Blood and Dragons at Kahalu'u

         One doesn't get material for a blog every time he steps into the water.  Following my experience with the wrasses, Sandra and I went back to Kahalu'u the very next day in hopes of seeing the female Blackstripe Coris.  We did score the pair of Pearl Wrasse, with quick looks at both the colorful male and the female, who with her lines of pearl-like dots gives the species its common name.  But no big blackstripe.  

Stocky Hawkfish Kahalu'u  March  2022

    In fact, the only good picture I came away with was one of a stocky hawkfish perched on a coral.  The stocky used to be the third most common hawkfish, but that is no longer the case.  Both the Arc Eyed Hawkfish and the sporty Mr. Freckle (Blackside Hawkfish) are in such decline at the snorkeling reefs in Kona that it is common for me to take a turn at KBay or the pier and see neither of those species.  On the other hand, I invariably see at least one stocky, even on a day at the pier when the water looks like dilute milk.

   On that day, about a week ago, we had a chance to converse with the redoubtable Kathleen Clark.  While she is always full of wit and wisdom, Kat was far from the most interesting thing happening in the shelter.  As Sandra and I arrived, we were surprised to see two dozen shining faces arrayed at the picnic tables.  Although I tried to be discrete, I couldn't help but notice that most of these faces were affiliated with well groomed young women.  And they had an instructor who, while sweetie and I were donning our winter snorkeling garb, was telling them what a wonderful bit of lore they were going to receive as they sat at the feet of the redoubtable Ms. Clark.  

The best looking Bulldogs this side of Honoka'a!

    The convocation broke up, the better to move to a different venue, in time for us to query one of the young ladies.  She claimed, in impeccable American English, that they were a group of foreign exchange students. They went their way, trailing a mystery behind them, while Sandra and I went out to meet Mr. and Mrs. Pearl.

   On our return, after a freshwater ablution, I was able to button hole one of the young lovelies, who was now in a swimming costume, stowing her gear in a fashionable backpack.  "So," I asked, "You are a group of foreign exchange students?"  

    "Not exactly," my victim responded, "We're from the University of Georgia. " (By which she meant UGA, not an academic institution in the former USSR.)  Further inquiry revealed that they were on a Spring Break study experience, delving into the social and environmental facets of the Big Island.  They had begun their sojourn in Hilo, spent the last five days in Kona and were leaving the following morning for the volcano.  Never one to bypass the opportunity to teach, I proceeded to stultify this sweet young thing with a complete rundown on the Kamehameha Butterfly, its relationship with the Hawaiian nettle, māmaki, and just where to find the state insect in the HVNP.  As she fled in terror I admonished her to use this information to flumox her tour guide at Kilauea. 

Flowery Flounder, almost invisible atop a rock.  Kahalu'u 2022

    Sadly neither Sandra nor I captured a picture of these young ladies. But thanks to the worldwide web,  I discovered the name of the program, Study Abroad Hawaii ( (which the catty Ms. Sandra renamed "Study A Broad, Hawaii.") and I'm able to provide a charming shot of two of the young lovelies smiling next to the Great God Ku at the City of Refuge.

   Note to Vlad the Bomber:  Don't you dare try to invade this Very Sandwich Island or my man Ku is gonna put a cap up yo' Russian ass.

  Two days after we encountered Study Abroad, Hawaii! I made an attempt to study the Ironman side of the pier.  The water was a little cloudy, but worse, there was little to write home about swimming in the sea.  From an editorial point of view, the day was saved by a gentleman, ensconced in one of the changing room toilets.  While I swapped out my swimsuit for shorts, he serenaded me with a country tune,  accompanied at full volume by a song on the dubiously named smartphone. When I told my son,Charles, about this encounter, he asked, "Was he drunk?"  to which I replied, "I think so."

An adolescent Rockmver cowering beneath a stone.

   The powers that be have removed the benches from this changing room, presumably to discourage homeless drug addicts.  Will the toilets be next?

   All of this brings us to yesterday back at Kahalu'u, where the action will segue mercifully into the ocean.  To accommodate the tide, I chose to swim at noon.  Suffice it to say there were lots of tourists, especially compared to the number we encounter as the sun rises over Hualalai.  However, this was balanced by higher water and low surf and I soon found myself out in the bay. 

