A Close Encouter in Kailua

     How often do you arrive at the beach and hear, "You should have been here yesterday!"  The fish were biting like crazy.  There were manta rays swimming right next to the pier..  Etc, etc.  On the other hand, its fairly unusual to have someone say, "It's a good thing you weren't here yesterday."

     That's what happened to me...yesterday.  I was changing at the cubbies at the foot of the Kailua Pier and

A Box Jelly Dries on the Kailua Pier,

inquired of the nice young lady next to me, who was drying off after her swim, how was the water.  "It's beautiful," she replied, "but its a good thing you weren't here yesterday.  There were bunches of box jellyfish."  In my career,  I have seen exactly one box jellyfish and I am happy to keep it that way.  Their painful sting is legend.  Indeed, other people standing near us started recounting box jelly stings.  No deaths were mentioned, but if you had to pick one thing, short of a shark attack, that you might want to keep off your wish list, running into a school of box jellies might be it.

   So numerous were these nefarious coelenterates that one had washed ashore.  An intrepid swimmer, presumably wearing a glove, had extricated it from the sand and placed it on the curb.  And look!  Its still there!   My picture isn't great, the jellyfish,after all, had been out of water for a day.  But I believe you will agree it's identifiable.

   Anyway, the water was clear, especially close to shore.  And there were some fish.  As I swam out, I saw the increasingly rare Oval Butterflyfish.  On my way back in I saw a nice pair of Teardrops.  The oval was way too far away for photography, and the Teardrops weren't close.  I'm including their picture because it's such a charming grouping.  And they really are pretty fish.  A little further on I saw Stripe Belly Puffer, which is not as common as it used to be.  

   I crossed the swim line, which at this point is more theoretical than physically real, and took a turn over by the pier.  I saw a nice male Coral Blenny, in breeding plumage.  Naturally, he dodged into a crevice before I could get a good picture.

   As I swam slowly down the pier I spied a large green sea turtle.  As I entered the ocean,  a young lady tourist had gushed at me about a large sea turtle, pointing to a spot out by the sea wall.  I had begun my swim in that direction with no luck, but now, here he was.  

   I watched him for a minute or two at a distance of greater than ten feet, which I believe is the current regulation.  He was a big guy, certainly the largest I have seen in the last few years.  The turtle was working his way down the pier, scraping algae off the cement with his sharp beak.  He was operating in a leisurely fashion, befitting a turtle, who, if left to their own devices, are among the most complacent of God's creatures. As this wasn't terribly exciting, I soon returned to searching among the coral for something more unusual.  

A close encounter with a curious green sea turtle.

   And then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some motion.  I turned, to find that the turtle, in a moment of curiosity, had swum right up to me.  As I watched, he came closer, closing within a foot.  Adult green sea turtles are entirely herbivorous.  However, they conduct their business with a beak so sharp and tough that it can scrape algae from stone.  With this in mind, I found myself swimming slowly away from the turtle. 

     It is not unusual for a turtle to approach a snorkeler.  Twenty five years of conservation-minded behavior on our part must have something to do with this.  With any luck, one day a turtle will swim up and say hello to you.

jeff

Filling in the List on Paul Allen's Reef

    We continue to enjoy beautiful weather with spectacular sunsets and great surfing conditions. Luckily the surge is coming from the north, so surfers can ride their boards at Banyans, while the majority of Kailua Bay is protected and calm. There was a high school paddling regatta in Kailua on Saturday.  Luckily, even though the Honolulu weather lady had predicted very high surf,  the bay on Sunday was still flat. 

Hawaiian filefish, Cantherines sandwichensis, Kailu Kona 2011

    The 2022 list had not grown as quickly as I had hoped.  Part of this was due to us not being able to swim at Mahukona. Our expert, Peter Krottje,  far away in California, tells us that yes, Mahukona sometimes gets choppy, and cloudy, and no, no one seems to be able to predict when that is going to happen.  It was a first for us.  And so, after three outings, the list still lingered around 60 species.  I hoped that a swim out on Paul Allen's Reef would fill in some of the gaps.

