The Sharks of Kailua Bay

     This tale begins three days ago.  On that morning,Sandra and I were completing a large spate of gardening and I had filled the trunk of the Honda to the brim with yard debris.  The last thing to get packed into the trunk was a pile of the nastiest vine in Hawaii.  This is a fern that is feathery at the top and is

A Fine School of Raccoons Hanging at Shark Central

sometimes used as an ornament in bouquets.  The part that isn't feathery is a wicked vine studded with thorns, much like the stem of a rose.  In our yard this viney fern can climb thirty feet or more, so when you remove it you end up with quite a pile of these thorny stalks.

   We headed to the transfer station with the intent of swimming at the pier after dropping off the debris.  In the process of extricating the thorns from the trunk, I dropped one on the ground and managed to impale the side of my foot.  As I am anti-coagulated (aren't all men over 55 taking aspirin?) this small puncture bled into my sandal all the way back to Kailua.  Looking down at my oozing foot, I said, "I guess this means we better stay away from sharks."

    Of course, neither of us had ever seen a shark in Hawaii, so my comment was totally on the side of glib.  But when we got to the pier we ran into the nice lady of a certain age with a large German shepherd of a certain age for whom she has installed an elevator to assist the pooch in getting up the steps into her house.

This Big Eye Was Chilling

After hello, the first words out of her mouth were, "Have you seen the shark?"

   Well, no, we hadn't even heard of the shark.  According to the lady and a helpful man, who was apparently one of her compatriot distance swimmers, a reef shark had been hanging around near the pier for three days.  While the dog attempted to knock Sandra over with his persistent snuzzling, I attempted to ascertain just how we could see the shark.  There was a bit of disagreement as to just what sort of shark it was.  The man, being the accepted authority, said it was a gray reef shark.  The location was said to be thirty yards beyond the last swim buoy and thirty yards towards the beach.

    Sandra got away from the dog long enough to change into her snorkeling outfit and we hit the water.  We got out in front of the palace, the area that fits those criteria, and swam and swam.  Over the next hour we covered everything from the buoy itself to fifty yards in radius three times!  This took us as far south as the

So where's the damn shark?

Kona Inn sign and a fair ways out into the bay.  There were lots of fish, but there was no shark. 

   It must be said that everyone has a different idea of how long a yard is in the ocean. After talking about distances with Bob Hillis a year or so ago,  I decided that I was over estimating by about double.  So when someone gives instructions like this you must both cut it in half and double it if you want to cover your bases.

    The following morning, it was Sandra's turn to work at the church.  She was still tired from the previous day's gardening and swimming, so she was happy to drop me off at the pier and head up to Kona Methodist. While I was changing, two girls of about 30 came ashore and I asked if they had seen the shark.  They said yes, it was just past the last swim buoy and a bit towards shore, hiding in a cave.

 Of course, that was just where we had looked the day before, but had we looked into every possible shark puka?  I headed on out and started diving every hollowed coral head and looking under every ledge  where

Follow me.   Eagle Ray   Kailua Kona   April 2017

the shark might be sheltering.  In the process I met two groups of people who had seen the shark on previous days,  bringing my total number of first hand witnesses to ten.  The first was a group of four adults who were heading in after looking for the shark.  After talking to me they headed back out for another look.

   The second was a pair of ladies of a certain age that I met about half an hour later.  They had seen the shark two days previous and had heard that on this morning the shark was hiding in a cave.  (I wonder who started that rumor?)  One lady said that it was no wonder the shark was hiding with all the people out bothering it.  The other added that if the shark wanted some privacy it had come to the wrong place.

    I swam around some more, adding a few fish to the list for 2017, what with diving and looking into holes.  The most interesting was the big eye with the dramatic silver and red pattern.

   Bottom line, I did not see the shark but came away with the idea that if we went earlier we might have a

Look carefully, that's three reef sharks.

better chance.

