The Fairmont Orchid and a Few Good Fish

   Last week we went snorkeling at the Fairmont Orchid with our friends Peter and Marla Krottje.  The Fairmont is at the north end of the Mauna Lani development and up until recently had been sufficiently exclusive to repel the likes of your ever so humble correspondent.  This was accomplished primarily by

The Lagoon at the Fairmont Orchid

charging a hefty fee for parking with no other parking option anywhere nearby.  Plus, although the hotel is nice enough, it is not the nearby Mauna Lani nor the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.  So why bother?

   However, Peter recently went snorkeling at the Fairmont Orchid and thought it was worth a try.  You can find his impressions, as I did, in his blog, Onebreathkohala.  He and Marla have gone lots of interesting places and he takes wonderful pictures, so I'm sure you will enjoy his blog.  But I implore you, my perfidious public, please don't stop reading this blog!

   In preparation for our excursion, Sandra and I had stopped at the Fairmont the previous Saturday on our way back from Waimea, where we had dined sumptuously at the Saturday market.  Full of crepes, we

parked in the now free lot and walked through the hotel and across the enormous and blazing hot lawn to the beach.  What we saw was a pretty little lagoon with lots of chaises lined up in the sand.  And there was an amazing number of people snorkeling, at least forty in the relatively small area in or just outside the lagoon.  I assumed that they were looking at a stunning array of tropical reef fish.

   So last week we met up with Peter and Marla bright and early and took the relatively long walk through the hotel, across the spacious lawn and down to the beach.  Everyone was friendly and gave us no trouble when we set up on a few of their chaises.  It was an easy sand entry into clear calm water.  If I had read

Black Durgon, Fairmont Orchid,  Excited Coloration

Peter's blog more carefully I would have been prepared for what came next.  The majority of the coral here is long gone.  There are some fish hanging around what remains and a few more fish outside the lagoon around the rocks that I assume were once covered with coral.

    About two months ago Sandra and I were at 49 Black Sand Beach where I encountered a gentleman enjoying his post-sorkeling ablution.  That fellow enthusiast remarked that the fish at 49 BSB were superior to those at the Fairmont.   While I like 49 BSB, this was not really high praise.  Now, as we swam out with Peter and Marla, I understood what he meant.  The area where we saw all the people snorkeling a week earlier had little coral and not too many fish. Perhaps that multitude was in the water simply to escape the heat.  Which is actually a pretty good reason to get in the water. 

    However, we were far from done.  We swam straight out about 150 yards to a red navigation buoy.  In the process the bottom gradually dropped off to about 15 feet with trenches between the coral reaching perhaps 25 feet.  Out there we saw more fish, probably a good list of around 30 or 40 species.  Nothing to write home about, but most of the usual suspects were accounted for.  There were some black durgons in

Like the noise a cow makes. 

excitement phase and a surprising number of ringtail wrasses.  My favorite was a trio of mu. 

   We all swam about fifty yards to the south.  It became more shallow and in most places there was no evidence of coral, hardly even any remnant dust.  We did not swim to the north of the buoy.

 The water was in the mid eighties and we snorkeled for over an hour and a half.  If there had been something spectacular there, I think we would have seen it.  Having said that, there is no substitute for getting in the ocean and hoping that something special swims by.  If you are in the business of adapting a poor swimmer to the ocean, the pretty lagoon in front of the Fairmont affords an easy entry and a shallow, sandy bottom.  Chaise lounges, a pleasant beach side shower and elegant restrooms not too far away complete the amenities.

    On our way back to the cars, we were directed to an asphalt trail that lead us to the south east corner of the parking lot.  This path is shaded and goes right past the restrooms, probably superior to winding through the hotel.

    Following the swim, we repaired to the lovely beach side picnic area at the ocean end of the parking lot that serves as the trailhead for the petroglyghs.  Marla brought treasures from her last mainland trip to Trader Joe's: hearts of palm and garbanzos marinated in soyu and a tin of dolmathes .  We brought cauliflower and ranch dressing from Target.  It pays to pick your friends carefully!

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      While the four of us dined sumptuously beachside we discussed other places we might like to go snorkeling.  We made arrangements to meet Peter and Marla in a couple weeks to look for the leaf scorpionfish at Kahalu'u.  Hurricanes Lester and  Madeline willing, we will see them at K Bay in less than a week. Among other places, the four of us rhapsodized about Ho'okena.  Peter especially was talking about flame angelfish and the chance to see them at snorkeling depth.  It sounded like he had this experience fairly

Sleek Unicornfish with Scarring,  Ho'okena 2016

recently. Although we always look carefully, and I would guess we get to Ho'okena more frequently than our dining companions, Sandra and I had not seen the flame in almost two years.  Thus, it was hardly a surprise when,  a couple days later, we decided to head down to Ho'okena.

