The Early Bird Catches the Octopus

    This week I went snorkeling at Kahalu'u two days in a row.  While the first outing was definitely more productive, blog-worthy if you will, combined they gave us a good view of what K Bay has to offer in July of 2019.

A Star Eye Parrot Flashes a Toothy Grin.

    For the first snorkel, I arrived early, hitting the warm water at 8:30.  The first thing I saw was a Christmas wrasse who went screaming by while I was still in the entry.  I had just gotten organized when I spotted a small octopus.  She was mostly tucked in under a rock about four feet down. I sang to her and took a couple pictures, knowing all the while that the only person that can make the day octopus visible in a photograph is Gail DeLuke.  So I don't have a picture, just a fond memory of her brown and white head and, later on, a last glimpse at a tentacle as she tucked herself safely away.

   Shortly after that encounter I started following a star eye parrot.  I took a few pictures and I'm including one that makes Mr. Stareye look like  a deranged Jack-O' Lantern.  One has to find his amusement where he can.

    What with spotting the octopus, it had already been a good swim, but on top of an Evermann's

When you see and empty triton, give it a bit of a twist.

coral I spotted a fairly large triton shell.  That shell didn't get there by itself.  I turned the shell slightly, maybe just twenty degrees, and sure enough a wonderful, large blood crab made her appearance. This was a big, hairy crab and I enjoyed her immensely.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The Bloody Hermit Crab.  Dardanus sanguinocarpus,  Kahalu'u  July 2019

  My two day experience empowers me to say that the bay is full of juvenile Pacific Gregories.  Way back in the day, before John Hoover produced his encyclopedic tome, illustrating all the fish a snorkeler is likely to see, be they adults or juveniles, I had a bit of a correspondence with the Dean of salt water ichtyology: Jack Randall.  I had seen this juvenile gregory with her shiny blue dorsal line and yellow caudal peduncle and I wanted to know what it was.  I sent Jack a letter and included a hand drawn illustration, enhanced with colored pencils.  It is possible that felt tip markers hadn't been invented yet.

Pacific Gregory Juvenile, Kahalu'u  July 2019

    Perhaps my art work wasn't up to snuff, but by return post Jack informed me that 1. There wasn't any such fish.  2. Lay off the LSD.  and 3.While your at it, buy my new book.

   Now, through the miracle of point and shoot underwater photography, you can see what I was apparently unable to convey to Dr. Randall, back when plesiosaurs could be seen regularly in the surf at White Sands Beach.

   This damsel was in a little pond, most of the way out towards Surfer's Rock.  There was a nice handhold on a chunk of dead coral, so I was able to get a little stability.  And she was cooperative enough, in her flitting, coquettish sort of way, to give me dozen chances or more.  Here is my best effort.  If you go to K Bay tomorrow, I can guarantee this fish.

Ornate Wrasse Juvenile, Kahalu'u.  Shiny is as shiny does.

    Another fish I can guarantee is that chartreuse capped juvenile of the freckled hawkfish.  I saw no
fewer than five on the second day.

    The third day was more of the same, minus the blood crab and the octopus.  There was one nice addition, a fine juvenile ornate wrasse.  This fish was in the same enclosure as the Pacific gregory had been the day before.  She wasn't nearly so patient with me, though.  I only got  three tries and this is the best.

   As it happened, that second day was a Saturday.  So, no surprise, there was a function going on in the shelter, relegating me to an outdoor table.  On my way to change after swimming, I passed a small group of very large men cooking in two enormous gas powered woks.  What they had in wok number two looked a lot like that mainstay of my childhood, Dinty Moore's beef stew.  It smelled a bit like kalua pork, but even more toothsome.   The cookers seemed friendly enough, so I bucked up my courage and asked what it was. The head chef replied that it was porky peas.

Like this.  Only with a few peas.

   No matter my looks of longing and excessive salivation, I was not offered a sample.  So when I got home, I looked up the recipe.  All I can say is that what they had in that wok  bore no resemblance to what the internet had to offer.  Porky peas, according to the Mr Google, is like Philippine pea soup with the ham bone thrown in.  This was something brown, rich, fragrant and full of promise.  Like Beyoncé.  Gotta get me some of that.  If only I can find it.

 

So what would you rather look at, Beyoncé or a bloody hermit crab?

On the other hand, little Miss Gregory can certainly shake her tail.