   This morning we got up early and were down at the pier around 7:30.  Out we swam, hitting ground zero before 8 AM.  Once again, we covered a large patch of Kailua Bay, with no shark.  After 45 minutes Sandra had had enough and it was hard to argue with her.  So we spread out and started heading in.  At the fourth swim buoy I met a large, dark snapper going in the other direction.  I was impressed by his size and followed him for a bit, never getting closer than a a coupe yards.

   When I came up,  I was back in front of the palace.  There was a young swimmer next to me and he said, "If you want to see an eagle ray there is one right back there, maybe five yards, straight out from the flagpole."  Now I ask you, what jaded so and so doesn't want to see an eagle ray?  I was in luck and I found the ray in just a few strokes, much less than five yards.  He was cooperative and let me take several pictures,

So how manya dese fingers got white tips?

as you can see.  For most of the pictures, I was a foot or so below the surface, which increased the clarity dramatically.

    I followed the eagle ray as he swam toward the palace and then made a sweeping turn toward the pier.  And as he did so, he swam right over the sharks.  Yes, Virginia, there were three sharks!  Trying not to exaggerate, I would estimate that the smallest was five feet and the largest a bit over six.

    They were irrefutably white tip reef sharks... just look at the tip of the tail and dorsal fin in the accompanying pictures.  When I gave my first report to Bob Hillis two days ago, he said that a sighting of a gray reef shark was excellent, that they were usually seen off shore and at depth.  As it turns out, that second witness should be turned over to Cousin Vinny. " I got no use for dat guy!"

    In reading John Hoover, one is instructed that the white tip reef shark is the most commonly encountered in-shore shark.  Luckily, that species is the least likely to attack you.  The latter fact became my mantra as I watched the sharks circle once, passing pretty much about eight feet right below me, and then settle on the sandy bottom.  Another fact that the Great Oz imparts is that the White tipped reef shark is unusual among requiem sharks in having auxilliary muscles of respiration that force water over the gills when it is at rest on the bottom.  Tiger sharks, by comparison, can not perform that trick: they must keep swimming or suffocate.
   
   And while we're at it, why do they cal them requiem sharks?

Definition of requiem

1. 1 :  a mass for the dead
2. 2a :  a solemn chant (such as a dirge) for the repose of the dead  b :  something that resembles such a solemn chant
3. 3a :  a musical setting of the mass for the deadb :  a musical composition in honor of the dead

Do you get the feeling that somebody mighta died here?  Sharks have undergone catastrophic predation by homo sapiens, in large part for their fins, which are turned into soup.   But I don't think the guy that named the largest group of sharks, the ones that swim free and fast in the ocean, requiem sharks was anticipating this turn of ecological events.   To borrow from Papa Hemingway, the bell tolls for you, dude.

    I buttoned up my courage, and dove a couple times towards the sharks to increase the clarity of my

White-tipped Reef Shark  Kailua Kona April 2017  Resting On the Sand

pictures.  I then watched them rest there on the bottom for a minute or two before deciding that there was no point in further tempting fate.  I was, after all, out numbered three to one and I'm not ready for anyone to write, sing or play a requiem on my behalf just yet.

    All kidding aside, its good to keep in mind the sentiments of the two ladies from the day before.  It's an honor to have these reef sharks in our bay and if we can give them enough space, and if some asshole doesn't spear them, they may feel comfortable enough to become regulars.  My observation today differed from previous reports.  It was obvious to me that the sharks are not living out in front of Hulihee's Palace 24/7.  Rather, they are living and feeding somewhere else and coming into Kailua Bay to rest.  There are no laws protecting  sharks similar to those that supposedly protect the dolphins.  Let us hope that common sense and a love of nature prevails and that we have many more opportunities to enjoy these magnificent creatures.

jeff

Mālama i ka manō

 In Ancient Hawaiian culture, the shark,  manō, is one of a few animals who may be the embodiment of an ancestor, an Aumākua.  Ano lani; ʻano honua, which is to say of heavenly and earthly significance.  Another such animal is the pueo, the native short eared owl.  Because of this special relationship, sharks are held sacred and protected. 