    We had checked the surf forecast on the internet before we left home and, as predicted, it was an easy entry.  One must be cautious, though.  As at other locations, there  seems to be less sand covering the shoreline rocks.

     About fifty yards offshore  we saw the fish you see pictured here.  We noted the fusiform body and the bright blue tail.  It was a sleek unicorn tang.  I'm sure you can see the markings on the side.  Perhaps he had escaped from a net and was grabbing some recuperative time inshore.  In any event, when I dove for a better look, he hid under a large rock. Such behavior from a champion swimmer was unexpected and virtually confirmed that he was under the weather... in addition to being under the rock.

Flame Angelfish, Centropyge loriculus 2016

   I believe that this is only my third or fourth encounter with this species.  It was nice to see him and get him on the list for Ho'okena, but I wish it were under better circumstances. 

    Shortly after our encounter with the sleek unicorn, we saw a green jobfish patrolling in mid water.  This is not a common fish for me...this fellow was the first on the list for 2016.  This large snapper is a great torpedo of a fish.  He is intermediate between the more common smalltooth jobfish and the less common (at least inshore) but often encountered in the fish market opakapaka.  The Hawaiian name for this beast is uku and I believe that you see it for sale on the side of the road from time to time.   I'm not sure how those vendor-fishermen take this species.  It doesn't run in schools and I don't think a diver could sneak up on one, so perhaps they catch them angling.

   The remainder of the swim was fairly uneventful.   Near the end of the old pier I saw a fourline wrasse deep and on the way in we enjoyed a beautiful pair of gilded triggers.  None of these would cooperate for a picture.
 

Flame Angelfish, Ho'okena 2016  15 feet

    Closer in, about 100 yards out from the south end of the beach we passed over a large aggregation of coral and down below there were several flame angels.  After listening to our friend talk about the flame angel I had looked in the Ultimate Guide and found that this species interbreeds with Potter's angel.  Here before me was at least one of the fish that John Hoover calls a hybrid, much like the flame, it is a light orange with less distinct black bars.

    Since swimming with Bob Hillis,  I have been free diving deeper   On this day I made it all the way down to the coral where these fish were living.  I estimate this at fifteen feet, which is three feet deeper than my previous deep dive estimate.  My physical prowess aside ( like Charlie and Alan Harper, I am a manly man), this is extraordinarily shallow for the flame angel.  I recall diving down with my son James a few years ago

when we saw this species and estimated that they were 25 feet deep.  Or to put it another way, neither pere nor fil got especially close to their coral home on that occasion. Not surprisingly, though my pictures aren't great, they are the best of this handsome species to date. 

   On my second dive, I spied a pair of Potter's living on the other end of this coral head.  I believe that at least one was itching for a bit of miscegenation.  George Wallace is surely doing flip flops in his grave.

You deal with Judith.  I'll go look for the flame angelfish.

   The coral garden at Ho'okena is a shadow of what I remember from my first visit 35 years ago.  At that time there was a forest of antler coral 20 yards offshore. I doubt that on that day I swam out more than 40 yards.   I'm truly grateful that enough coral remains to provide a home for angelfish, but I can't help but wonder what delights we might have found if we had been better fish watchers back in the day.   
      
                        


                      >)))) ; >            >)))) ; >            >)))))) ; >            >)))))) ; >

    Before I let you go I must report on my penultimate ante tempestate excursion.  Two days ago I went down to the pier for an afternoon swim.  The water was choppy but amazingly clear.  I swam out and back and under the floating line into no man's land by the pier, all with out seeing bupkis.   I decided to make one

Barred filefish Juvenile, Kailua Kona Pier, 2016

more run over the rocks near the sand and was rewarded with an immature barred filefish, the melanotic fellow with the small white spots.  This is a very spooky fish, not putting up with much hanky panky in the photo department. 

Barred Filefish, Cantherines dumerlii, Spotted Juvenile

   While I was spending too many minutes diving down and trying to get a picture, I noticed a woman not too far away doing the same thing.  She must be fishwatching!  When I finally got my hot, I swam over and asked if she would like to see an unusual fish.  She had never seen this spotted immature, but before coming with me she had to show me a flounder (which she dove down and prodded) and a transitional yellow tail coris.  No surprises, one rock looking a hell of a lot like the next, I was unable to find that spotted devil again.  Merde!

   By the time I quit looking for the errant filefish, my sometimes colleague had esplit, as we say in Espanish.  I did get a picture of the yellowtail coris, which looks very similar to the one I created for the  paper mache fish exhibit at the library.  I will let you be the judge, but I think my fish is more realistic than hers. 

    If you live in Hawaii, you have about six more hours to get ready for Madeline.  If you don't, you have about the same amount of time to utter a prayer on our behalf. 

Dominus vobiscum,
jeff

The Mystery lady'sYellowtail Coris Juv. Kailua Kona Pier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Th..th...th..that's all folks!