Juvenile Raccoons and Rockmovers

   Having recently had such a wonderful swim at Kahalu'u, I returned on Sunday fur another go.  Over two days, the conditions had changed:  the perfect blue sky now was a high overcast and the surf,

Yellowheaded Moray pretending to be an ostrich

virtually absent on Friday, was now high enough to send waves marching across the bay.  The water was still warm.  My new go to website, Tides4Fishing, places the temperature at 83 degrees.  However, there was a substantial current as one might expect with the waves pounding against the Menehune breakwater.

    Before I could even swim out of the entrance I had an unusual sighting.  A fairly large yellowheaded moray was attempting to hide under one of the large stones.  As you see in the accompanying picture, he had his yellow head tucked ostrich-like under the rock.  That distinctive dorsal fin, checked white and black, gave him away. If you look carefully you can make out wide, darker vertical bands on his body.

    This species is primarily nocturnal and I have seen him swimming during a night snorkel several

A Dragon Wrasse in profile.  Kahalu'u November 2019

times. In those instances he was swimming free and bared his sharp teeth to keep me at a distance.  Today he was in dreamland and it seemed best to let a sleeping eel lie.

    The bay itself was an infinity pool with a strong current running from the sea towards the mountain.  There were a few fish, including a large white bellied puffer and a pair of saddleback butterflies, but this part of the swim, for an old fellow like me, was mostly staying smart, keeping track of my strength and not turning into one of those lifeguard rescues for which Kahalu'u is famous.

   After half an hour of strong swimming, I headed back towards the entry.  There, among the rocks, I found several dragon wrasses flopping around, presumably imitating a piece of brown sea grass bobbing in the current.  It is impossible to pass up this unusual juvenile of the rockmover wrasse without stopping for a couple tries at a photograph.  On this day I got a two good ones.  This fish is in

A dragon wrasse doing the classic dead seaweed flop.

constant irregular motion and therefore difficult to catch with the camera.  Here you see one picture in profile and a second that may give you a hint of the bobbing and weaving for which the the dragon wrasse is noted.

    Associated with all these juvenile rockmovers were three or four adolescents.  These young fish are notable for the two prominent dorsal fins that look like antennae atop the head.  In addition to this physical trait, they still have a bit of the residual dragon wrasse behavior.  Its not uncommon to see them doing goofy kid stuff like standing on their tail.  Don't worry.  They will grow out of it, turn into adults, get a job and have babies.  

    After playing with the rockmover keikis it was time to head for the exit.  Just as I passed the lava barrier that separates the outer entry from the inner tidepool I spied two juvenile raccoon butterflyfish.  I have seen these less than a handful of times and the first time was less than five years

Adolescent rockmover still acting like a kid

ago.  John Hoover tells us that they live in tidepools, which for all intents and purposes, is what the inner part of the entry at Kahalu'u is; its hard to explain why I went thirty years without noticing them in this location.

   On this day the water was swishing in ad out with the wave action.  Suffice it to say there was plenty of particulate matter in the water rendering my photographs less than perfect.  Nevertheless, it was a heck of an opportunity, to which I took full advantage as I sailed back and forth with the waves

Older Raccoon baby, Kahalu'u, November 2019

and the fish across this tide pool which is roughly ten yards long.

    You will note that one of the two raccoons is a little older than the other, a bit bigger and more square.  The younger guy was much more triangular.  They both retain that black ocellus surrounded by light, bright yellow.  As these fish turn into adults they will lose that signature marking and there will be a continuous black crescent in its place.

    This afternoon at the shower, I met a couple from Healdsburg, a town about an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the heart of wine country.  As old folks do, we discussed real estate prices, taxes and grandchildren.  Luckily, there was a pretty young thing who I was able to draw in to the conversation.  She will have to wait half a century before she is the recipient of Hawaii's reduced property tax (for the elderly kapunas).  In the meantime, she will have to make do with a being a babe on the beach in Kona.  Someone has to do it.

The wedge shaped Raccoon Butterfly juvenile with a bright occellus.

Jeff

One of our beauties .  A Saddleback Butterflyfish, Kahalu'u November 2019

Our Return to Kona

   Sandra and I had been away for 49 days, seven whole weeks, so I was eager to get back in the water and renew my acquaintance with with my salt water friends. So the day after our return,  I gathered my snorkeling equipment and we headed into Kailua to do a couple errands after which Sandra would

Carving the Pumpkin  Photo by SKG

drop me off at the pier.  As we were arriving at Walmart, where I was going to look for a cell phone
battery, it occurred to me that in the process of getting ready to snorkel, I had forgotten one thing; I was sporting a luxurious seven week growth of beard.  The Chinese lady in electronics seemed to take some perverse joy in telling me that you can't purchase lithium batteries on the island because the airlines refuse to fly them in.  I didn't ask her if there was anything she could do about the beard.

