On the Trail of the Kailua Reef Shark

     There was an up-tick in the number of tourists last week.  This led to more traffic on the Kuakini Highway and more old people navigating the aisles at Costco during Kapuna Hours..  I suppose that this was because it was Ironman week.  Although the powers that be cancelled the Ironman a month ago,  it would appear that a number of folks who had reservations for air travel and accommodations decided they just might as well go to Kona for the week as opposed to going to all the trouble to cancel and hanging out in Tacoma.  If anything, the water is warmer in Hawaii than it is in Puget Sound. 

The usual suspects.  Four Spot and Moorish Idol at Kahalu'u

    Kona has been going through a period of high surf.  I don't think that this had much effect on the tourists, but we had a small hiatus in snorkeling.  Things flattened out two days ago and I was able to convince Sandra to go swimming with me at Kahalu'u.  The water is still cool, as opposed to cold, and with the low surf it was fairly clear.  It was late in the morning and there were plenty of swimmers, but not nearly so many as we had encountered the week before. 

    And there were lots of fish.  I'm including a couple pictures of the usual suspects that we encountered, as we didn't see anything particularly noteworthy.  I hope you like the Moorish idol and the Four spot Butterflyfish swimming together.  And who doesn't have a soft spot in his heart for a fat freckled hawkfish pretending that he's just part of the coral?

    With a pleasant hour of fish watching under her sarong, it wasn't difficult to get Sandra down to the pier the following morning.  The focusof this excursion was to locate the bait ball and, with some luck, see the white tipped reef shark that had been accompanying it.  And I had another goal.   Since our return, I had yet to see an Oval Butterflyfish, which should be a dependable species at the pier.  On this day we would look specifically for this regularly occurring beauty.

Freckled Hawkfish  Kahalu'u 2021

    As we arrived, we were delighted to find almost no one at the cubbies.  The only ones around were a gentleman wearing flotation and a lady, perhaps in the vicinity of sixty who had been for a recreational swim.  They were talking about the Ironman, which is scheduled to return to Kona next October.  The lady revealed that she had competed in the ersatz world championships, held two weeks ago in St. George, Utah.  Her report was that the event was well supported by organizers and volunteers, there were remarkably few contestants and absolutely nobody was wearing a mask.  As we made our way down to the beach, home of the real Ironman swim, she was muttering about shark and bait ball.  And I was thinking, "Let's hope so."

     The water was as clear as we have seen it since our return and Sandra said, "Where's all the fish?"  At least currently, the Ironman side of the pier is not swarming with reef  fish.  We made a bee line for the third of a mile buoy. On the way past the last swim buoy I spotted a small fish wiggling around near the bottom.  The water here was about twenty feet deep, so i was only able to dive half way to this little fellow, which turned out to be a small juvenile Peacock Razorfish.  I have seen one of these here before many years ago.  I think this might be my fourth such juvenile.  And it was the first unusual fish we have seen since our return three weeks ago.  Although not particularly uncommon, razorfish, a medium size wrasse, live their lives buried in the sand and are not often seen by snorkelers.

Oval Butterflyfish, Kailua Kona Pier March 2016

      We swam concentric circles around the third of a mile buoy, eventually extending twenty yards seaward and south without finding the bait ball.  I couldn't imagine where all those fish have gone.  Suffice it to say, without the multitude of big eye scads there was no chance to see the reef shark.  we did see a nice adolescent Big Eye Emperor and a Red Bar Kawkfish, but we did not see the Oval Butterflyfish.  We hope to go to Kawaihae tomorrow which is a good spot for oval butterfly and a possibility for sharks.  We'll keep you posted.

Back in the Water KOA.

    We have been back in Kona for about two weeks.  Much of our time has been taken up with re-provisioning, gardening and repairing stuff.  Hawaii takes its toll even when you aren't here to use things. Truth be told, we also spend an excessive amount of time loafing around in front of the fan as we while away these hot October afternoons. 

     We have also found time to get in the water and see a few fish.  

     On my first excursion to the beach I went to Kahalu'u.  Here we were greeted with barrier webbing surrounding the pavilion and a sign stating Hawaii's current battle against Covid 19 as it relates to gathering at the beach.  Whether or not we are going to out live this plague is anyone's guess. 

   I hadn't been snorkeling in almost six months and failed to do an adequate job of barbering.  So instead of watching  fish I spent an hour mostly dealing with  my mask.  Water boarding, anyone?

     On our second trip to the beach we went to the pier.  Now with a functional mask, we were able to

Speckled Sorpionfish, Kona Pier, October 2021

do some diving.  Cowering in a healthy head of cauliflower coral, I found and photographed a Speckeld Scorpiofish,  S.coniorta.  Assuming you are in an area where cauliflower coral is growing, and this valuable group of corals is hanging on by a thread in the face of climate change and the associated warming of the oceans,  the speckled scorpion is not all that hard to find.

     Photography is another matter.  I have never seen one of these tiny fish other than hiding as deep between the leaves of the coral as it can wedge its small, colorful body.  Thus, capturing the beast in a photograph depends heavily on the camera's ability to choose the object of your desire and focus upon same.  In this instance, the TG 5 did a remarkably good job.  This picture was taken with flash and massaged with Corel.  The colors were not altered.  Considering this was the first time in six months that the camera was fired in anger, I think the results are, at the very minimum, acceptable. 

    On the way in, Sandra and I enjoyed chasing a pair of saddleback butterflies, but didn't see much else of note. 

Pontifical Miter and a partner to be named later.  Kahalu'u  10/21

However, on shore Sandra was engaged in an apres la douche schmooze when her counterpart revealed that there are sharks about.  She discovered that on that day a single reef shark was associated with the bait ball, which was only twenty yards further out in the bay that we had ventured.  We were that close.  Today I spoke with an authoritative lady recreational swimmer, who said that she hadn't seen a shark in a week, but they were indeed associated with the bait ball which is hanging on the pier side of the little three quarter mile buoy.  

     A couple days ago I returned to Kahalu'u well shaved.  For most of the outing I did not see much but on the way in I happened upon this nice mollusc, almost certainly a Pontifical Miter, M. stictica.  I no longer pluck these probable living animals from the gravelly substrate for fear of ripping off their tender heads.  So the picture you see was taken in situ.  If you look carefully, perhaps you will see a shell of similar size but without the fancy whorls lying next to the miter. .This is  most likely a different species.  When loafing around in the afternoon I read, and recently I completed a biography of Malcolm X, by Les Payne.  Thus prepared, I would submit that one might put on his bed sheet and pointed hat and accuse that Pontifical Miter of mis-shell-genation.  As if just being pontifical wasn't enough to get the poor mollusc in trouble with the clan!

Asian Swallowtail, Papilio xuthus, Kahalu'u 10/21

   On the way in I saw two snowflake moray eels, but both escaped before getting photographed.  After my shower, on the other hand, I was treated to a lepidopteran delight of the first order.  As I stood there, an Asian Swallowtail fluttered nearby.  I pulled out the camera, freshly rinsed, and, as if on command, the swallowtail landed in the wet sand only a few feet away.  The insect then engaged in a behavior known as puddling, in which the butterfly lands on a wet spot, sticks its drinking-straw-like proboscis into the wet muck and sucks up some mineral containing fluid.  I have been reading about puddling for a year  now, but never seen it.  Come to think of it, although this species is fairly common up at Casa Ono, I have never seen one at the beach.  If you look carefully you may identify the proboscis in action!

   So watch out for sharks, keep your proboscis out of other people's business and all will be well.

jeff