 Almost immediately I happened upon a small flounder sitting on top of a rock.   He was easily spotted, but equally convinced of his camouflage.  I took this picture at about five feet and he remained non plussed throughout..  I wonder if enough is made of the flounders ability to mimic the surface upon which he is resting.  With equal facility, he can do black sand, salt and pepper sand and an algae encrusted rock.  Do you wonder how he knows what the surface looks like and accomplishes the mimicry?  I do. 

   A bit further on I spotted an octopus in a rocky crevice.  He remained brown and mostly hidden.  As photography was inadequate for the blog, I mention him mostly to point out that this is a very good year for the Day Octopus.  This is at least my fourth one for 2022. Other animals have become less common, by this particular cephalopod is having a banner year.

Bloody Hermit Crab, Kahalu'u March 2022

      Near the old hotel bar I was lucky to see three Rockmovers, one of which was in the last stages of converting from a Dragon Wrasse to an adult.  I chased him around a bit...once he realized that I wanted to take his picture he did his best to make it difficult...typical adolescent, right?  

    As I tired of the chase, I realized that right next to me were two young ladies in sneakers, which is the information you glean from the underwater perspective.  I surfaced and asked them if they would like to see something interesting and one of them accompanied me a few feet to where the large dragon wrasse was up to his antics.  She was amused for about ten seconds and we bade each other adieu.  

   Heading back towards the middle, I spotted the well encrusted shell of a large strawberry drupe.  This shell looks remarkably like a knob of dead coral and thus is perfect camouflage for a large hermit crab.  I plucked  the shell up, noting a claw in the opening, and positioned it in a depression about afoot below the surface.  I then backed off about five feet to wait.  About a minute in, I was rammed by a young male snorkeler.  Wham!  Luckily the crab ignored the episode and in another minute or so he emerged. 

A Veiled Drupe, Drupa ricina, sans hermit.  March 2022

   If you follow the blog, you might guess that this was a Bloody Hermit Crab, Dardanus sanguinocarpus.  If one is good at finding hermit crabs, and I suppose I number myself in that auspicious fraternity, this species is not particularly uncommon at Kahalu'u.  Nevertheless, it was the first one for 2022.  And, like communing with an octopus, having a few private moments with this large, hairy hermit is always special.  As he was sitting there waving his legs in the air (er, water) a fellow snorkeler swam close by.  He was carrying a camera and I pointed at the hermit.   He paused for a moment and swam on. Now this was surely the most interesting animal he would see in the bay, but he didn't even try for a shot.  Sometimes I wonder..do I just not get it?

   Before moving on, I returned the crab to his preferred orientation and took a little video of the shell, basically, as it scuttled along the coral and down into a depression.  If one looks carefully he will see a tiny leg supporting the shell, lowering it gently down the incline. It is interesting that when one finds active invertebrates, and not counting the girls and the two gentleman, I had already found three, they just keep on coming.  And so I soon found another shell that must have been home to a crab.  I turned it over and waited and waited.  No crab appeared, but as you can see, it was a beautiful shell, the former home of a Veiled Drupe, Drupa ricina.  This was a real beauty and the first one for the year.

   The rest of the circuit revealed a saddleback butterfly and many snorkelers.  As I negotiated the exit, there was a small school of Hawaiian Flagtails swimming in the shallows.  These fry were common at the pier until recently.  So we had one more fish for the 2022 list to cap off a fine afternoon of fishwatching at Kahalu'u.

jeff

  

Wrasse Me! Two fantastic fish at Kahalu'u.

    The surf was down, the chores were done, the tide was acceptable and I was changing into my winter snorkeling outfit at my favorite table in the shelter at Kahalu'u.  As I watched, a young couple arrived, toting what appeared to be a large underwater camera.  "Now that's what I call a camera!" I called out,  impersonating a hail fellow well met.  At that distance it was hard to tell just what he had in the way of a camera, (it did have an attached light)  In any event, his companion more than made up for whatever sort of camera it might have been.  

Bullethead Blenny  B. gibbifrons  Kahalu'u March 2022

 

     As I completed my preparation, the distaff portion of the duo walked by me for a closer look at the bay, affording me a closer look, as well.  "Are you the photographer?" I asked.

   "No, she replied with just  a trace of an edge., "That's Mr. Pro over there."  Finally ready and walking out towards the beach I asked her,   "Are you just the spotter?'  

   "And the editor!"  responded the gentleman photographer.  

   "My wife is also my editor," I replied, "But she finds this place too cold and too boring.  And she's not entirely wrong.  But good luck to both of us.."   

