What's Happenin'?

    It seems like the number of blogs has decreased.  With that in mind, the editorial board has decided that I push one out so you know what we've been up to lately.

   Last week we went snorkeling two days in a row at Kahaluu.  I was struck by the fact that I did not see a

Watch out for hungry Stripe Belly Puffers!

single stripe belly puffer.  I went there the second day expressly for the purpose of verification.  This fish was a sure thing at K Bay and I can't imagine what happened to them.  Whether or not you are a fan of The Simpson's , you probably know that pufferfish are poisonous...a full step past inedible.  It was a miracle that Homer survived the novice sushi chef and its unlikely that spear fishermen are going out of their way to take puffers.  This sort of leaves Al Gore and habitat change. 

      But Stripe Belly Puffers are not extinct.  Just last night on the Honolulu news they reported a SBP biting a child somewhere on Oahu.  They had our mentor Jack Randall live on channel 8 telling us that this is unusual behavior for a pufferfish.  So they're still out there, just not in K Bay.

     The word on the street was that a big swell was coming in.  Before we could be boxed out I rounded up

Sofie says, "Kick up your pinkies at the Dog Beach!"

 my Canadian colleague Doug Rode for a trip to the Dog Beach.  Honokohau was calm as could be, unlike the day when Charles, Sofie and I braved the waves.  True to its name, there were dogs on the beach.  There was a great big Hawaiian with a great big Rottweiler and a couple other dogs.  We set out on the calm bay.  About twenty yards from shore I felt some scratching on my thighs.  Was Doug in trouble?  The scratching increased and I realized that a dog was attempting to crawl over my back.  I rolled over and the dog looked me in the face then bore off and continued swimming.  I thought it was inconsiderate for a dog owner to throw a lure where I was swimming, but there was nothing out there.  Doggy was just going for a swim and for some reason he wanted to swim in my lane.  That dog ain't got no manners.

    After our close encounter with a quadruped we had a pleasant swim in the warm clear water.  Heller's Barracuda was a no show, but Potter's Angelfish, the Black morph longnose and a female Hawaiian Hogfish were there, along with a pod of dolphins out in the channel.. 

    Finally, today I went solo to Paul Allen's Reef.  The swell is now coming in as promised and it was rock and roll out on the PAR.   It was a  very pleasant physical experience, swimming with the fishies in the warm surging water.  The water wasn't clear as it was chock a block full of bubbles. 

    Just after I made the turn for home, I encountered a small turtle.  After a heart to heart talk with my editorial board, I have chosen to embrace the turtle.  And today I want to share an epiphany with you, my six readers.  (May the Great God Ku bless and protect each and every one of you.)  When one encounters a turtle swimming free it is amazingly easy to get close and take a picture.  Over on K bay, if you try to get too close, some jerk is crawling up your bung holio, telling you how protected the turtles are.  Out on the PAR with the rollers breaking on the reef, maybe not so much.  Its just you and Senor Tortuga....But I digress. 

    The reason you can get close is that the turtle has a critical choice.  If it swims faster, it will use up its

The swell pounds the wall on the PAR.

 oxygen reserves at a markedly increased rate.  And it will have to surface soon.  If you're a turtle and you don't live in K Bay, deeper is safer.  This guy changed direction a couple times, leading me within a couple feet of the breaking waves on the wall of the PAR,  but he did not increase the rate or power of his strokes.   Turtles are not Albert Einstein.  They don't think this thing through...they have a hard wired algorithm that weighs heavily in favor of swimming economically.   all this aside, it was a blast swimming with the little turtle as the waves pounded the nearby reef. 

    Well, that's it from the PAR.  In the words of Crush (the paterfamilias turtle from Finding Nemo)  Ook ook a choo.

jeff