Swimming With Andrew

    We received a visitor today up here at Casa Ono.  My nephew Andrew arrived on the big bird out of

Andrew and the Deep Blue Sea

SFO.  After situating him in his sumptuous lodgings up here in the Kailua highland, he and I headed off for our first snorkeling experience.

    Our first stop was Snorkel Bob's where, for something this side of a King's ransom, Andy rented a really good set that includes a shiny new mask with corrective lenses.  The nice man had a variety at hand, and was able to make a very good guess at the correction just by looking at Andy's glasses.  Perhaps he was an optometrist in a previous life.

    Equipment rented, we headed down to the Ironman side of the pier for our introductory swim.  Andrew has been swimming with us in Kona since he was a wee sprat, so it was more like a re-introduction. 

Regardless, no matter how good you are, if you have new equipment it behooves you to go to the safest place and make sure it works properly.  The retired optometrist at Bob's was not as careful fitting the mask to Andrew's face as I might have hoped, probably because he did not have a wide selection of masks already fitted with corrective lenses. Outside the shop we checked the fit, emphasizing that a really tight mask strap actually deforms the mask and creates leaks.  In this instance, the mask fit acceptably and Andy was soon swimming ahead with out problem.

    The water was pleasantly cool, much warmer than two days earlier, and only modestly cloudy.  Andrew swam with such grace and artistry that we were soon rubbing noses with the half mile buoy.  What a nice swim!

      Right in front of the restaurant, where it says Kona Inn on the handsome red roof, I spotted a Reticulated Butterflyfish in twenty feet of water.    I included the cropped and photo shopped picture above

Reticulated Butterflyfish,  Kailua Kona Pier, April 2013

to give you an idea of what the spot was like.  This is to say, that if you didn't have a good idea what this fish looks like, you would have passed it by.  I dove down to within ten feet of this single retic and here you see my best photographic effort.  This is the first Reticulated Butterflyfish I have seen at the pier!   If you happen to be swimming out on the Ironman course, you might want to be alert for this guy.

     Shortly after, a turtle swam by about twenty feet away.  Visibility was such that we could just see him at this distance.  We swam with him for an exhilarating fifty yards.  Having thought through turtle diving physiology, its much more interesting to swim near a turtle, puzzling about his carbon dioxide buffers and wondering about his stores of ATP.   While thinking about these things we were careful not to push the turtle.  He was a beautiful, strong swimmer.

    As you can see from the photo, this turtle had a couple whitish lesions on his shell and skin.  We'll try to find out what that is about and in the meantime hope that it isn't too serious.

Green Sea Turtle, Kailua Pier

   Its always fun to swim with someone new, especially so if you can find them a nice fish like the Reticulated Butterfly, not to mention a happy go lucky terrapin.  Doubly so if their equipment is working properly.

jeff