The Ironman Cometh 2014

   In most of these United States October means that its time for the baseball play offs

2000 Envelopes Custom-stuffed for the Ironmen

and the World Series.   Here in Kona, October is time for the Ironman World Championships.  Last year an NFL player competed and this year we host skater Apollo Ohno.  Its hard to imagine a baseball player participating in the Ironman.

   This morning Sandra and I had a chance to compete.  We are volunteering in Registration.  This morning the volunteers stuffed envelopes containing all the items each athlete needs, swim cap, food bags, race numbers, and the all important ID bracelet, each item stamped with the athlete's number.  Each of four tables filled 500 envelopes.  And our table totally kicked ass.  I was personally responsible for tearing apart and stuffing 500 sequentially numbered plastic bracelets.   I now understand how those turkey processors get carpal tunnel syndrome.

    After the volunteering gig, I took a swim with my fellow Ironman competitors.  I swam out to the palace and back (a paltry two hundred yards) while they swam a mile or two.  Suffice it to say, I tried to stay out of the way... those guys can swim faster than me, even when I'm wearing fins!

    The water on the Ironman side was the perfect temperature, about 82 degrees.  That's

Mr. Scribble says, "Happy Ironman, Sandra!"

28 degrees if you happen to be an Ironman from anywhere else in the ferrous world.   And the water was just a little cloudy, so even though I saw only usual suspects on the way out, it was pretty delightful.

    On the way back, things started heating up.  At the third swim buoy I saw a Scribbled Filefish.  After posing for the accompanying photo, Mr.Scribble bid my sweetie a Happy Ironman.

 




     A bit further on, I ran into this Spotfin Squirrelfish.  I will agree with you that one might catch a glimpse of

Spotfin Squirrelfish, Neoniphon sammara, Kailua Kona

 this fish on any given day, skulking around the coral heads ten feet below the surface.   But I had never before seen one in the shallows.  This guy even dodged out to pose for a quick photo.  This is easily my best picture of this squirrelly fish.









 
      I was just about to finish my Ironman swim, passing the last rocks before the soft sand by the pier. 

Hawaiian Green Lionfish, Dendrochirus barberi  Kailua Kona 2014

 Looking down I saw something that looked like weed attached to the last rock, waving with the surge.  But I knew that it was a fish.  As I dove to check it out, I was treated to close look at a Hawaiian Green Lionfish, sometimes known as the turkeyfish.  Wow!  This handsome fellow was only about two inches in length, but he stayed in one place as I took multiple photographs.  What a treat.

   This is only my second turkeyfish.  My first was pointed out by my son Charles among the rocks near the exit at Kahalu'u.  That was at least ten years ago.  I had despaired of ever seeing another. 

    John Hoover would have us believe that this extremely venomous fish is not all that uncommon. He says that it is far more common than the Hawaiian Red Lionfish.  A look at the red lionfish is pretty much restricted to our scuba diving friends.  As with my first turkeyfish, I am struck by the cryptic coloration of this species.  Perhaps we are swimming by this special scorpionfish unawares!
  
   I hope the Ironman compettors stay safe in the water and on our roads.  And I hope you all have a great Ironman.

jeff

How about them spines!