   

On the PAR With Peter and Marla or The Truth about Crinoids

   Late last week we went snorkeling with our friends Peter and Marla.    They drove down from Kapa'au to spend the morning with us and the afternoon with Costco and Home Depot.   We met at 10 AM at the pier,

That's Peter 3rd to the left of the Superstar.

where Peter told us that he couldn't find a place to park.  Parking in Kailua has become quite difficult of late, so this wasn't a total shock.  He dropped off Marla and their equipment and took off in the truck for another try at parking.  He showed up about half an hour later, having been forced to pay to park in the lot by the market.

   Once recently I gave up on an optional meeting downtown when I couldn't find a place to park, but this was unprecedented.  And a bummer.

   The time wasn't wasted, however.  Peter and Marla are real honest to God scientists who get paid to go to American Samoa twice a year and do work for the EPA.  So Sandra and Marla compared notes about the

And that's why we don't go snorkeling at Lake Merritt!

Samoans that go to our church and the ones they encounter in, well, Samoa.  And Marla told us about their upcoming post-job excursion to Western Samoa, where it seems the outer islands are reached more dependably.   

    Eventually Peter made it back and we headed over to the Inner Harbour.  Both he and I had new equipment.  I had a new snorkel, in my ongoing effort to replace the set I lost in the surf at the Mauna Kea.  Peter, on the other hand,  had a new swimming hat.  And what a hat it was: a large silky bandana the color of old gold with olive and violet polka dots.  P&M have connections to UC Berkeley and own a small house in a neighboring community, so I assume he ordered his do-rag special from a head shop on Telegraph Avenue.   I couldn't help but tell him that he looked like the oldest member of the chorus from Jesus Christ Superstar.  In my do rag I look like the wimpiest biker in the pack, but none of us want a burned scalp, so we do, as it were, what we can.

Christmas Wrasse on the PAR, April 2017

    Changed and ready we headed out to Paul Allen's Reef.  We dove down to look at the recovering Pocillopora corals, hoping to find a coral croucher to add to Peter's list.  The only croucher I have recorded came as the result of analyzing a digital photograph of an unknown something in the coral, so heaven only knows what I expected to accomplish.  On my last investigation, I noticed that a large whitemouth moray

Pearl Wrasse in the King Kam Lagoon

was giving me the eye from a mere foot away.  Luckily for the purposes of this blog, he decided that my gloved hand addressing the coral at his front door was not a small octopus or a fuzzy orange shrimp. 


A bit further out, the PAR relinquished the booty.  Patrolling the area about ten yards off the wall, with a bottom of dead coral fifteen to twenty feet below that somehow retains enough structure to create a maze of hiding spots, we saw a large yellowtail file fish and at least three Potter's angelfish. 

   With this success in hand, I went over to the wall, hoping for a five stripe wrasse.  This was the last place that I saw this unusual fish that seems, in Hawaii at least, to prefer shallow surging water.  Of course, there were no five stripes, but I did see a pair of large ornate hermit crabs, or rather ornate hermit crabs in large

Crinoid, Black with red stalks, Tulamben, Bali 2014

encrusted shells, scuttling through a depression in the coral about two feet down.

   While I was preparing to take a photo of the hermits, altering the camera setting to macro telephoto, a plump Christmas wrasse swam into the scene.  It took our friend Anita to convince me that this lens designated for microscopic close ups can be used for bigger animals if the water is clear.  Obviously we had
the clarity and the Christmas wrasse was sufficiently cooperative for me to get these pictures.  I'll have to save the best of them for the eponymous hunt eight months hence.  

    By this time, Sandra and her pal Marla had had enough of this fun, so we all headed in.  Just inside the small jetty, I nabbed this acceptable picture of a pearl wrasse. 