    The water was cold, but it was higher than the last time I had been to Kbay.  A week ago it was Shallow.  So low was the tide that I was scraping on the rocks both coming and going.  And there hadn't been much in the way of fish, either.  On that day I nabbed a pretty good picture of a Bullethead Blenny... a lucky shot capturing a tiny fish as the current pushed me by.  And that was about it.  Would today be any better?  At least I wasn't scraping my belly on the rocks.

Ornate Butterflyfish, Kahalu'u 2022

    Just outside the entry, I saw a Yellowmargin Moray hiding in the inshore rocks.  Not a bad sighting, but no photo opportunity.  The nearby coral heads yielded nothing special and out by the breakwater I was reduced to taking a few pictures of a cooperative Ornate Butterflyfish.  Don't get me wrong, the ornate is a very pretty fish, but among our most common butterflies.

The test of a Keeled Heart Urchin, Kahalu'u 2022

    I circled around and headed up the middle.  There, lodged in a coral was the test of a Keeled Heart Urchin.  These are pretty cool animals, being irregular in shape and living their lives crawling in the  sand, totally beneath the sea bed.  As they make their way, their spines are bent backwards like the quills on a porcupine.  This test was a pretty big one, two or three times the size of the one that Kim Hillis bequeathed to us when she left for Utah. Of course, this one had a big hole in the top while Kim's remains a perfect specimen.  I took a picture and left the test for the next lucky snorkeler.  

  

 

 About two minutes later, I encountered a fish so magnificent that it had me exclaiming, "Oh my! Oh my!"  Fifteen  or twenty feet up ahead was a large female Blackstripe Coris.  I have not seen this species for about ten years.  And in all my time in Hawaii, my total number of sightings remains on one hand.  But those three or four sightings had all been keikis, pretty little fish but just four or five inches in length. 

Blackstripe Coris female, Kahalu'u, March 2022

   This was a magnificent big fish!  Later when I met Sandra ashore, I estimated that it was between 18 inches and two feet, while holding out my hands to indicate a monster of a fish.  John Hoover implies that the females may be bigger than the males and that the species attains a maximum of twenty inches.  

    Suffice it to say, I was quite aware that for me, this was an opportunity of a lifetime.  For about five minutes I maneuvered to get close without scaring this big, beautiful fish away.  I did not close withing ten feet and I didn't get around the fish, so I was always shooting into the sun.  Nevertheless, we produced a couple good efforts.

   From the moment I saw her, the fish started moving seaward.  Despite marshaling my best discretion, she headed out sooner that I had hoped.  As I lost sight of her, I surfaced and looked around.  Of course, I was looking for the couple I had met at the shelter, but they were nowhere to be seen. 

Coris flavovittata, the Blackstripe Coris female  KBay as seen today!

                   The genus coris is a big one.  A few years ago we had two species resident  here at Kahalu'u, but starting last year, the Elegant Coris is no longer found here.  In any event, it is not a big fish.  The male Yellowtail Coris is no shrimp, but it tops out at 15 inches in length.  And from top to bottom it is no match for the female blackstripe.  

    On the Great Barrier Reef, a place I have yet to visit, there lives a complete aberration.  The Double Header, so named for its seemingly redundant forehead, somehow makes it into the genus Coris as Coris bulbifrons.  It is battleship gray and enormous.  As it attains a length of  four and a half feet, when seen in real life it must look like the ugliest submarine on record.  

   Aside from this freak of nature, the Blackstripe Coris, C. flavovittata, is the largest coris in the Indopacific.  So no wonder that I was shocked by the size of this fish.  Looking at a picture in the field guide just does not prepare you for her dramatic size.

Pearl Wrasse female, Kahalu'u March 2022

   The Great Oz tells us that this magnificent fish is endemic to the Hawaiian Chain.  John Hoover goes on to opine that the juveniles are sometimes found in the main islands while males are rare.  He says that females are uncommon.  Suffice it to say, my opinion is that the female are also rare, at least around Hawaii Island at snorkeling depths.  

    Well,  I was aglow.  If one is a fishwatcher, he lives for such an encounter.  Riding that happy bubble I swam in by the Rescue Shelter, looking around the rocks, as is my wont, for a Leaf Scorpionfish.  Nothing there, I headed towards the entrance.  Behind a large rock appeared a large fish that I initially thought was a Palenose Parrotfish.  But wait a minute, he has a red eye!  That's not right!  Another second and I realized I was looking at a male Pearl Wrasse.  Looking over my shoulder I realized he was swimming with a female, who I quickly photographed.  This was a good thing as she departed, never to be seen again. The picture was taken in fairly clear water and it's not too bad. 