   Sandra dropped me off at the pier around 9 AM.  It was sunny, calm and there were lots of recreational swimmers on the Ironman side of the pier.  Luckily, that was not my destination.  Over by the Beach Boy Shack, in front of the King Kam Hotel, I put on my gear and headed into the Inner Harbour.  It was cold, but not as bad as I expected.  

Christmas Wrasse added to the list for 2022

   Although the water was clear, I didn't see much until I approached the small jetty.  There I spotted a
small Hawaiian Filefish.  This is a species that we should be seeing routinely.  As you can see from the picture taken a decade ago, it is not a very spectacular fish, but with that distinctive white spot before the tail, it is easily identified.  This would be a good day for Hawaiian Filefish; I saw  at least five individuals overall.

    Almost immediately after I saw the filefish, a nice plump Christmas Wrasse made an appearance.  Now this is a fish you hear  a lot about, because it is so beautiful.  I nabbed two quick pictures and what you see is the better of the two with, maximum primping.  Suffice it to say, this fish likes fast moving, turbulent water and this has an effect on the photos.  The area at the mouth of the Inner Harbour is a good spot for both Chrstmas and Surge Wrasse, the latter being seen less commonly.  One might also keep an eye out for the rare Five stripe Wrasse in this turbulent habitat.

Bird Wrasse, Kailua Bay, January 2022

    Out in the bay, things were pretty quiet.  But on the far side, by the entrance to Paul Allen's Lagoon, things picked up. The conditions were so calm, that I was able to make a careful examination of the branching coral that was once home to a family of Coral Couchers.  I believe we can now put this to bed, there is no one crouching in that coral no mo'.  Shortly after that, I nabbbed a nice picture of a Bird Wrasse.  This unusual fish is  fast moving and a good picture is rare.

   After the bird wrasse went his way, I encountered a pair of Spotted Surgeons.  Ordinarily a fish of very turbulent water, this pair seemed to have ventured in just so I could add them to the list.  

A small convex crab shell

       Before leaving this area, I noticed an interesting crab carapace on the bottom, and then another.  I dove down about ten feet and collected one.  Back at the ranch, Hoover's critter book in hand, this would prove to be a Convex Crab.  We see this species occasionally.  It is perhaps a bit more common than the closely related and more visually interesting Seven Eleven Crab, but still a good find. From the surface I thought this carapace might be four inches across.  When extricated from my pocket back at the ranch, I was chagrined to find that it was only an inch and a half.  What it lacked in size, it made up in bulk.  This is the sturdiest little crab shell I have ever seen.  All crustaceans must molt to grow.  In this case the crab is shedding a shell to which he devoted a lot of resources.  It makes me wonder what ecological advantage this extra-strong shell imparts.  Here is a picture of the shell sitting on our front railing.

A pair of Spotted Surgeonfish by Paul's Lagoon

    Just around the corner, now facing the open ocean, I saw the first trumpetfish for the new year.  This was a fine yellow trumpetfish.  He was just hanging by the rocky drop off, as opposed to schooling as a stalking horse among yellow tangs.  In the same area we got the first lizardfish for the year, a Reef Lizardfish.  

    Anticipating cold water, I had only asked for 50 minutes, so at this point it was time to start heading back to the beach to meet up with my lovely chauffeur.  As I made the turn I added a nice pair of the progressively uncommon oval butterfly and a bevy of epaulette soldierfish. Shortly there after I saw a pair of Very Longnose Butterflyfish, one black and the other yellow.  The black one is occasional down at City of Refuge and uncommon up here.  Sometimes it seems hard to distinguish the forcepsfish, also called a long nose butterfly, from the VLNBF.  If you see a black one it's got to be the Very Long Nose.

The first trumpet for 2022.

   In the bay I found the large branching antler coral we talked about recently, still home to the breeding pair of blue eye damselfish.  This species is dependent on the coral both as a home and as a food
source...its diet is limited to coral polyps. So if you like Blue eye Damsels (and who doesn't?) keep cheering for a coral comeback.

