Snorkeling with Shawn's Mom

  Our company arrived at the beginning of the week.  My nephew Andrew has been swimming with us here in Hawaii since he was in knee pants.  Well, I guess everyone in Hawaii wears knee pants, but you know what I mean.  Shawn, his husband, visited us with Andy a year or so ago.  Shawn's mother, Marissa, was new to us.  She grew up on an island off Naples and then in San Pedro, Ca., so she has had lots of

Orangespine Unicorn Tang juvenile.  Look ma!  No orange spines.

experience with the ocean.

   Never the less, I was pleased when we took our shake down snorkel, to find that she handled herself with confidence.  We went snorkeling in front of the King Kam Hotel.  She actually beat me out of the Inner Harbour and when she was bashed around by the waves out in the bay, allowed as how it made it more fun.

    It was mostly usual suspects, but in the turbulent water just inside the jetty, I spotted a small juvenile orangespine unicorn tang.  One is always interested in what the camera might reveal, things that are missed by the naked eye.  In this instance we see that while he was swimming in the cloudy water, he looked to be the spitting image of an adult, the juvenile lack the orange caudal spines that give the species its common name.  Pretty cool find, in my humble opinion.  

Opelu and cleaner wrasse.  This is what opelu really look like.  Ironmanside 2013

   With the group brimming with confidence, we went north yesterday to Mahukona.   Its always a problem for Sandra and I, when we have snorkeling guests, to make sure that we don't forget something.  In this case, Shawn left all his gear back at Casa Ono.

    With a plan to trade off,  we got down the ladder and headed out with Andrew and Marissa to the spot just this side of the small lighthouse where the school of pyramid butterflyfish reside.  On the way, we spotted a bridled triggerfish swimming in the depths, as is their won't.  The big fellow gave everyone a good look, albeit at a distance.

   At the same time, we saw that group of milletseeds that is usually, but not always, at the corner. of Mahukona Bay.

   Perhaps commensurate with a big incoming tide, there was a bit of a current to contend with, pushing against us from the south.  Never the less, 

Goldrim Surgeon  Mahukona July 2019

our group made it to the pyramids and enjoyed a good look.

    As we started our swim back, Andrew spotted a couple opelu.  Soon we saw several schools of these fast blue jacks.  The English common name for these fish is mackerel scad, but like palini and ulua, the native name is the one we all use.  I am including a picture that I took a few years ago when a school of opelu stopped at a cleaning station.  Although those of you who follow the blog have seen this picture before, it bears repeating, as the picture in the field guides poorly represents these beutiful fish.

  At this point there was a bit of a current pushing against us, courtesy of a wind that had sprung up after we entered the water.   They don't call it Waika-blowah for nothing.  Anyway, all us chickens made it safely back to the ladder on the pier.  There we were greeted by Shawn who told us that someone had generously loaned him their snorkel and fins.  While we were on our quest for the

Are you a hermit crab super sleuth?  claw and leg of the elegant hermit.

pyramid butterfly fish, Shawn had been tooling around inside the bay.  His treat had been a flowery flounder who led him on a magic carpet ride.

    With everyone happily ashore, I decided to stay in the water for another fifteen minutes.  Our friend Peter had told me of rock damsels living in the boulders on the seaside of the pier, so I went into that area.  I didn't see the rock damsels, but I did see Achilles' Tang (which I have declared a rare fish, presumably due to unregulated spear fishing) a Gold rim tang, a small school of spotted surgeons.   In addition, there was a large shell on top of the coral that had to be the home of a hermit crab.  I got down close with the camera and was able to get a pretty good photo which showed handsome orange tips to the walking legs and a finely spotted pair of claws.  No matter what I tried I couldn't coax him to come out and say hello.  But look at the picture...there is no doubt that this is an elegant hermit crab, however recalcitrant.

Redbar Hawkfish, Mahukona, July 2019 Often seen, rarely photographed.

    My friends and family were waving to me from the pier, so I decided it was time to get out.  At the very foot of the ladder I spotted a shell and then suddenly the waving legs of a cone shell hermit,
affectionately, in our family, known as stripey.  I was a bit slow on the draw and did not get a very good picture.  But I was able to retrieve the shell and pass it up to Sandra.  She and the boys put it in a puddle and while we watched as this magnificent creature made an appearance.  so everyone got to see the magnificently striped legs, thus providing the sauce for the next days adventure.   

 

A magnificent Cone Shell Hermit Crab.  "Stripey."  December 2014