Pearl Wrasse male, Kahalu'u  March 2022

     Amazingly, the male did not follow his lady love out into the bay.  I haven't seen a plethora of male pearl wrasse, but in every previous instance, I was allowed a quick picture and he was outa there.  This guy stuck around for so long that I eventually swam away from him.  Which is not to say that I didn't watch him for a long time.  He spent most of his time in the far corner of the bay which is notoriously turbulent, the water full of debris.  I followed him around and around grabbing my chances when he swam into clear water.  Eventually we were rewarded with a good opportunity in relatively clear water resulting in the picture you see here.  

   As you enjoy the picture, note the handsome green patch around the eye, the bright blue fin linings and that red eye, that I mentioned earlier.  This guy has a white belt around his waist which is a sign that he is in breeding mode.

   Pearl Wrasse are around but in my experience they have never been common and Mrs. Blackstripe was a great find.

jeff

Editor's note:  Kathleen Clark, the administrator of the Reef Teachers at Kahalu'u, says she has seen the female Blackstripe Coris twice.She has never got very close.  Note that Kathleen swims there to do a survey at least two times a week. As far as she knows, these are the first pictures taken of this amazing fish.  

j

On the Trail of a Frogfish or A Return to the City of Refuge

    Rumor had it that there was a frogfish at City.  As soon as Sandra and I heard the news we started planning an expedition to what was once our favorite place to snorkel.  We waited for a day with cooperative surf and tides, which resulted in a delay of about a week.  But finally, two days ago, we headed south in search of the frogfish.

Ringtail Wrasse City of Refuge March 2022

    It was a beautiful morning for a drive.  To avoid delays caused by roadwork, which has plagued the route south for the last six months, we left early, motoring through Honaunau and arriving at the Pu'uhonua at ten to eight.  As we made our turn towards the national park, we sensed that something was amiss.  The area 100 yards outside the snorkeling beach, which had traditionally served as overflow parking, was full and several cars were parked on the shoulder of the road leading up towards the spot where one leaves the highway.  When we got down to the beach we were in luck... someone had just left and we were able to nab a spot right by the picnic tables, albeit negotiating a five inch drop off the macadam.  

   Once disembarked, we surveyed the road.  All the parking spots against the wall opposite the beach have been posted and barricaded.  And on the roadway up the hill, which had been the natural second choice for parking, all the spots have been similarly removed.  In total, this means that the two dozen parking spots closest to the Two Step entry are now off limits.  Bummer!

Black and Yellow F. longirostris pair.  Honaunau, March 2022

    Due chiefly to Covid, we had not been to City of Refuge for almost two years. (As far as we can recollect)  In the interim, we had heard that the locals were disturbed by the large number of potentially infected people who were continuing to use the Two Step beach and were doing what they could to discourage them.  Well, now we know what they did..they took away the parking.

   But we had ours and we unloaded our grass mat and lunch onto the end of a table.  It was still before 8 AM and there were only a moderate number of competitors for table space.  We changed and were in the water a little after eight.  As we entered, an older gent was exiting and he commented on the poor clarity.  Of course, City of Refuge is renowned for its crystal water and the clarity wasn't that bad.  As I describe our fish watching, I'm going to apply an asterisk * to the fish that were new to the 2022 list.

   The water was cool and we headed with dispatch to the north cusp where the frogfish was rumored to hang out.  We saw little of interest as we made the swim, but once we got there we found lots of fish.  There were an incredible number of Epaulette Soldierfish.  Interspersed with these were a few Spotfin Squirrelfish* which, as is their wont, were quick to duck under a ledge when someone made a move towards photography.  

Forcipiger longirostris,  Transitional,  City of Refuge, March 2022

   We had been given specific instructions as to the location of the frogfish,: in the indentation near the Virgin Mary Statue, on a coral head near the surface.  Sandra and I searched this area carefully for 15 minutes and found nary a frogfish.  While we were searching, a lady of a certain age wielding a strong German accent swam by.  I accosted her and asked if she had seen the frogfish.  She replied, "Not today."  When pressed further she said a friend had showed it to her and she had no idea where that was.  So basically she did not want to help us and was willing to tell a boldface lie to protect the frogfish.  I mean, if our information was correct she had seen the frogfish about ten feet from where we were having this conversation. 