  As I made my way through the Inner Harbour I happened upon a large male Yellow-tailed Coris who had just acquired his lunch.  In his jaws was  most of a black brittle star.  Wrasses by and large are carnivores, but not in the way we are used to thinking.  Rockmovers and yellow-tails are continuously turning over rocks and eating the small invertebrates they have uncovered.  In this instance, the wrasse had a large invertebrate.  One that looks much like a lady's hairbrush but, in all likelihood, isn't quite as tasty.  

   With that image of  of haute cuisine I'ii call it quits.  The list is up to 71, so we have some work to do.  Stay tuned.

jeff 

A mixed pair of Very Longnose Butterflies, City of Refuge 2014

A Strange Trip Up North

     Yesterday Sandra and I made good on our promise to visit Mahukona.  It was another beautiful winters day on the leeward side, with blue skies and a fleecy cloud tickling the cinder cones that dot Kohala Mountain. 

Banded Coral Shrimp, Kawaihae, January 2022

    We made it to Mahu around 9:30,to find only two cars in a wet parking lot, .  I went to the head to change into my trunks and while I was gone Sweetie chatted up the owner of one of the two cars.  By the time I returned, he was long gone.  However, he had left my beloved with this bit of advice:

 I'm an expert who swims here all the time.  The water is choppy and visibility is only three feet.  I don't think its safe to swim and I'm leaving.  

    We went down to the ladder and watched the water swish past.  This was not the calm bay that the internet had promised.  And indeed visibility was poor.  On the bright side, there was a nice school of Keeltailed Needlefish to amuse us.

    Sandra returned to the car while I walked around the perimeter, past the crane and out to the edge of the pier that faces the ocean.  There I found a school of larger fish, skinny like needlefish, these fellows were a foot and a half in length, graced with a dorsum of rich blue green.  Thinking that these were apt to be halfbeaks, I was studying them as best I could, hoping for a glimpse of red, Rudolf-like tip of the nose.  Out of the corner of my eye I detected a modest swell approaching the wall, upon whose edge I was perched, the better to see those curious fish..  As the swell struck the base of the wall, only a few feet below me, water exploded up and over me.  Suddenly I was standing in two inches of water and

Feather Duster Worm, Kawaihae, 2022

drenched from head to toe. So much for science!

    After shedding my soggy shirt and shoes, I put on my water proof sandals, just a few minutes behind schedule, and we bid Mahu adieu. Twenty minutes later we were at the surf park at Kawaihae.  I availed myself of the fresh water shower to wash the salt, as best I could, out of my shirt and shoes, leaving the latter on a rock facing the ocean, basking in the bright sun.  A few minutes later Sandra and I were slipping into the water at the base of the LST landing.

     Out at the first platform, we were blessed with an excellent view of a banded coral shrimp. He was only a foot deep on his pillar and, as we watched, he actually took a few steps towards us.  The water was cloudy, but at that distance some sort of photo was guaranteed.  

    The water was indeed cloudy, but we were still able to see a few of the expected fish, milletseeds, papio, and dascyllus.  Not the trove we were hoping to garner at Mahukona, but oh well.  I did get a pretty good picture of a feather duster worm washing hither and fro among the rocks.  We saw not a single nudibranch on either the first or second platforms and headed out for the third.  

Acute Halfbeaks, Ho'okena, February 2013  As seen on the internet!

    Suddenly we found ourselves swimming through a shoal of coarse saw dust.  This was an unprecedented situation.  Surfacing, we could see that patch of flaoting wood extending ten yards in every direction.  How unpleasant!  We swam back to the second platform and it seemed like the patches of wood were following us.  Nudibranchs be damned, the two of us were soon back at the shower washing off.

    While rinsing off, a lady came up and asked how we had done.  I showed her a picture of the coral shrimp and told her about the flaoting wood fragments, which she could see even from that distance.  Brave soul that she was she ventured down to the landing, but as far as I could tell, she decided not to swim.

