This blog is being written in two parts and, in effect, asks you to answer this question: Would you rather spend a morning on a gorgeous, sunlit beach or see a life fish?
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| The view of Ho'okena from our breakfast spot. Not too shabby. |
A couple days ago Sandra and I headed down to Ho'okena. It was a classic sunny morning in South Kona. Along the way we stopped at the Coffee Shack and purchased a cinnamon roll, hot from the oven and dripping with frosting. Arriving at Ho'okena around 8:30, we nabbed a prime spot at a shaded picnic table, sharing our cinnamon roll al fresco.
If you are a young trout, that may not seem like much of a breakfast for two people, but by the time we were spooning up the last bits of the icing, we were stuffed.
Well sated, we made our way down the long beach, the cool water sloshing over our feet. There was only small surf and soon we were swimming through the clear, sunlit water. Its easy to become jaded at a site you have visited frequently. Two species of angelfish becomes ho hum. Beyond the angels we didn't see all that much. I'm including a short movie of a cleaner wrasse and a white bar surgeon. Cleaner wrasses have an interesting relationship with the other fish. For the most part, the host fish
enjoy being cleaned. In many instances they seem to be experiencing an endorphin rush that leaves them a bit stoned. Their movements are lethargic and this is often accompanied by a change in color. But every now and then the cleaner wrasse nabs a scale or two in addition to the prescribed parasite. Note in this short clip how the surgeon suddenly takes off, presumably in response to a nip.
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| Increasingly Uncommon Achilles Tang, Ho'okena, October 2020 |
At the shower we were joined by a friendly young couple from Orlando, Florida. They were staying at an Air BnB near "Pebble Beach", which I presume meant Kona Paradise. For those of you who are not familiar, Kona Paradise is an unusual development about another ten miles south of Ho'okena. The road from the highway drops precipitously 1500 feet to the ocean with side roads splitting off at regular intervals. On these side roads there are a variety of houses. Like Oceanview, which is just a little further south, I think these homes were constructed in an area without building codes, yielding a variety of structures. At the bottom of the steep road you can park and walk to two shingle beaches. Many years ago, when Sandra and I were exploring Kona Paradise, we heard that the snorkeling off these beaches was pretty good. This information did not come from a fish watcher, however. We were further dissuaded as entering off two inch round rocks isn't all that much fun and, on the couple days that we made it that far afield, the surf was pounding in. This is absolutely an open ocean entry.
As we were preparing to leave, I wandered over to another shower for a foot wash. There I encountered twin boys of just under two years in age frolicking in the spray. These likely lads took one look at me, identifying Grendel or some other medieval monster, and scuttled off like a couple rock crabs to their mother's skirts. Or shorts, as the case may be. The mom was a sweet lady from our very own PDX, who, on cross examination, was a tried and true Kona tourist. It was a bit like looking
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| Die Fische mit der Zebrastreifen, Kailua Pier Oktober 2020 |
through a mirror from a Harry Potter movie that could transport one back 35 years.
All these young tourists had gone through the double testing required for entry to the Big Island and I felt confident that they did not pose an unreasonable risk. This is in stark contrast to the tourists of the last four months who were sneaking in untested, unmasked and then skipping out on their quarantine. In this context, I'm actually enjoying having the tourists back.
The drive back up the slope was wonderful, with lots of flowering shrubs and trees. No wonder Ho'okena remains one of our favorite spots.
Yesterday, after two days of window washing, the warden sprang me for a swim at the pier. On this day, Kona was trying for the Stephen King award, with bruised, overcast skies and a steel gray high tide slopping menacingly against the sea wall. There were no friendly tourists in the water as I entered on
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| The short eared owl courtesy of Birdwatching Magazine. |
Immediately upon putting my face down in the cloudy water I got my reward, for swimming in a small school were five bandtail goatfish. I don't know if this fisch mit zebrastreifen is super rare or if I am just unlucky., but I may not have seen one in twenty years. Six months ago our friend Peter spotted one in the hallows at Kawihae Harbor. It could be that he is luckier, or possibly more observant. Suffice it to say, this was a real treat. The water was so cloudy that taking a picture reminded me of the experience with my first inexpensive underwater camera. I couldn't see anything in the view finding screen, so all I could do was point the camera in the direction of the fish and shoot. I got a couple poor pictures using this primitive technique, but I'm still proud to share one with you.
John Hoover provides a couple curious notes about this species. First, he says that the Hawaiians noted a similarity between stripes on the pueo and the stripes on the tail of this goatfish. This caused me to refer to my well thumbed copy of North American Birds illustrated by the immortal Arthur Singer. The short eared owl (for that is what the pueo is) hunts like a marsh hawk, soaring low over the grass, often during the day. When he is doing this, one might get a very good look at the dorsal elbow
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| Right Out of Grendel's Cave, The Crown of Thorns Starfish. |
of the wing. Indeed, the pueo has alternating white and black stripes in that location. Like the bandtail goatfish, it has been many years since I have seen a short eared owl in flight and I'm not certain that I have ever seen those stripes. I would also like to say, that the short eared owl did not colonize Hawaii before the Polynesians, who were responsible for a certain amount of inadvertent introductions, providing owl food in the form of rats. Who can say how many years they had to compare pueo wings to goatfish tails.
One more thing about the Bandtail Goatfish: its nervous tissue contains a toxin that can produce unpleasant hallucinations. Hence, while its usual hawaiian name is weke pueo, it is also know as weke pahulu, which is translated to Nightmare Goatfish.
This conveniently segues into my next sighting, for just a few strokes into the bay I encountered a Crown of Thorns Starfish. Unlike Herr Zebrastreifen, the crown of thorns isn't especially rare. However, it is uncommon to find one in four feet of water. And I hate to say never, but I can't remember seeing on so close to the entry in Kailua Bay.
The last interesting critter on yesterday's agenda was (I believe) an unusual sea cucumber. Just a few
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| The White Spotted Sea Cucumber.Actinopyga mauritiana. 10/2020 |
feet from the crown of thorns, I spotted this spotted animal in a coral fenestration. I had to look several times to assure myself that I wasn't looking at a whitemouth or stout moray eel. The photograph is definitive...this is not an eel. Rather I think it is the white spotted sea cucumber.Actinopyga mauritiana. There is a similar sea cucumber that we see commonly in Kona, and is probably endemic to the Big Island. At the time Hoover's book went to press, it did not have scientific name. This guy cuke is clearly different. John Hoover gives a few locations where it can be found regularly, but Kailua Kona ain't one of them.
That was pretty much it for this dark, forbidding day in late October. And I ask you, which would you prefer? It's OK if you want a day in the bright sunshine, with clear water and friendly tourists!
jeff
Here is a little video I took on this last outing. Its entitled, "Under the Second Swim Buoy" and features baby Sergent Majors, some of them quite small.
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