   There were a few other fish swimming in the area, including a large Finescale Triggerfish.*   We swam further out and found many of the fish one might enjoy in this area including Black Surgeon.*   A handsome Ringtail Wrasse* cruised around us in a cooperative manner.  And then we saw one of my favorite fish.  

   Over the years I have been interested in the Long Nose Butterflyfish, Forcipiger longirostris.  Specifically, I am interested in it's two distinct color patterns: Yellow with a black face, making it almost identical to flavissimus , and another,  almost entirely black.  The black morph is more common in Kona than anywhere else. And it seems that the further south you go on our coast, the more common the black morph becomes.

A tail view of the transitional longirostris

   The black is sometimes so total and intense that when I attempt to take his picture, he appears as a black hole in the reef.  The black morph does have a thin shiny blue terminal band on its dorsal and ventral fins and tiny yellow lines at the base of the pectoral fins and tail.  All these markings are small and barring careful examination, the fish appears entirely black. The black morph is useful in that if you see one, you definitely have a longirostris as opposed to flavissimus.  Frequently one sees a mixed mated pair, one black and the other yellow.  On this day we saw at least two such pairings and one is pictured above.

   One interesting observation out of the Waikiki Aquarium is that when a black morph is brought into captivity it quickly transitions to the yellow variety.  This has apparently made it difficult for ichthyologists who hope to study it.

   Nobody really knows how these black morphs develop.  Are some born black and some yellow?  What is known is that the color is not indicative of sex and that an individual can change from black to yellow and vice versa.  Ever so rarely one sees a transitional individual.  Out here on the north cusp of the bay Sandra and I found an excellent example.  He was about fifteen feet down, paired with a yellow fish.  He stuck around for several minutes.

    Here you see my two best efforts at photography.  The second photo is a tail view and it provides a look at the trailing edge of the fin, which is profoundly black with a thin metallic blue terminal line.  Look carefully and you will see a dab of yellow on the caudal peduncle. Abutting the terminal black band we see a transitional section which becomes blacker toward the head.  One is tempted to decide, are there some black scales intermingled with yellow scales or are all the scales a dingy yellow?  Or is it a yellowish black?  And is the fish transitioning from yellow to black or the other way around? 

   Curiouser and curiouser.  Where is Lewis Carroll when you need him?

    When that transitioning longirostris left, we decided that it was time for us to go home, as well.  Just as we started our swim a small pufferfish passed us going in the opposite direction.  He was suggestive of a meleagris, now called (simply) the Spotted Puffer, which is a stupid name because a great many puffer fish are spotted.  In Hawaii the meleagris is black with white spots.    As you can see this fish has an overall brownish cast with darn near golden  pectoral fins and a hint of gold that extends onto his forehead.  And look at those prominent eyes.  Its almost as if he wants to be a French Bulldog.  

    He was swimming for all he was worth, those little fins flapping around like crazy, but he was a small pufferfish and Sandra and I were able to overtake him to get these pictures.  There is nothing exactly like it in the books so I sent the pictures to the Great Oz.  John Hoover was spending his last day diving in French Polynesia, but being the kind soul that he is, he took time out to give us his opinion.  Taking into account that he was in the middle of nowhere without his library, he voted for a juvenile meleagris, saying:  

A Giant Moray Hunting.  photo G. Douwma

Hi Jeff, Those yellow fins are weird. I don’t see any spines. A. meleagris has  an all yellow or partly yellow color variant that is rare in Hawaii but much more common elsewhere in the Pacific. I’m guessing that’s what it is.

    Dear departed Jack Randall is busy diving St. Peter's Reef and unable for sage advice.

   After this exhilarating swim we headed for the barn.  On the way we saw many Barred Filefish and several Achilles Tangs, both of which seem to be undergoing the dwindles in Kailua Kona. 

    As we approached the two step landing we saw a very large eel, perhaps seven feet in length.  He was free swimming and we observed him for five or ten seconds before he vanished into a coral. The eel was a uniform dark gray with  diagonal barring on his flanks and no greenish fringe on his dorsal fin or tail.  This was a Giant Moray, G. javanicus.*  John Hoover tells us that this species is rare in Hawaii, but I have seen it several times, so uncommon might be a better term.   Additionally he tells us that  the Giant Moray will attack unwary divers. Perhaps I was fortunate that it disappeared completely into the coral and that I chose not to dive down for a closer perusal. 

