Early Morning at Kahalu'u or Should I shake hands with the eel?

  

   This morning we had lots to do, so if I was going to get my swim down at K Bay, I had to go early.  I left the house at 7:30 and was sitting in the water putting on my fins at 7:45.  In addition to being early, it was a cloudy day, so I didn't have much natural light to make my pictures look happy.  On the bright side, aside

Saddleback Wrasse, Kahalu'u May 2020

from the homeless guy who was using the facilities, I had the park to myself.  

   Unlike a few days before, the water where I sat had not been warmed by the sun, so it was a little chilly.  On the other hand it was not high tide, so there wasn't a lot of the chilly water to contend with.  After crawling through the opening, I was greeted by a flotilla of night sergeants.  And the water was a little warmer.

    Out in the bay there was not an excess of sunshine, but there were plenty of fish.  Early on I had a nice encounter with the resident pair of saddleback butterflies.  I was cautious and they let me get pretty close.  I don't know if you guys in the peanut gallery appreciate this, but after the lined butterfly, which is a very big fish, this is our second biggest butterflyfish.  If the light had been a little better, this would have been a picture suitable for a guidebook.  Oh well.

    For those few of you who are not kapunas, which the State of Hawaii and Costco now officially  define as over 65 years of age,  the peanut gallery originated in vaudeville, comprising the cheapest

The juvenile cleaner wrasse wishes you a happy Cinco de Mayo.

and rowdiest of seats.  I doubt any of us are old enough to remember vaudeville.  But some of us are old enough to remember Howdy Doody.  The Howdy Doody show originated in 1943 as a radio show on WNBC in New York.  It was one of the first programs to make the transition to television, way back in 1947. It was the very first children's television program!  The host, Buffalo Bob Smith, who was from buffalo, NY,  wore Western garb as did the eponymous puppet.  And the children who appeared on the live program, were, you guessed it, the Peanut Gallery.  Sitting in front of the TV back in Tacoma, I thought maybe I was a member of the Peanut gallery, as well.  And so, you readers in the blog now know what an auspicious and historical mantle you bear,  Try not to be too rowdy! 

    Just a bit further along, I found the coral where Peter and I had the close encounter with the pair of yellow margin morays.  The tiny blue cleaner wrasse was there working on a female stareye parrotfish.  As I prepared to take my picture the parrotfish said, "Adios."  How do I know this? 

Bluestripe Snapper, Kahalu'u May 2020. 

Today is Cinco de Mayo!

     After the cleaner wrasse, which without the eels was a little anti-climactic, there was a bit of a lull. I made it all the way out to Surfer's rock and suddenly found myself cruising over a large zebra moray.  I could see a foot and a half of his body, but, ostrich like, he was keeping his head buried under a coral ledge.  I was only a couple feet away, and the current kept pushing me back at the eel.  I circled, dove down in front of him and took the flash picture you see here.  He was glowering at me from his shaded depression.  I am supposing that what we are seeing are extruded mouth parts .  It looks silly now, but in as much as there weren't any lifeguards present during this swim , I was more concerned with not being washed too close.  to tell the truth, I didn't want to get bitten by an eel even if there are lifeguards present.

Supermale Yellowtail Coris

     The water continued to be clear and we continued to see fish.  Over by the Rescue shelter, I was
chasing a blue stripe snapper.  He didn't want anything to do with me until I found a porcupinefish hiding in a coral cavern.   Once I started trying to get a picture of the porcupinefish, the bluestripe snapper came right over.  He was like, "Why didn't you say we were going to harass the porcupinefish?  I'm down with that!"

    At the same time I got this picture of a supermale yellowtail coris.  These big males are common at Kahalu'u so we should see lots of little red labrids. 

    Heading towards the end I got this nice picture of an orangespine unicorn tang.  This is a common fish, and with his clown-like markings, one of our most popular.  You would think that he would be easy to photograph, but they are just wary enough to qualify this as a good photo. 

Orangespine Unicorn Tang, Kahalu'u May 2020

   Back on the beach, I watched two kapunettes get in the water while I showered.  And then I got to watch the the lifeguards getting ready for work.  Finally I headed back home, only to discover that I
had left my suit and camera in the changing room.  So, you see, I got to go to Kahalu'u twice on Cinco De Mayo 2020.  I hope you had a good holiday, too.

jeff

   

Grrr!