This Week in Kona

Achilles Tang,  Kahalu'u November 2020

   This week I went swimming four out of five days.   This shouldn't be unusual, but sad to tell, I have been slacking off over the last few months.  Perhaps we have turned the corner.  More snorkeling and more fish.

   Early in the week it was someone's birthday, and to celebrate she joined me for a snorkel at Kahalu'u.  We didn't see anything very unusual, but the water was warm and clear, so it was an enjoyable swim.  Out by Surfer's Rock, we encountered a teenager-size Achilles Tang that was sufficiently cooperative to get his picture taken.  Achilles tang is one of my favorite fish and not nearly as common as it once was.  Part of this is because it is edible and the other part is that the whole ecosystem is on a down turn.  Probably because it favors the wild surge zone, Achilles Tang has never been common at Kahalu'u.  It was a pleasure to get a chance to photograph this cooperative individual in calm, clear water.

Aren't you glad you don't have to crawl out of your skin?

    On our second pass up the middle we found the carapace of a tufted spiny lobster lying in the sand.  considering how large and ornate this exoskeleton is, it was probably there not as the act of a lobster predator, but rather just the lobster engaging in a regularly scheduled molt.  This involves crawling out of his exoskeleton in the middle of the night and then going off to some hideaway for a day or two to grow a new one.  

    Most of us have just endured an experience that, had it gone the other way, we might have wanted to crawl out of our skin and go away for an extended period, so I suppose we can empathize with the lobster.

   On the way in I spotted a snowflake moray eel.  Finding myself in a fortuitous position, I got this little clip showing the eel crawling under a rock.  The film ends, but after an additional moment, the eel poked his head out from under his rock as if to say, "Is he gone yet?'  Oh!  Did I just sneak in a little more political commentary?" 

    For those of you on the other side, you can visit Donald at Crowbar College starting next June.  Don't forget your MAGA hat.  

   Back on the beach, I had showered off and we were just getting ready to go, when we saw a young couple getting ready to go snorkeling.  They were obviously tourists and the Reef Teachers were having

Lady Liberty pretending to be a small snowflake eel.

a field day plying them with coral friendly sun screen and unsolicited advice.  The guy looked a bit like Conan O'Brien, so he needed all the sun screen he could get.  The young lady was at least a little bit Asian and drop dead gorgeous.  I offered to apply her sun screen...No!  I did not do that...only thought about it.  But I did notice them carrying familiar flippers.  Having no boundaries what so ever, I approached and asked if they had rented their gear from my old buddy, Snorkel Bob.  Receiving an answer in the affirmative, I gave the Reef Teacher a run for her money, by boring them to death, recalling the last time I had seen Snorkel Bob's equipment.  It could be six months!  So the tourists are definitely back.  And at least some of them are worth a second look!

    The next day I went for an afternoon swim at the pier.  As I arrived, I realized that I had forgotten my fins.  Given this equipment deficiency, I decided to swim in the Inner Harbour.  The tide was super high and it was blowing about fifteen knots straight in.  The first thing I did was stub the bejesus out of my right middle toe.  At this point I was looking around trying to see what else was going to happen, when I noticed that the King Kam Hotel looked like it might be back in operation.  I mean, the barriers were down and there were guys moving stuff around.  I inquired of the young lady in the Kona Boys Surf Shack, a

The Surf Shack is open and the hotel will open on Monday.

convenient fifteen feet away from me and my throbbing toe, and she declared that the hotel would be open in five days.  So the tourists are back and now they will have a place to stay.  Its all coming together.

     Brimming with useful information, I had my swim, sans fins.  I made it out as far as the end of the little jetty, seeing a miniature humu humu and a full sized Christmas wrasse on the way out.  As I suspected, the gale created some motion on the surface and I sailed effortlessly back to shore.

   All of which brings us to today.  I arrived at the pier a little after 9 AM.  We had actually timed the swim so that the tide was not super high.  And it was clear and the water was only moderately cloudy.  Obviously I was hoping for the barracuda, so I swam back and forth on my way out, not seeing anything of inteest.  I turned it around about twenty yards past the last swim buoy and repeated the process on the way in.   I got to the pier right where the tenders pick up the sea going snitches (Scent of A Woman, the famous soliloquy) and just a couple stroke seaward and the beast was there, less than ten feet away.  

Great Barracuda, Kailua Pier November 2020

   I started taking pictures in this not perfectly clear water, aware that the one thing you can do to reduce the effect of cloudy water is get closer to your subject.  The barracuda was looking at me, not giving any ground, wiggling his tail every now and then in a manner of a brave bull pawing the earth of an arena.  My efforts were not helped by the knowledge that he was in an area where the coral seem to abound with eels, great big pictus and yellow margin eels,  Now just imagine, diving down to take a picture of a Great barracuda only seven feet away, grabbing on to a coral four feet blow the surface and immediately finding yourself in the vice-like and toothy grip of a large moray.  Sucks to be you, right?

   So I backed off a little, dove down and swam towards the eel without achieving one of those tantalizing hand holds.  After a couple pictures I took the movie you see here.  After a couple minutes the barracuda swam slowly away, leaving the coral and swimming over the sand.  As he swam over the lighter surface he became much more silvery.  I followed him for another couple minutes until I felt like I had created a sufficient amount of irritation.  

   As I was leaving the water a couple of about my age were entering.  I told them about the baracuda and the lady said that they had seen it every day this week.  And one day they swam with a manta ray right in the bay.  But did they get any pictures? And would they like to join me for a slice of crow washed down with a vintage made from sour grapes?  Actually they were very nice and I wish them all the luck in the world.  You too.  But not the First Fibber.

jeff