Whitley's Trunkfish  City of Refuge  March 2022.

   As we got ready to exit, I let Sandra go first.  As she swam away, I looked down and saw my first Whitley's Trunkfish* of the year.   Whitley's isn't  a rare fish, but it is highly endemic.  And a it was a great fish to end our snorkel.

   On shore we had lunch and made friends with our fellow snorkelers based mainly on the equipment they brought to the beach.  One young couple removed collapsible chairs from tiny nylon bags.  As it turned out one chair (the smaller of the two) was from REI and the other from Costco.  And our new friends were birdwatchers from Alaska.  I regaled them with my tale of the Wagoners, who worked as lecturers for the Audubon Society and attempted fish watching at Kahalu'u in the mid-eighties, before there were good field guides.  In return, the young gentleman told us that he had worked for a year as a biologist at the Kilauea Lighthouse on Kauai.  Albatross and Red tail Tropicbirds...Check it out.. 

   All this chitter chatter was too exciting so this handsome young couple picked up their masks and fins and headed to thetwo step entry.

   Elsewhere on the beach there was a very attractive young woman. I believe she might have recently escaped from Milf Island because she was affiliated with a three year old daughter so cute and well turned out that it almost broke your heart.  Upon her escape, she and her husband had purchased a small cart that was almost as cute as their daughter.  The cart was full of beach toys, lunch and snorkeling gear. 

Pure Outdoor collapsible cart.  Adorable family sold separately.

   Soon, the lady went off snorkeling and I went to change my clothes.  On exiting the porta potty who should I run into but dad with his daughter in hand.   Leaving out the part about where his pretty wife might have just escaped from (why confuse the issue and open myself up to bodily injury?)  I told him that I had been admiring his cute little cart.  He said that it was completely collapsible and came in handy here at City where one is currently obligated to schlep their belongings from hell'n gone down to the beach.  The part about Milf Island never came up.  

   He thanked me (for complementing his cart, I guess.)  and shortly there after,  Sandra and I were back on the highway.  No frogfish to show for our efforts, but the list for 2022 is now up to 105, which is exactly how many species the Wagoners saw at Kahalu'u in a year and a half.  And that's it from the beach.

jeff

Snorkeling With Colsen

    Sandra and I spent last week with our son, James, and our two wonderful grandchildren, Colsen and Reid.   This was only their second trip to Hawaii.  And due in part to Covid, they have done less swimming than one might hope.  

     Both were eager to get in some time at the beach.  And it seemed like they might both take to snorkeling right away.  However, when we got down to the ocean the process was slower than we had hoped.  Reid never made it past hanging onto his dad as they swished around in the shallows.  Colsen

Colsen goes on his first snorkel.

eventually had one good outing.

    However, things began slowly.  On the day of arrival we made it down to the Inner Harbour.  Colsen was eager to put on his new mask, but unwilling to do more than crawl around on the sand in four inches of water, occasionally immersing his face, presumably capturing a quick glance at the sandy bottom.

    Day two was just a little better.  On the second full day of their trip we went to the Ironman side of the pier and, with his life jacket on, Colsen permitted his father to tow him out past the first swim buoy. He was amazed at being in the water with live fish. 

  It could be that on this first outing he saw only a few Square spot Goatfish.  This is a pretty common fish, but to his eye it was big and infinitely interesting.  this was an existential accomplishment.  He had gone snorkeling.  And seen a fish.  A Big Fish!

It's a milletseed!  This one was at Kawaihae.

   While Colsen took his inaugural snorkel, Sandra escorted Reid across the pier where they saw quite a a few fish just standing near the boat launch.  Among others, they saw a Pacific Boxfish, some yellow Tangs, and a Milletseed Butterflyfish.  This latter was thanks to what my beloved described as a homeless person.  She was looking at the fish and out of nowhere a gentleman said, "Its a milletseed."  And he was right.  

    At this point I have to note that fine couture is optional here in Kona.  In fact, there may be days that the only way you can tell that I'm not homeless is the my lack of a shopping cart full of worldly possessions.  

   For the next 12 hours every car ride was punctuated by a recounting of grandmas fish watching prowess.  Reid would commandeer a copy of John Hoover's fish book we keep in the seat pocket and proclaim.  Grandma saw this, Grandma saw this.  In the upcoming movie she is played by Jacqueline Cousteau.

