The Black Friday Blog

Banded Moray Eel, Sc. okinawae, Kona Makai

    Thanksgiving Day was delightful.  All morning I watched Sandra bake dinner rolls.  In the mid-afternoon we got together with friends from our condo and had a great turkey dinner by the barbecue.  The highlight for me was Liz's Apple Crump Cake, a sweet,buttery bit of heaven.  I might not have the name straight, but that didn't stop me from having three helpings.
    Following dinner I spent two hours doing my best to digest while studying invertebrates (many of which are nocturnal) and cardinalfish.  At seven I got to go night snorkeling with Kyle, our assistant manager.  Kyle is a great young guy from Alabama. He cheers for Auburn and, like lots of people who have relocated to Hawaii, he loves the water.  Starting around Christmas last winter, we had talked about going night snorkeling together, but the water got rough and never calmed down.  It made for some adventurous outings during the day, but in three months we never found a good night to swim together.
    We went in off the rocks at Kona Makai.  The air was still, the water was warm with little swell and the tide was very low.   As we swam out of the fishbowl I identified the two common species of cardinalfish, which are entirely nocturnal.  As we made the turn over the north cusp we found a Banded Moray foraging in the open.  Nice spotted dorsal fin and a bright golden head.   We also saw a couple large porcupine fish.

Sculptured Slipper Lobster, Par. antarcticus Kona Makai, 

    We swam along for a ways looking for shrimp and lobster. One searches for these animals at night by scanning with the light and looking for reflection from the eyes.  I was holding my light in one hand and the camera in the other, attempting to manipulate myself along the shallow reef with flippers alone. 
      At the extent of our swim Kyle found our first lobster of the night, a Sculptured Slipper Lobster.  He nabbed that one (he had a free hand) and we got a close look at the underside.  We then we saw a second which I photographed. I know my picture doesn't do this animal any justice at all... try to pick out the rounded antennae that protrude shovel-like from the head.

Tufted Spiny Lobster,  Pan. penicillatus,  Kona Makai

     At about this time I noticed that Kyle was making barking noises.  I thought he was excited by the lobsters, but when we surfaced he said that the purge valve on his snorkel had failed and he was sucking water with every breath.  Bummer.  He hated to give up the chase, but we headed for home.  As we were making our way along the shallow reef, we saw a few spiny lobsters.  The largest made a spectacular dive to deeper water.  A smaller one hunkered back in a crevice and permitted me to get this picture, the best photo of this adventure.  Note the blue around the base of the antennae.
    At this point my intrepid guide finally decided he had swallowed enough salt water and we headed home through the fishpond and onto the rocks.
    I had never been night snorkeling in Hawaii before, and I'm really grateful to Kyle for taking me along.  It was my first slipper lobster along with two new cardinalfish.  And how about that photo of the Spiny Lobster? I had a rockin' Thanksgiving.  I hope you had a good one, too.
Jeff