    Ten minutes later, as I was showering off, Peter arrived, saying that he was pretty sure he had just seen a new fish.  This produced a moment of anxiety bordering on dread.  When you beat the other guy out of the

Criniod   C. biareus   Lipah Bay, Bali 2017

water, who knows what he is going to turn up.  As it turns out, he had seen a female Whitley's Trunkfish. 

   Whew.  I told him that this was not an unusual fish for the Inner Harbour and the PAR.  In fact, when Charles and James were eight and five, they momentarily went up a fish on me by spotting a Whitley's in the Inner Harbour while I was snorkeling on the Ironman side.  I believe we see one of those females with the white sidewalls about once every three or four times snorkeling on that side if the pier. 

   But this wasn't a life fish for him.  Under the tutelage of a guide, he had managed to see two male Whitley's trunkfish in very deep water on a dive trip, but had never seen a female.

    Peter has promised to post his picture of the Whitley's trunkfish this week in his blog,  onebreathkohala.  I'm throwing up my best effort over many sightings just to see how I do against someone who is a really talented fish photographer.

    Well, almost a life fish is enough to warrant a beer, so the four of us repaired to the Harbor House at Honokohau for lunch.  Lunch was good, but our waitress was better.  She was a classic Hawaiian beauty, half Hawaiian, half Japanese a third Phillipina and one quarter Portuguese.  She had a face like a moon of Venus and lips, that in the words of that famous private eye, Guy Noir, you'd like to curl up in for a week. 

Crinoid  C. shlegeli, Lipah Bay, Bali 2017

Sadly, Harbor House has this Hooter's wannabe mentality and so this Hawaiian beauty was forced to wear a tight, tucked in shirt which wasn't her best look, Hawaiian girls being such as they are in the avoirdupois department. 

   Anyhow,  pretty Hawaiianas bearing large glasses of beer aside, we soon got into the trip our friends were going to take to Samoa.  Peter's favorite Samoan fish is the titan trigger, which is one of our least favorite fish.  Both Sandra and I are understandably concerned that Mr. Titan might take a bite out of us, like that famous Goya painting of Saturn devouring his young.  (Did you know that Saturn was a titan?)  Well Pietro couldn't care less.  Under that jaunty chapeau, Peter spells his name danger.

   I asked if they had seen...and then I blocked on the name.  So I described these invertebrates, possibly related to starfish that look like a clump of colorful ostrich feathers swaying in the breeze, except of course its under water.  When the pretty girl has given you enough beer you don't sweat such details. 

   Anyway, this wasn't ringing any bells, so, like Sarah Palin,  I had to get back to them.  The animals in

Whitley's Trunkfish November 2015 Kailua Kona

question are crinoids and in Bali we have seen several species, possibly more than five.  They are, indeed, echinoderms and my description may not do them justice.  In general, echinoderms are strange animals.  the ones we are most familiar with are starfish and sea urchins. most species ave an obvious five point radial organization.  Echinoderms lack brains and have a water vascular system that permits motion of tube feet and spines.  Sometimes the five point radial plan isn't so obvious, like in the multi armed crown of thorns starfish.  Well, these crinoids commonly have more than 100 feathery arms, yet we are told that underneath it all they have a five point radial plan, five plates and a central mouth.  And they look like they are rooted to a spot, but these crinoids that we see near the surface in Bali are part of the group called feather stars, which are free swimming.  The other group of crinoids are known as sea lilies, are often found deeper and are truly rooted to the bottom by a central stalk.   Apparently there are crinoids in Hawaii and Samoa, but they are not very pretty and they may be deep.  Sandra and I did not see any in Fiji that we can recall, but most of our snorkeling was done in the shallows.  The internet has pictures from Fiji showing animals similar to those we see in Bali.

   We are waiting for a report from Peter and Marla on our mutual return to Kona.  They are going west and we are going east, so they have a much better chance of seeing crinoids on their journey than we do. Best of all, when we reconvene late in the summer they have promised to show us threadfin jacks at Mahukona.  And we're holding them to it.

jeff