   The next morning we hit the road early and were at Ho'okena before 8:30. On the way, as we passed through Honaunau,  Sandra pulled up an ancient version of Little Grass Shack and I spent a few grandfatherly minutes attempting to get the boys to sing, "Komo mai, no kauai, ika hale welakehau."  which as the old Hawaiians know means, you are welcome to come into my home and have a good time. Now that's Hawaii!

If you are so disposed, you can clip and paste and listen to Bing Crosby sing this Hawaiian favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9rOSD38_Ao 

    So we made it down the long curvy road to Ho'okena, admiring the old stone walls and a few cows. And we sang our way into the parking lot at an hour when many a vacationer is still in bed, but  just in time to nab the last parking spot.  It is tourist season and no mistake. As we unloaded, arriving cars circled and were turned away by a designated parking attendant. 

    Soon our stuff was on a shaded table and the boys were down on the beach boogie boarding the tail outs and playing in the soft black sand.   While they enjoyed the beach, Sandra and I took a quick snorkel.  The waves were small and the entry was easy.  Soon we were out at the dependable coral head that produced Potter's and Flame Angelfish.  We didn't find the Gilded Triggerfish, but on the way in we happened upon a handsome Scribbled Filefish. Once a common resident at Kahalu'u, this beauty is getting progressively more difficult.

Mr. Scribble at Ho'okena.

    Along with the flamingo,  Mr. Scribble is Sandra's totem, making each now uncommon sighting an occassion to celebrate.

She likes the boys in the band / Mr. Scribble is her favorite. / And she'll never let your spirits down, / Once you get her off the sand.

  Thanks to Rick James.

   We made it back to the table in time to help dish out snacks and sandwiches to the boys and then it was time for Colsen to go snorkeling  For real this time    

     Once again wearing his life preserver, he made it through the small surf and the allowed James to tow him for about 150 yards, out and back.  

We had been swimming only a short distance when up ahead we got a solid, if fleeting look at a Paletail Unicornfish.  It was a nice adult with his horn protruding like the nose on a  fish that Ringo admired through the porthole on the Yellow Submarine.   

An Intricate pattern on a Cushion Starfish Ho'okena 2022

    A bit further on, we saw an amazing cushion starfish.  This was so unusual that I sent a picture to John Hoover, hoping that it might be a new species for my list.  John was in French Polynesia, diving on an obscure reef and having the time of his life.   (Its a tough job but somebody has to do it).  Nevertheless, he took time to write back, saying that no matter how much this echinoderm resembled a Hopi pot, there is only one species of cushion starfish and that is what this was. 

     On the way out we veered south over the sand and found a trio of Gilded Triggerfish.  As with the unicornfish, James and I got an excellent look in crystal clear water, but it was hard to tell if Colsen was able to focus on these fish that had to be at least ten yards away.  But James was a good guide and maybe he did see them. 

Potter's Angelfish, Ho'okena 2022

    Because we had veered so far left, we over shot the angelfish coral.  Eventually we decided to turn back towards the beach and caught the angelfish on the return.  Colsen was amazingly patient and, as far as I can tell, saw both the Potter's and Flame Angelfish.  In addition, there was a wnderful big Yellowmargin Moray lounging in the coral about fifteen feet below.  I dove a couple times to point him out and eventually Colsen saw the monster. 

   On the way back in I spotted an Ornate Wrasse.   While this is not really remarkable, it was my first one for 2022 and that is both surprising and a bit sad.  As James towed Colsen to shore I spotted an octopus, which was quick to dodge into cover.  By the time I gave up on him, James and Colsen were on shore waiting for Gramps.

    When we returned to the table, we found Grandma Sandra and Reid, who had made a foray along the lava rock beach in front of the old town of Ho'okena.  They had watched a boy reel in a goatfish while standing on the old cement landing.  Sandra was disappointed that they hadn't seen any fish, not even a crab. On the other hand, what boy doesn't revel in the catching of a fish!

    There was somebody waiting for our parking spot as we left and, as we drove out of the park, a dozen cars were parked along the side of the road.  Following the pre-vaccine period of the pandemic, tourists have returned to the Big island in droves.  Many of our best snorkeling spots are now well known, so be you visitor or kama'aina, plan accordingly.  But be assured, if you are lucky enough to get a parking spot it will be worth it!

jeff