Polynesian Halfbeak, Kailua Pier 2013, for comparison

   It was a peculiar day. but it was punctuated by two very good sightings.  We have already mentioned the banded coral shrimp, but what about those blue fish that I was studying from above immediately before my world class dousing.  Well, it is my learned opinion that those were Acute Halfbeaks.  In 2013 Sandra and I were lucky to see a school of these fish at Ho'okena.  So good were my photographs, that if you Google search images for this species you are presented with two photographs that I took on that day, ever so long ago.  The rich blue green dorsum is diagnostic and so is the lack of red on the bill,  which as it turns out, is not seen readily when the fish is observed from above.  Nine years ago Jack Randall, who we have to assume is smiling down on us fish watchers, put me in touch with Bruce Collete, the world expert on this fish.  And wasn't it just ever so exciting!  Well that was then, this is now and those were acute halfbeaks in the bay at Mahukona! 

   It should be noted that the reason my photographs are still at the top of Google Images for Acute Halfbeaks is that-this represents some arcane fish identification and good luck.

   On that thrilling note, I admonish you to keep your eye on the ocean lest you end up with wet sneakers.  and Go Fish!

jeff 

We have not encountered patches of sawdust in Hawaii previously.  There is a building project going on at the far end of Kawaihae Harbor,  The North Kawaihae Improvement Project, which may be related to this unhappy situation.  It is scheduled to be completed by January 28th.

Snorkeling Kahalu'u The list goes on.

    Yesterday we went snorkeling at Kahalu'u. Our New Years Day swim at the pier was pleasant enough but had netted only a small number of species.  Some days Kahalu'u can be quite good and on others, it borders on pathetic.  this was never the case the thirty years ago, but then, what is?

An elegant hermit peaks out of a Strawberry Drupe.  Kahalu'u

   As we arrived, Sandra and I were greeted by our friend Yasuko, who scampered to her SUV and produced a Christmas card.  It was addressed to Sandra and Jeff in both English and Japanese characters.   This is not to say that I read Japanese, so I'm making an assumption.  The card unfolded to produce a tree.  A Chinese couple from San Francisco, preparing for a snorkel at an adjacent table, remarked that they had seen one just like it while knick knack shopping in Hilo.  As if there was insufficient kitsch for sale in Kona!

    It was another beautiful winter's morning in Hawaii.  The sky was blue and the tide was high as I slipped through the sand channel into the bay.  The water was not particularly cold, and only a little cloudy.  Almost immediately we started seeing fish and invertebrates.  Early on I found a gorgeous strawberry drupe with an elegant hermit crab hiding inside.  

    We saw most of the expected fish, including rockmovers and cleaner wrasse.  At a cleaning station, my first of the new year, I saw an Achille's Tang, which is a pretty good fish for the relatively calm waters of Kahalu'u.

   As I made the final turn for home I saw a Snowflake Moray Eel,  perhaps the prettiest of our eels and,  following on the heels of the whitemouth and the yellowmargin, , among the three most likely to be seen during the day 

An Achilles Tang at Kahalu'u

   Finally, only a couple yards from one of the buoys that the Reef Teachers post, admonishing the full contact snorkelers to swim, not stand on the remaining coral, I saw an octopus.  He was mostly hiding in a lava crevasse, with an arm draped over the top of him.  His two eyes on their stalk, which was a rich milk chocolate brown, textured like tafeta protruded above the arm, which at times turned the color of the encrusted stone, a pearly gray.  I watched this wonderful mollusc for a few minutes before swimming past the buoy and into a mass of holiday snorkelers.

   Back ashore, I showered with a family from LaGrande, Oregon, who said there was two feet of snow on the ground when they left for Kona.  

    Before we headed home, we had a chance to talk with Chris.  Remember him?   A pleasant young man who as a Reef Teacher does the chemical tests for Kathleen Clark. In the process of talking about the relative merits of snorkeling at Mahukona versus Indonesia, he revealed:

Will we ever make it back to Bali?

1.  That following graduation from college he is living with his family in Hawi (which explains why he snorkels Mahukona.)

2.   That he recently had friends visit Indonesia.   Sandra and I love Bali so much and would love to go back, should travel ever become safe.  Chris said that things are more or less open, but upon arrival in Indonesia, one is obligated to spend three days in quarantine at a hotel near the airport, awaiting the results for a Covid test administered on arrival.   This is clearly a boon for the over priced hotels of Jakarta and Denpassar.  One would have to ponder the pluses and minuses before committing to that plan.

