The Flying Gurnard Returns to the Pier

She likes the boys in the band, Mr. Scribble is her favorite.

    If you are one of my loyal readers, I'm sure you know that I like snorkeling at the pier.  Even on days when a cruise shipped is disembarking legions of sea going rubber noses, the reef at the pier is relatively free of other swimmers.  Over the last month, I've been heading to Kahaluu a little more often, though, because I just wasn't seeing anything special at the pier.  This week, things finally changed.

Scribbled Filefish, Paul Allen's Reef September 2012

     Two days ago I swam out on Paul Allen's Reef.  The water was clear, but rather bumpy.  Persistence paid off in a close encounter with the Scribbled Filefish.  Do you remember when there was always a half dozen of these curious fish hanging around Kahaluu?  Now every time you see one, its a special event.  The more so because Mr. Scribble is my sweetie's favorite fish. A couple turtles swam by and I got a good look at the Redbar Hawkfish fifteen feet below the lumpy surface.

     But the best was yet to come.  Yesterday I made my way back to the pier.  Although it was Sunday, Kailua was hosting a cruise ship.  the circus had definitely come to town;  lots of people were milling about in their fancy Aloha-wear, buses were headed to the Snorkel Beach and up the hill to Walmart.  (Apparently its cheaper to buy your Hawaiian souvenirs at Walmart, so cruisers take advantage of the free shuttle and spend their day in Kona at Walmart.  Which looks quite a bit like the Walmart back in Anytown, USA.)  And, of course,  the orange and white tenders, loaded to the gunnels with Rubber Noses, were scooting back and forth to the mother ship.

Flying Gurnard, Kailua Pier, Sept 2012  10 ft.

    This day I chose to swim on the Ironman side of the pier, the better to enjoy the boat traffic.   Dodging a few local kids who were flopping in the shallows along with their teenage mothers, I soon found myself pretty much alone out in the bay.  Considering that it was still a little bumpy, the water was quite clear,  Had it not been for the slight tang of diesel exhaust coming down my snorkel, it would have been rather idyllic. 
   
     It was usual suspects on the way out.  On the way in I hugged the swim buoys, just daring those tender jockeys to run me down.  My reward appeared in the sand very near the the third buoy.  An Oriental Flying Gurnard in ten feet of clear water. 

     You may recall that i saw a gurnard last April.  If you didn't read that blog, here's a link:
http://konafishwatching.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-got-my-gurnard.html

Oriental Flying Gurnard 

   This was a much better look.   I dove it several times and here you see the best of my photographic efforts.  Eventually I felt like I had all my angles covered and headed towards the beach.  About a minute later I encountered two young women snorkeling outbound.  I got them to the surface and told them about the gurnard, about twenty yards away.  Off they went.  After a few strokes I decided that the water was warm and I had nothing else to do, so I turned around, overtook them and asked if I could show them the fish.

    Imagine my chagrin when i was unable to find the fish!   Gurnards are sedentary sand shufflers and I could not imagine where the little fellow had gone.   Try as I might, mindful that I was trespassing into the paths of the cruise ship tenders, I could not relocate the gurnard. 

    At the showers I met a man from Azerbaijan, which doesn't happen every day.   He had sailed on the cruise ship all the way from Vancouver.  I didn't ask how he got to Vancouver, or what he thought of the current Diss the Prophet controversy.  I also met a girl from Australia who reported seeing a Manta Ray on the Ironman side two days before.  How lucky is that?  Guess we better keep going to the pier after all. 

jeff