A Daily Double

     Back in the day, I used to bring my family to Hawaii for a vacation, eight days of vigorous exercise including lots of snorkeling.  Back then, up to 15 years ago, my goal would be to see as many species of fish as I could in that short period.  At about the same time I took a few bird watching trips with a similar goal.  This was with a couple like-minded adults... you could never get a child, or perhaps any normal person, to look for birds in the Venezuelan rain forest for 12 hours a day  for seven days in a row..  Sounds crazy, right?

Can you see the Stone Fish?

    Anyway, my younger son and his lovely and energetic bride arrived a couple days ago.  The day of their arrival, the surf was up for the first time since our arrival almost a month ago.   With the rough water in mind, we went to Magic Sands Beach, a short ways down Alii Drive, and played in the surf for a couple hours.  It was fun, but of course we didn't see any fish.
    I was pleasantly surprised when the swell, so prominent the day before,  had moderated.  Our favorite local  easy place to swim in mild conditions is Paul Allen's Reef, starting in front of the King Kamehameha Hotel.  After James and Tara rented equipment at Snorkel Bob's, we headed downtown and had a nice swim out along the reef.  At the beginning of the swim we saw a very large Devil Scorpionfish in about six feet of water.  Further out, and all the way back, it was just the usual suspects, but the water was clear and the fish were there to please.

A nice Lined Butterfly, Paul Allen's Reef Dec 2011

It was a nice family outing.
    As we we drove home, James was excited about seeing more species of fish, so I suggested a second swim.  First, I had to go home and get some food and a good rest.  But two hours later we went swimming together at Kona Makai.  The surf was not completely calm and we swam through ten yards of bubbles as we crossed the lava tube reef.  Before we got in, we saw a large group of young men spear fishing on our reef.  One might have thought that the guys we swam with two weeks ago would have taken everything good.  I'll show you their catch shortly and you will see that they were just killing anything they could, as many of their victims are not common food fish.
   James and I swam left and we were able to find the pair of Reticulated Butterflyfish in front of Royal Sea Cliff.  The surf was significant and we were looking at them through a maze of bubbles.  But these handsome and uncommon fish are still in the same spot.

The Dirty Bastards!

   We then swam back across, encountering the spear fishermen on the way.  Here is a picture of their catch.  Judging from what I have seen other similarly disposed murderers take, I'm guessing that the Highfin Chub and the Squirrelfish are inedible.  Years of questioning  Japanese fishmongers lead me to believe that those tangs are an acquired taste at best.  A friend has emailed me a photo of the catch ashore.  In her picture the chub has been discarded but they did kill a flounder.  One for the crabs and one for the pot.
    We then swam across the reef  so we were being tossed about in front of Sea Village.  There we found the Haig's Hermit Crabs with their brave purple legs (Go Huskies!)  Diving their coral fastness, James spotted a guardian crab hunkered down amid the green branches.  These small crabs enjoy a symbiotic relationship with their coral host.  Here is a link (you can't possibly expect me to take a picture in the surge of this small crab nestled in the coral branches.)
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=619&tbm=isch&tbnid=khkmgcT_GwBqZM:&imgrefurl=http://www.wannadivekona.com/Digital%2520underwater%2520photos%2520from%2520kona%2520hawaii.htm&docid=oZj3e8e67WF9OM&imgurl=http://www.wannadivekona.com/crab_in_coral_opt.jpg&w=792&h=594&ei=G7rdTsmWDcGXiAKTqtXMCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=889&vpy=185&dur=575&hovh=178&hovw=237&tx=133&ty=86&sig=103332346128262804817&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=168&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0

Gold Rim Surgeon /Achilles tang Hybrid Kona Makai 12/ 2011

   To top off the show we found the hybrid  Achilles Tang / Yellow Rim  Surgeon.  It was hanging out on top of the reef in about a foot of turbulent water.  It was actually a pretty scary spot, but we got the fish.  We had hit the trifecta and scored a win on the guard crab so we headed for home.  The redoubtable SKG met us at the take out and helped us time the sets getting out.  Youse guys graduating to inermediate status with an extra person (who knows a set when she see one) might take note of this technique.  The waves weren't huge yesterday, but when they get bigger having someone with a bird's eye view of whats coming in can be invaluable.  
     Well, the old dog survived the daily double and James saw some great new fish.  Tara became confident with her equipment and, as always, the Redoubtable SKG came through in the pinch and came up with a gourmet dinner.  She really is the backbone of this army.  And I am one lucky old dog.  Go Huskies!
jeff