A Home Run and a Ground Rule Double

     Our day began pleasantly with a  bit of gardening and trip to Costco.   In the old days, perhaps less than a decade in the past, older gentlemen in search of a quick chat with a younger woman could go to the bank and engage the teller in a word or two.  Suffice it to say, on-line banking has replaced that particular avenue of pleasure with a computer screen.

We must apply Aerosolized Titanium Dioxide in Mass Quantities!

    Lucky for me, I have several friends who serve pupus at Costco.  On this day, mi buena amiga Lourdes was forking out  grilled chicken and we had a nice conversation about her daughter. who is matriculating from middle school in two weeks, and the relative safety of travel to the state of Chihuahua.  (It is Lourdes's posición that Durango is safe.  Ay, Chihuahua!)  With remarkable grace, she is able to follow my rudimentary Spanish. And she encourages me to return to Mexico, which has always worked out well.

   Following the obligatory siesta, Sandra left to visit the neighbor lady and I headed down to the beach.

    By the time I got to the shelter at K Bay, it was 2:30 in the afternoon.  I changed quickly adjacent to a family unit that, like a troop of macaques, were taking turns anointing one another with spray on sun screen.  I have never personally used spray on sun screen, but over the years I have had plenty of opportunity to

The Resplendent Devil Scorpiofish, a Home Run in any Park.

observe the application.  This particular family unit had not studied the directions, as after spraying it on they were rubbing it in.  The fallacy of their procedure was amply demonstrated by burn patches here and there roughly in the shape of human fingers.  Beldar would not approve.

    The family unit had a head start on me and by the time I got to water, the bunch of them were clogging up the narrow entrance.  "She is all the way full",  I informed them as I threaded my way through.  Naturally, they looked at me like I was from Remulak, or possibly France, which, according to the IRS, is just as bad.  Indeed, the tide at Kahalu'u was about as high as I have ever seen it.  Had the surf been up, this high tide would have proved problematic.  As the water was calm, it gave great depth and better fish watching with little current. Similar to our last outing, as I was repositioning my fins just outside the entrance,  I was blessed with a wonderful fish.  Right below me came a devil scorpionfish, flapping his pectoral fins to display the orange and yellow bands.  Although I have seen these colorful bans on the pectoral fins before, I had never had an opportunity like this.  The fish was close and expanding his fins repeatedly. 

It's Like... Camouflaged!

   First I tried taking amovie, the better to get on the KHNL news, and then I took a few stills, attempting to time the flashing of the colorful pectorals with depressing the shutter.  My movie was short, but it did show the colorful fin open and close.  Blink. As you can see, I got pretty lucky, catching the scorpionfish in crisp focus with his fins extended.  What a prize to add to the portfolio!

    As I finished taking pictures, the vanguard of the family unit swam by.  She was a twenty five to thirty something and only slightly burned.  "Look at this great fish!"  I beckoned.  It was only four feet deep, so I was able to dive down easily and point.  "Its. like ... camouflaged." she replied, when she surfaced after taking her picture.  And then Connie swam away in search of a six pack and some shredded swine flesh, leaving only the ripples as they peeled off her cone. Mmmmm. 

    I continued my circuit until I got out to the breakwater.  There I spotted a juvenile kole, somewhat more adventuresome than the majority of his brethren.  Although moving around continuously, he stayed in the open long enough for me to capture a couple pretty good pictures while holding onto a rock in about three feet.

Juvenile Kole  Kahalu'u  May 2016

    On the way in, I passed over a convoluted chunk of coral and saw a tiny blue flash in the depths.  this turned out to be the smallest cleaner wrasse that I have ever encountered.  I estimate the length of this minuscule fellow at about 8mm. Had he not been a shiny blue, I never would have noticed him.  This was going to be a challenge for the camera.  Would it discern this tiny, active fish in the instant that it decided on the focus?  I took six pictures and what you see here is the best.  I think the camera did pretty well, everything considered.  the light is right and one can just make out the black stripe beneath the iridescent blue.

    Back on the beach, the family unit had already departed.  In fact, it was almost 4 PM and I was going to have to hustle if I was to get home in time for Jeopardy!.  I made it for the second half, which featured Chuck Todd, Lara Logan and the sometimes head of the RNC, Michael Steele.  It never ceases to amaze

Infant Cleaner Wrasse Does a Number on a Baby Jacator.

me how little these important guests know.  Mr. Steele, for example was unable to come up with the country that lies between India and Afghanistan.  On the other hand, why should he?  There are, after all, no colorful reef fish in the Indus River.  And even if there were, how could one go snorkeling in a burka?

   At this point I can see cousin Don in my mind's eye, conjuring up a combination snorkel mask and bee keeper's head dress.  Salamet pagi!

   Only after Alex Trebec had crowned Lara Logan that days champion (and considering the level of play, I use that term loosely) did Sandra and I retrieve the camera from its apres snorkel ablution and look at the pictures.  she oohed and ahhred  (That is truly how they express wonder and admiration in Fenway Pahk.) at the fine picture of the Devil scorpionfish, which, from my vantage point in the bleachers, is clearly a home run. When we got to the Kole pictures, she was the first to notice the Gosline's blenny interacting with the baby Kole.  Poking his head from a convenient wormhole, you can almost hear the blenny giving the young kole the raspberries. 

   This is a ground rule double if I ever saw one.  And a great way to end a day in paradise.

See you at the beach,
jeff

A Ground Rule Double:  From His Seat in the Bleachers a Gosline's Fang Blenny Razzes a Juvenile Kole.