moray Eel  December 2015

kiosk, I found  a Christmas wrasse hunting with a female ember parrotfish.  While Sandra is gaga for pairs, I love symbiotic associations.  It is not uncommon to see the Christmas wrasse hunting with the much larger parrotfish.  If you happen to catch a glimpse of the wrasse working with the extraordinarily handsome male ember, it is a pleasing sight, indeed.  Generally, this combo moves by with such dispatch that I am unable to get a picture.  This time they slowed down and I was able to get this picture.  Even with the miracle of photoshopping, you can still appreciate the turbid water.  Its difficult for me to envision what benefit the parrotfish night get from this relationship, dining as it does on algae and coral.  The wrasses eat invertebrates, which may be disturbed by the parrotfish.  There may be something about this relationship that isn't immediately apparent.

   Ashore, Bob showed me a test of the keeled heart urchin, Brissus latecarinatus, that he had picked up on

Ember Parrot with Christmas Wrasse (in cloudy water)

 the way in.  As you can see from the picture, it is asymmetrical.  This urchin lives in the sand, taking in the substrate through the forward opening mouth and expelling it out the back.  There are two substantial orifices in the test to provide for these functions and no hole on the bottom, as is the case with any sea urchin test that I have previously seen.  I have never seen this urchin in life, however, it tunnels under the sand leaving a raised trail like a mole.  So why don't they call it the mole urchin?  That way, should you encounter it in a Mexican restaurant, it would be covered with that bitter chocolate sauce that tastes faintly of tobacco.  All kidding aside, from the standpoint of his linear alimentary mechanism, this urchin bears a striking resemblance to a sea cucumber.

   Well, Bob and I went home, but soon the whole mob of us convened at Casa Ono for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a delightful meal with lots of specialty touches and then the four of us hauled ourselves from

The asymmetrical sea urchin test.

 the table to decorate the Christmas tree.  With Christmas in Latte Land playing in the background, our collection of ornaments were placed on the tree.  When the job was done, I noticed to my pronounced chagrin that there was something drastically wrong with my paper mache fish.  Closer examination revealed that many of them had been decimated by wood boring beetles.  Curiously, the fish ornaments actually made of wood were not affected.

    This wood boring beetle is a common pest here on the big island.  It frequently attacks bits of furniture.  The treatment is simple enough:  you put the effected object in the freezer for 48 hours.  This has spawned a curious little industry, where people who own freezers for things like food, will rent space for a table infested with wood boring beetles.  It was easy enough to round up the ornaments and put them in a freezer bag and then into our trusty icebox.  You will note the picture of a hybrid Achille's Tang

Husky Tang Christmas Ornament With Wood Boring Beetles

done in purple and gold with two tiny beetles that popped out when he was removed from the freezer.  The only bad part was that it rendered some of the finer paper mache work friable.  In this case the Husky Tang seems to have lost the tips of his fins.  I'm sure you will note the small holes bored by the beetles.  Bad beetles!

       Bob and Kim had brought us an early Christmas gift (we received a candle that smells for all the world like the cinnamon rolls served by Holiday Inn and the amazing asymmetrical sea urchin test) so we sent them home with a Latte Land disk still in its original cellophane wrapper.  The story of Latte Land, written and
produced by my talented brother Chuck Hill, is a touching tale, with which the Hillis's were regaled at length.  The story is beyond the scope of this blog, but through the miracle of the internet you can click on this link and hear the signature song on YouTube.
 .https://www.youtube.c/watch?v=wCGdgX8Cjh4  

It should make great background music while you read the rest of the blog.

Nanner, nanner, nanner.

    The remainder of the Thanksgiving weekend was a blur of football with our beloved Huskies beating the stuffing (little Thanksgiving dinner joke) out of WSU on a glorious November day hard by the Montlake Cut.  Go Dogs!

   Sandra and I went snorkeling early on Saturday morning (so we would be home in time to watch football on TV.)  It was a gorgeous day and the water at the pier was cool and clear.  On the way out, we came across this juvenile fourspot butterflyfish flitting about in a remnant of Pocillipora coral.  This is one of the best pieces of cauliflower coral left on the Ironman side of the of the pier.  The branches of the Pocilliporas provide an important nursery for many of our fish.  The decimation of this genus by the hot summer water with resultant bleaching is ominous.

      On the way in, we didn't see too much of merit in the fish department, but I did manage this picture of an orangemouth lizardfish.  My colleague Professor Hillis let it slip that he needed a picture of this relatively

The Author and his son  James with the Timbers Army.

 common lizardfish, so this opportunity got my competitve juices flowing.  And just in time, as Stanford defeated Notre Dame by a couple on the last play of the game.  I was pleased, but the producer of Latte Land, an out of the closet Irish-despiser, was beside himself with glee.

     The weekend ended with the Portland Timbers defeating FC Dallas for the the western conference championship in MLS.  This game was shared with my son James, who curtailed his visit to the Outlaws in Roseburg, making it home in tine to watch his beloved eleven from the Rose City.  Rose City, No Pity!  The Timbers won the right to raise a flag in Providence Park and Sandra and I enjoyed several game related conversations on the telephone with James and Tara.  At two months, CJ is too young to talk and Riley is a still dog. 

    And that was the Thanksgiving weekend in Kailua.  Sandra and I hope your holiday was filled with good friends and family, good food and at least one football victory.

jeff

CJ is here to root for the Timbers!