Marla and the Manta Ray

    Sandra and I have fallen into a pattern, which is pretty good by the standards of today's world, but is becoming our current routine.  Sadly, you may find it a little boring.

Wire Coral Goby, Kawaihae, April 2020

   The day before yesterday we did a major bit of gardening and then, yesterday morning, hauled a trunk full of clippings and palm fronds up to Waikoloa.  From there we made the short hop to Kawaihae.  The surf was up and the tides were wrong to attempt the few available beaches further south.

   As we arrived, Lottie launched her surfboard and proceeded to wallow in the minimal surf offered up there in the Great Kohala Bight, which on that day protected Kawaihae from the bigger surf that was occurring everywhere else.  It was my turn and I launched myself, bundled in layers of neoprene, into the harbor.

   The water was still cool and remarkably cloudy, perhaps only six feet of visibility.  Luckily,
visibility wasn't much of an issue, as there was pitifully little to see, not a single nudibranch or feather duster.  I did manage this nice picture of the wire coral goby, which is moderately dependable on the wire that descends from the second platform.  I gained a bit of extra stability by holding on to the wire.

Mushroom coral, Fungia scutaria, Kawaihae April 2020

   The only other thing of interest on the platforms was a cushion starfish that had attached itself to a post.  These stars can eat living coral polyps, but I was not aware that they could gain nutrition from black cave sponges, much less a thin coat of fouling organisms that colonized the cement post.

   Just as I dispensed with the third platform, my friend Peter swam up.  I was really happy to see him, in no small part because I don't like swimming in cloudy water.  (the myth being that shark attacks are more likely at dawn and dusk and in cloudy water)  I doubt that a second swimmer increases the safety, but it does add confidence.

   We swam for ten minutes on the far side of the jetty that protects the platforms.  The best thing I saw was a mushroom coral, which is better than nothing, and then headed across the pond to the mauka reef where we have seen the developing sailfin tang. Visibility there was much worse, perhaps as little as two feet.  Far from ideal, this sort of blindness affords one the opportunity to bump into stuff...like sea urchins.  As we abandoned that

The Manta is surrounded by the three swimmers

area, Peter noted that Marla had heard that mantas were feeding on the ocean side of the break water and that he thought they would give that a try.  As I was already cold, I decided that I would pass.

   I was finishing my shower when it became apparent that Marla and Peter were having some success with the mantas.  Sandra and I found a good spot on the breakwater to watch the action.  Our friends were enjoying a single manta with a wing span of six or seven feet.  While this is big for something you encounter in the ocean, it is mama bear size, neither big nor small, for a manta ray in Hawaii.. 

   Our expert, Hai, said that once the mantas start feeding in this location they will swim back and forth for hours, right beside the breakwater.  Back when there were tourists, a major attraction was watching the mantas at night in a location where under water lights attracted plankton.  This leads to a mistaken impression that mantas are primarily nocturnal.  Clearly, mantas feed when and where

Maybe you will be able to book in the near future.

there is suitable food in the water, regardless of the time of day. 

   A third swimmer had joined our friends, so it was three against one. Not very good odds for the ray in this aquatic contest of pin the tail on the manta.  For much of the time the manta appeared to us only as a large dark shadow.  But sometimes it was quite visible, just below the surface.  As you can see, in at least a couple of those instances, our friends were pretty close to the ray. Luckily, the water camera works quite well when taking pictures of the ocean from the dry.  I hope that this gives you a better idea of the experience than my weak attempt at underwater photography presented a few months ago.  You can see how close they are to the breakwater.

Peter, Marla and the Manta. 

    One has to think that it would have been a lot more fun to be in the water with the manta, but it was actually quite a bit of fun to be up above, recording the experience.    As Peter and Marla emerged from the ocean we said our good byes and confirmed that we would see them next week.  After dropping off our yard debris.  Because that's the routine.

jeff