The Blue Goatfish and the Ulua

     Yesterday after breakfast I looked down our long tropical slope to Lyman's, the surfing break that we can see from our lanai.  To my surprise, there was little surf and no surfers.  We have experienced so many days of surf, that I couldn't recall the last day that I didn't see surfers.  Sandra was scheduled to have lunch with a couple girlfriends, so the coast was clear for a solo snorkel at Kahalu'u.

Deep Cruiser   A big ulua at Beach 69 2015

    As I said, there had been many days of surf which translated into many days on the dry.  In my scruffy case, this meant many days without a shave of the critical area that an otolaryngologist might call the frenulum.  For us lay people, it is that patch between the bottom of the nose and the upper lip.  Along with the adjacent territory, it is the narrow strip I keep clear to guarantee a good mask fit.  As I made the short drive down to K Bay, I confirmed that I might have a problem with mask leak. 

   When I got to the beach park, I discovered another issue.  In addition to high surf, it has been cold and rainy of late.  This was a beautiful day, albeit one with a 15 knot kona wind, and the tourists had come out in force.  On my first pass through the parking lot I could not find even an illegal spot to park, so I explored the adjacent streets.  All the parking was taken there, as well.  Unprecedented!   I really wanted this swim, so I returned to the lot and nabbed an extremely marginal parking spot.  Like swimming in cloudy water with tiger sharks, this is not recommended, but

Ulua hunting at Kahalu'u  February 2020

desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.

    The park was full of sunbathers, but the shelter was only modestly occupied.  I nabbed a table, donned my two layers of neoprene, and made the low tide crawl through the rocky entry out into the bay.  In spite of the low tide, there were many snorkelers with which to compete.  Being tourists in large part, many of these competitors were wearing sneakers in lieu of fins, the better to kick me in the teeth.  Since I have grown fond of my dentition, I proceeded to snorkel in a defensive mode.

    The water was cool and clear and only a manageable amount of it was entering my mask. Stopping for a mask dump every few minutes, I enjoyed some fish, including a close encounter with a pair of lined butterflys.  As you will recall, this is the largest of the butterflies, about the size of a dinner plate.  With luck, that dinner plate might include a toothsome portion of Sandra's famous spaghetti!  But I digress.

    Towards the end of my swim, I encountered a bevy of blue goatfish and an adolescent ulua hunting together.  This ulua is known most correctly (in English) as the bluefin trevally.  Sometimes we encounter schools of small trevally called papio.  These are small guys, less than five inches, with

Ulua Hunting with a blue goatfish  Kahalu'u  February 2020

bright yellow pectoral fins.  I assume they eat plankton.  As they grow, the ulua transitions to a diet of crustaceans and octopus.  Hence their association with the blue goatfish, who has a similar diet: gluten free, heavy on shellfish.

   When they get older and bigger, the ulua is called 'omilu.  these bigger jacks transition to eating mostly fish. Down at the Kailua pier when the baitball is in, you can see five or six ulua hunting in a pack, much like wolves of the sea. Rarely we encounter a really big ulua, which might push up to around three feet in length.  When one of these brutes gives you a close pass it can be a pretty awesome experience.

    Back at Kahalu'u, this group of blue goatfish and the ulua were not swimming quite as fast as usual.  Both species are quite beautiful in their own right, but when they are working together they are all business and swim away faster than I can catch them on film.  This time they circled.  I clicked away and got several good shots.  You have to admit, they make a pretty group, especially if you like that rich tropical turquoise with a splash of yellow here and there.

   The ulua and his hunting mates were the treat for this swim.  After my shower I found the venerable Honda un-towed and un-ticketed.  It was a good day all around.

           🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟       🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟         🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

    Yesterday afternoon I received some wonderful news.  In an email from Beth Wood at the Fort Vancouver Regional Library, I was invited to display my art in the main library for the month of June.  This is a wonderful new building on the edge of downtown Vancouver.  Five fabulous floors, the third hosting a children's museum and the fifth a deck from which you can see (I believe)

The shiny new Fort Vancouver Library

Sacramento.   For me, it is dream come true.  I was only asking for enough space to display 15 butterflies out at the small library in Cascade Park.  Instead, they are going to give me a variety of spaces for the art at the award winning main library; there will be butterflies in five pedestals, fanciful fish and butterflies in the entrance window and tropical fish in the display case.  Something for everybody!  I have about 50 fish stashed back in Vancouver, but there is work to do.  If you happen through PDX in the month of June, make the short trek across the I-5 bridge and have a peak!

jeff

For an article introducing the library in The Oregonian, see here:




https://www.oregonlive.com/clark-county/2011/07/new_vancouver_community_librarys_granduer_a_product_of_good_timing.html