    I'm including a picture from our vacation mostly so you can appreciate the extent of my whiskers.  As it relates to snorkeling, of course.  I'm only showing you one grandfather picture ... I can almost here you sigh, "Thank God."  And don't be concerned about that worried look that Colsen is showering on the pumpkin.  No fingers were lost in the carving.

    Down at the pier it was sunny with a few fleecy clouds hovering in a blue sky.  Soon enough I was in the water, beard and all.  Fortunately, the ocean conditions were quite mild. As long as I didn't dive

The Kona Inn.  A Century of Tropical Hospitality.

(and emptied my mask every five minutes)  the snorkeling part went just fine.   The fish department, however, was deplorable.  Aside from a few large schools of adolescent Moorish idols there was zilch.  I swam across the bay as far as the Kona Inn without seeing an interesting fish.  Knowing that I have posted a number of pictures of the palace as seen from the water, I nabbed this photo of the Kona Inn.  The inn is another of our old iconic buildings and dates back to 1928 when it was built by the Inter Island Shipping Company as the first lodging for tourists here in Kona.  Remarkably, over all those years, it has remained about the same.  It is now the home to a few restaurants and a myriad of shops. As far as I know, lodging is unavailable.  Looking at this photo, perhaps you can imagine what it was like to arrive by boat here in Kailua Kona a century ago and spend a few nights looking out at the Hawaiian sea.

  Yesterday, in an attempt to find something fishy to write about, we went down to Kahaluu'u.  I had

had a thorough clipping and shave in the morning, so I was well prepared to don my snorkel mask.

A pair of cone shell hermit crabs, Kahalu'u November 2019

As at the pier, the water was cool, perhaps just above 80 degrees, and a little cloudy.  But to my delight there were lots of glorious fish.  Near shore I enjoyed a fine variety of the usual suspects,  As I headed out down the middle I found a coral where there were several encrusted cone shells.  Naturally I was hoping for an orgy of cone shell hermit crabs.  I'll bet that within a square meter there were at least five of these fascinating little animals. In one crevice I found what I took to be a mated pair, both of which were quite active.   Suffice it to say, I took a bunch of pictures, the best of which you see here.  Note the second crab, presumably a partner, to use the modern expression denoting an exclusive sexual relationship outside of state sanction. If the one of the crabs works at the DMV, where I'm sure you have encountered a plethora of crabs, is the second eligible for benefits?  Bureaucracy meets carcinology.  Only here at  the blog!

    One other biological tidbit:  Most hermit crabs undergo internal fertilization and those who have witnessed the event say it is more violent than an encounter between an NFL linebacker and his partner in a hotel elevator.

Our octopus gives you the fish eye.

   Only a little further out I swam past a brown fleshy thing and caught myself just in time.  What was that?  An odd sea cucumber?  Retracing my strokes, I discovered a medium sized octopus harboring in a coral depression.  Its possible that he was unable to retract further into the fenestration, but for whatever reason, he was quite patient with me. I worked with him for at least five minutes, and while he was hunkered down a bit, he appeared to be content to let me take my pictures at about five feet.  Good octopus!  As you see, his eyes on their stalks faced out and remained a rich chocolate brown while the remainder of his body filled in around with a creamy reticulated pattern.  It was remarkable and a first in my experience. 

   Eventually both of us had had enough and I swam away.  One might think that this was enough treats for one day, but as I made the turn over by the rescue shelter, I encountered a dragon wrasse.  Like the octopus, he, too, was of the chocolate variety and fairly patient.  While I was working on a hand hold, a peacock flounder swam

Dark chocolate eye stalks surrounded by the reticulated octopus mantle

beneath us.  What a treat.

   Ashore in the shower I met a nice lady from Georgia.  She was in Kona for her daughter's wedding at the Marriott, which I assume meant the Waikoloa Marriott not our dear old King Kam Hotel. Jeanine and I had a great chat encompassing the life guards with their loudspeaker, the crowd in the water (which was actually not that bad) and good places for her to look for fish around Waikoloa.  I regret that propriety prevented me from getting her picture, because she was quite a bit better looking than the octopus.  Which is a good thing and a great reason for an old dog like your faithful correspondent to spend the winter in Kona. 

jeff

Dragon Wrasse in the Kahalu'u Shallows  November 2019