Kahalu'u and the Pier with Kathy ... Long Jawed Squirrelfish and friends!

          Kathy and I took a second run at Kahalu'u on Saturday.  The shelter had been reserved by a group that was meeting for business, as opposed to a banquet, a baby luau or such.  We arrived early and they kindly allowed Vernon, who is recovering from knee surgery, and Sandra to sit in the shade while Kathy and I had a quick swim.

Tiger Cowry Kahalu'u December 2025

         The current was manageable, and we did the usual circuit, counterclockwise around the bay.  We didn't see as many fish as on our first outing.  There was no shortnose wrasse by the break water and although I turned over a come shell and a drupe, both of which had crawled (presumably) up onto the coral, I could not coax out a hermit crab.   In the middle we finally got lucky with a fine tiger cowry that was hanging out at the base of an Evermann's Coral, about three feet down.  It's always fun to photograph a stationary animal!  

    On the shore side by the Rescue Shelter, we saw a lone blue stripe snapper, and Kathy found her first Lagoon Triggerfish for the trip.  Before heading in, we scored a Whitemouth Moray.  This should be the easiest moray to see, but in this month, I had seen three other species before nabbing this individual.

Green Sea Turtles remain a highlight at K Bay.

   To polish off this swim, Kathy spotted a turtle.  He was being pursued by one of our fellow snorkelers who got so close that part of his equipment was dangling onto the turtle's shell.  Finally, he cleared out and we swam within a respectful ten feet and got some pictures.

    Yesterday, we finally snorkeled the pier.  Figuring that my swim buddy would enjoy a smattering of the usual suspects, we swam on the Ironman side.  The tide was high and there was more wave action on the bit of sand than I had expected.  (The wave predictor had said it would be flat.)  Along with this bit of surf, the water was a little cloudy.  

    By the time we made it to the last swim buoy the visibility was under ten feet.  In addition to making it hard to see the fish, cloudy water, at least in my mind, is associated with shark attacks.  Fortunately, as we turned around the swim buoy the water became much clearer.  

Long Jawed Squirrelfish

    A pair of milkfish, silvery with deeply forked tails, swam beneath us and we got a good look at the group of adult Hawaiian Dascyllus that I expected to find in that area.  As we swam in, a nice pair of Teardrop Butterflies swam around a coral ten feet below.  

    About that time the Marian, the glass bottom boat that attempts to show non-swimmers the coral and the fish, came swooping into the area.  Knowing that we were a bit out of bounds, we had been watching for boats and easily kept clear.  

   At this time, we were in that excellent patch of lush coral growth, about ten feet deep, that surrounds the large mooring buoy.  I alerted my friend that this was the place where we might see an angelfish, affording us the opportunity to sort out Moorish Idols and the colorful but shy and damselfish shaped true angelfish.  

    We didn't see any angelfish, but for a quick few seconds, we saw a large red fish swim in a gap between

Devil Scorpionfish, Kailua Kona 2025

 corals.  One might have expected such a red fish to be a Bigeye.  However, this guy was not as deep in the body and had a distinctive sharp face.  Back at the ranch, a little book work revealed this to be a Long-Jawed Squirrelfish.  Luckily, although seldom seen by snorkelers, this fish is not uncommon on the Kona Coast.  I dove down in hopes of another look, but this furtive fish had gone to ground.  He probably won't be the fish that Kathy remembers from her visit, but it will certainly be the one that I remember.  

   At about this time, the pilot of the Marian started yelling at us, telling us we were in the boat only zone.  We were nowhere near his boat.  We saw him and he saw us. Perhaps he didn't want his customers getting the idea that they could see more fish snorkeling without the inconvenience of his little cruise.

    "What are those people looking at?  How much do they have to pay to swim there?"  Too many inconvenient truths for the Skipper.   At any rate, to avoid a chat with the harbormaster, I yelled thank you, kept the Navajo good luck sign out of the skipper's view and we made our way back across the floating line.  

    This wasn't the end of the world.  I immediately saw a small school of Aholehole swimming against the pier.  This fast moving school of silvery fellows was not all that dramatic, but not all that common, either.  Then a small adult colored Christmas wrasse swam by.  A handful of strokes later, I spotted a large Devil Scorpionfish looking much like the stones between which he was positioned.  So much did he look like a stone, that Kathy had trouble seeing him.  I took a picture in the event that she needed convincing.  The water was cloudy, and the picture suffered accordingly.  But there is no doubt that we got Mephistopheles in repose.

   We took one more pass out to the third swim buoy where we spotted a brace of Kole.  These handsome lavender brown fish with the distinctive golden eye ring made a fine finishing touch to a pretty nice collection of the usual suspects, with a few Christmas treasures thrown in.

jeff

The picture of the Kole is brought to you courtesy of some nice guys who would like to sell you a few that you can pass out as stocking stuffers...jh