It's Tourist Season! And the Freckeld Snake Eel Is Here to Greet Our Visitors.

A refuge from the Four Seasons paddles Kailua Bay.

   To find a hermit crab, at least here in Hawaii, you look for a shell that is out of place, that just doesn't belong.  Yesterday, as I walked down the step leading to the short beach on the Ironman side of the pier, I encountered such a scene.  Here, stretched out on a paddleboard, was a handsome young woman wearing a two piece and a floppy hat.  This in itself is not so surprising, but her level of grooming was
such that, at the very minimum, she should have been reclining by a pool in Bel Aire holding a mojito. Such was the precision of her presentation that I wouldn't have been surprised to see photographers for some glitzy magazine hovering about.  Maybe she was the model tasked with selling that paddleboard?  It certainly didn't look like she was going to paddle it.

   This week tourists have been allowed onto the Big Island, without quarantine.  The caveat is that one needs to take a covid test before leaving the lower 48 and  a second test upon arrival at KOA.  So recent is this change in policy that the only hotel that might meet the requirements of such a chic young thing, the Marriott King Kam, is still closed.  One might expect a flurry of activity preparing the hotel for an imminent opening.  However, the whole scene around the pier and Alii Drive remains quiet as the grave. 

Freckeld Snake Eel and  Flounder. Kailua Pier October 2020

   For those of you readers who may long for accommodations suitable for the rich and famous, the Four Seasons at Hualalai appears to be open.  At the far end of Alii Drive, the Sheraton, although not quite in the upper echelon, is open as well. 

    As I waded into the water, the young woman's friend appeared with two just out of the package flotation devices.  Although it may seem like a good idea, I couldn't recall seeing a paddle boarder with a life preserver.  this had to be a red flag. 

   While they donned their PFDs I plunged in and put on my fins.  I had made it past the first swim buoy when the two paddled into the bay.  The woman pointed to the water beside the pier and asked her friend, "Can we go that way?"  He was only about twenty feet away from me, so I responded, saying that, indeed, they could paddle over the floating line to the pier.  He asked if it was safe and I noted that there were no tourist boats at the present, so not only was it safe, but I planned to be swimming over there in short order.

    In the back of my mind I was thinking that if I got these obvious novices to paddle thataway, they would be less likely to fall on me.  After swimming for a few minutes I noticed that the couple had
turned around and were reclining on their paddleboards a few yards off the seawall.  No chance of getting mutilated by a non-existent boat in there.

Our Freckled Snake Eel with the requisite halo of washed sand.

    I swam out past the last swim buoy.  There I encountered a mu, among a few other fish, and a strange condition in the water.  In patches there was a dense collection of small brown particles.  They appeared to be light brown, more or less square, perhaps three millimeters on a side and one mm thick. I know what you must be thinking, and I don't think it was that.  Whatever it was, a three foot dive took me below it, and swimming back towards the pier took me out of it.  

    A few yards towards the pier on the outside of the swim buoy, I spotted a Freckled Snake Eel.  To the best of my recollection, this is only my third sighting of this peculiar species, lo these many years.  The FSE spends his days with his head protruding out of the sand, perhaps three inches, with another two and a half feet of slender body buried in the soft sand.  Presumably for the purposes of oxygenation, it engages in a continuous mouth movement, forcing water through the gills.  Thus, if one is too spot this curious beast, he should look for a small protuberance , like a rock or stick in the soft sand, with a circle around, produced by the propelled water exiting the gills.  John Hoover tells us that at night you might see this eel cruising all the way to the surface in response to lights.

Girls just wanna have fun!

     I dove the eel, which was about 12 feet down, several times.  I am showing you two pictures.  The first is the eel and a small flounder that just happened to be sharing the same patch of sand. The second is a closer view of the head of the eel.  It certainly doesn't look like much.  Suffice it to say, if you are going to spot a FSE for your own list, you better be a careful observer.   

    From the standpoint of seeing notable stuff in the water, the day was pretty much over.  Luckily Homo sapiens stepped in to fill out our copy.   Just after I played with the eel, I watched as five young ladies approached the pier, shrieking as they jumped in the water. 

   After the swim, I went for my shower, only to encounter a lunatic carrying on at interminable length while making the most of a bottle of shampoo.  I let her go on for a couple minutes then stepped into her field of view and asked if I could get a quick rinse.  Lucky for me, the vibes were

We promise you won't have to shower with Jack Torrance!

right and she graciously stepped aside.  Only after I finished my ablutions did I realize that the authorities have repaired the second shower mechanism. 

   So if you are one of our beloved tourists, don't miss the Kailua Kona pier.  You can pretend that you are one of our sometimes Ironmen, gander at the paddle boarders and take a shower simultaneously with a friend.  And I believe I can guarantee a lunatic.

jeff