3.  That the surf was going to come back up on Thursday.  hence, Kanaloa has granted us snorkelers one more day to work on our list (which is now up to 51.)  With that information in hand, Sandra and I are preparing a trip to Mahukona for today.  With even a small amount of luck the list will grow as fast as the Omicron cases in Honolulu.

jeff

A New Years Day Swim and a List for 2022

           Following a week of cloudy weather, New Years Day on the leeward side of the Big Island dawned clear and bright.  Those cloudy days had been accompanied by some great surfing conditions; despite the surf we could see from our lanai, I was confident that Kailua Bay would be calm enough for a nice New Years snorkel.  

    Down at the pier,  9:30  on New Years Morning, there were a modest number of swimmers and only a few homeless people chilling in the shade.   Sandra commented on what a lovely morning it was and then, having deposited me and my stuff, headed up Palani to do some shopping while I began a new year in the water. 

Bob Hillis, scouting out a new fish back in 2015.

       What would the first day of the year be without a resolution?  For the last few years I have abandoned my annual list of Big Island fish sightings.  This year I have resolved to  do my best on a year list.   As I made this resolution, I recognized that the list would be impacted by two very large caveats.  Foremost, this will be the first year in a long time when I have neither Bob Hillis or Peter Krottje to find fish for me.  Like any other mediocre fishwatcher, I'm on my own.  Second, as we have become more attached to our grandchildren, we have been spending more time away.  If things go as planned, we will miss all of the summer months.  I suppose we will dwell on the ramifications of summer fishwatching, or the lack thereof at another time, but its not without significance.  

   With these thoughts swimming in my head, I plunged into the cool, cloudy water.  Visibility was about ten feet, so we weren't missing much.  Photography would have been problematic, but I had forgotten the camera, so this was a non-issue.  As I catalogued the usual suspects, this thought bounced around in my head:  Being superstitious, I assume that if I forget the camera I will see something good.  Hence, missing the camera would be bad for the blog, but good for the new list.

Bluestripe Butterfly  2012, Kalua Kona Pier

     Out by the second swim buoy, I encountered a healthy example of a small cauliflower coral.  On the Ironman side of the pier, these corals are so rare that if one is so disposed, it would be possible to dive and check out each one.   This one was home to at least one Speckled Scorpionfish, hiding between the leaves.   These small branching corals are absolutely required for both this small scorpionfish and the coral croucher, so we are lucky (no other way to look at it), that climate change has not wiped them out completely on our shallow reefs.

    A bit further on, out by the third swim buoy, I saw a familiar shape bearing a distinct black patch by the tail.  Diving down, I verified that this was a blue stripe butterflyfish.  What a fine New Years surprise!  Reviewing my lists, I feel pretty safe in saying that I have not seen this fish in Kailua in over five years.  With luck, it is still dependable up in Kohala. 

    This is a difficult species to photograph.  I'm showing you the best I can find, which was taken by the pier in 2012.  At Mahukona, where they have been dependable, they tend to stay deep.  Whenever I get close, as in this case, they are elusive.

Happy 2022 from a Devil Scorpionfish  Kahalu'u March 2019

     I swam back through the shallows and then crossed over the swim line to patrol the area where the tenders from the  cruise ships disembark their tourists.  There, between a few large rocks, was a fat Devil Scorpionfish.  Unlike the bluestripe butterfly, which swam away immediately, this fellow, with his enormous mouth, wasn't going anywhere.  At last I had a subject, holding still, not too deep and in fairly clear water.  This specimen would have been ideal for photography.  Luckily, we have lots of pictures of these specie with which to amuse you.

    Back on shore, I stepped carefully around a pair of homeless ladies sprawled on the walkway and enjoyed a New Years shower with a view: a throng of families, tourists and locals, playing together, on the beach in front of the King Kam Hotel.  What a lovely sight!

    I saw only thirty species on this inaugural 2022 swim.  There are lots of species around to fill in the blanks.   While we are recording the dependables,  Sandra and I hope to see some unusual treats.  Happy New Year!

jeff