A Report from Q...Walking Fins at Kahalu'u

      It hadn't rained for almost two days and another monster swell was on the way.  With all this in mind, I talked Sandra into taking me down to Kahalu'u for a quick swim while she went to the nearby KTA store for an onion.  Onions in Hawaii fall into that strange food group of the unexpectedly precious, along with milk and bread among the culinary necessities.  Sandra dropped me off at K Bay and proceeded in her quest for frankincense and myrrh. And an onion.

The Bluespine Unicornfish was once common at Kahalu'u.  January 2020

    It was a gorgeous day and I was soon in the cold, clear water.  Yes, Virginia, it is winter now and the water temperature has dropped into the mid 70s.  This year I have added a neoprene vest to my winter outfit.  It was surprisingly inexpensive, about the same cost as 20 onions up at the KTA.  Along with the rubber weight belt, which restricts flow as I ply my way through the chilly waters, it does a surprisingly good job of keeping me from freezing.  Incidentally, the weight belt also cost about the same as 20 onions.

    It was a very low tide and I had to crawl out through the entry, dodging a few legs of those who chose to trod upon the submerged lava in contrast to my salamander style of locomotion.   Once free and clear, I encountered a few fish, including a pair of blue spine unicornfish.  This fish isn't rare, yet, but it is far less common than in previous years.

The Abbreviated Cone, a Hawaiian endemic.  Kahalu'u January 2020

   I see Easter looming on the ecumenical calendar, and as I swam away from the bluespine unicorns,
I started thinking about the Easter Chorus.  This is actually the elegant coris; the male of the species  bears a lovey aqua cross on his forehead, hence his Christian moniker.  Like the bluespine unicorn, this fish is now encountered infrequently at K Bay;  it was routine only a few years ago.  With any luck, on Easter Sunday Jesus will smile down up
on us and a handsome male elegant coris will swim out from his watery sepulcher, radiant in his glory.  I'm afraid that this is what is known as faith-based snorkeling.

    Pickings were thin as I made my circle around the bay.   Out near Surfer's Rock I spotted this yellowish cone hiding in a coral depression next to a rock boring sea urchin.  Careful of urchin spines, I ferreted him out and posed him in plain sight for a photo.  To the best of my diagnostic ability, this is an abbreviated cone.  John Hoover tells us that it is Hawaii's only endemic cone.  Note the coronated shoulder, as opposed to a round shoulder that is found on many cone shells.  The common Imperial cone also has a coronated shoulder, but it is much larger.  The fine spotted bands are seen nicely in this specimen.  I think this was my first

A Super-male Yellowtail Coris,  Kahalu'u January 2020

abbreviated cone.

    Making our way over to the Rescue Shelter, I did not see any Christmas wrasse or Easter coris, but I did get this picture of a handsome super-male yellowtail coris.  He was a big guy, flipping stones around the way Paul Bunyan used to flip trees.  There were a few females around, presumably his harem.

   On the way in, I had a look at a couple blue stripe groupers, a bit unusual for K Bay, and a quick glimpse of a snowflake moray eel.  Having a little time left before my appointment with my beloved, I took a quick swim back across the bay towards the Menehune breakwater.  Just as I was getting ready to make my turn for home I saw a gorgeous Hawaiian hairy triton shell sitting in a coral depression next to (you guessed it) another rock boring urchin.  Those

A Hidden Hermit Crab in a Hawaiian Hairy Triton

little urchins are super common among the dying coral and they have sharp little spines.

    Like earlier, I carefully fingered the shell out of its crevice and put it on top of the coral.  As you can see, this was an especially beautiful specimen.  With the rich brown, black and white striping, he looks like he could be an ornament in an Renaissance chapel somewhere in Tuscany.  There are a couple tritons that we find at Kahalu'u and they are often home to a hermit crab.  I watched this shell for only a minute or so before it started to move.  I flipped it over and a hidden hermit crab, Calcinus latens, crawled out and flipped himself and his triton home back over.  A little patience and I got a few pictures of him crawling out and a nice one of him peering out from under the hairy triton shell, much as if he was wearing one of Queen Elizabeth's  hats.

   Sandra met me as I came ashore.  After bestowing a welcoming kiss on her intrepid snorkeler she told me that she had something she wanted me to see. Up in the shelter, sitting proudly on a nearby

From MI 6 to K Bay  The Walking Flipper

table, were two pairs of brand new fins.  These were not ordinary fins, however. As I examined them I could hear the voice of Q back at MI 6 headquarters:

    "Look here 007, we've put together these fantastic fins for your upcoming mission to the Sandwich Islands.  You'll be protecting Andrew and the Duchess who are renowned snorkelers and you will need to be prepared.  Those nylon uppers will be gentle on your ankles and that velcro strap will keep the fins  firmly in place.  But, James!  Just look at that hard plastic sole! You will be able to leap onto the beach and race across the lava without a hitch.  I dare say, that villainous Odd Job will be hopping from one foot to the other as the lava cuts up his tender feet in feeble pursuit"

   As I completed my reverie, who should appear but the owners of these space age fins,  straight

Kim shows off her state of the art snorkeling footwear.

from the British Secret Service.  It was Arny and Kim, not from Bloomsbury, but rather from Minnesota.  Kim allowed that they only go snorkeling once a year and these seemed like a good idea. 
Smooth talker that I am, I got her to model these new fangled flippers for the blog.

   So often, the things that happen back on the beach were as interesting as anything we saw in the bay. I did see a couple worthy invertebrates, we saw the new wave fins and we made some new friends here in the Sandwich Islands.

jeff

Her Brittanic Majesty shows off her new bonnet.  Take that, Megan!