Kahalu'u Happenings

   I must feel like my knee is heading towards a full recovery because yesterday I took it to Kahalu'u for a swim.  Ten years ago, this would have been unremarkable, hardly different from going for a swim at the pier on a calm day.  But from the standpoint of the old and infirm, K Bay has changed.  The level of sand has

The Neanderthals Gather

dropped dramatically leaving a significant barrier of stones to surmount, no matter how you approach the bay.


    The word among the Reef teachers is that this is due to the last tsunami.  However, we have experienced a series of high tides in the last six weeks that have sucked 10 inches of sand off the beach n front of the King Kam Hotel and have further eroded the entry here at dear old Kahalu'u.  Directly in front of the shelter there is now a moat in front of the rocks.  On the makai side there are rocks that one must step on which are frequently wave washed.  That used to be the side for duffers, with a sandy carpet all the way form the beach through what we used to call the sand channel.  The watchword now is tread carefully.

    As I arrived there was a small group of demolition experts removing the lifeguard tower.  My friend Mark, one of the Reef Teachers, said that this had been the last wooden lifeguard tower in the state in daily use.  It

has now been replaced by a plastic and aluminum structure identical to the one at Magic Sands.  This structure has four times the footprint of the old tower and occupies the sand between the shelter and the showers, thus displacing a couple dozen sun bathers and elderly kibitzers.  Mark and I bemoaned the loss of the tower, of wooden roller coasters and what passes for progress in general.

The Old Wooden Lifeguard Tower

The End of an Era

O tear that tattered tower down,
Long has it stood on high.
And many a crab has clacked his claws,
As a lifeguard paddled by.

Where once at Kahalu'u,
Like the Pharos it did rise.
Now a hut of ugly plastic
Heralds its Demise.

   Well, no one told me they were going to tear down the tower and my poem (with thanks to Oliver Wendell Holmes) arrives a day late.  No group of children will contribute their pennies to save the tower, as they did with the USS Constitution.  And so another piece of our Hawaiian heritage is headed for the recycling station.

    I arrived about quarter to nine.  As I donned my snorkeling costume the Neanderthals were noisily removing the signs from the side of the tower.  Strong Currents!  Slippery Rocks!  Vote For Trump!   Late last night it occurred to me that I should have asked for one of those signs.   As I was putting on my sandals apres swim, the workmen cleared the area and pulled the tower on its side.  But I'm getting ahead of the

Day Octopus, Kahalu'u, October 2016

story.

   By no accident, I picked a morning when the tide was not high and the sea was calm.  Hence those rocks were uncovered and dry and I negotiated them successfully...knee intact.  The water was cool, as it had been at the pier earlier in the week.  I believe we can declare victory for the corals, which seem to have made it through the summer without any further bleaching and death.

    As I paddled out, the water was clear.  Thus when I arrived at the coral where the leaf scorpionfish hung out for a couple months, I had a perfect, if extremely brief look at a fish that I thoughtmight be new to me.  The fish had a sharp snout and yellow fiins, which I thught included the tail.  My first impression was that it was the shape of a blacktail snapper, but that it was red with a yellow tail.

   The fish dodged back into the coral as I approached.  I waited a minute or two and he came out for few seconds and like a groundhog on February 2nd, he scurried back inside the coral.  As an extensive review of the field guides reveals, there is no such fish and this was most likely just a black tail snapper. That I was so easily confused about the colors I might try to pass off as a result of the emotional trauma associated with the dismantling of the lifeguard tower.  Perhaps old age is having its way.  In my defense, it was two very brief looks. Not only that, but who among us has not attempted to turn a rock dove into a noddy as they sped by some dusky bird on the shoulder of the interstate.

     But like any good lister, I wanted it to be something else.  I dove down and attempted to look inside the coral.  I was rewarded with a look at a bigeye cruising by the small window, further confusing my identification.

    As all good birdwatchers know,  there is no substitute for studying the  guide books before heading into

Molluscan Yoga...The Octopus Forms and Arch 

the field.. If you can't identify the bird with some degree of specificity before repairing to the books, you are behind the eight ball.  And I confess, I probably do not go back through the books as frequently as I should. 

   Hopefully befuddled I pushed on through the clear cool water, out to near the breakwater and curving pack along the ridge towards the middle.  As I reached the corner across from the shelter, I was rewarded with a yellowtail filefish,  Pervagor aspricaudus.  In all my years of snorkeling at Kahalu'u, this is the first one.  In Bali, where this fish is more commonly seen, they swim free in just such shallow bays.  When I have seen them in Hawaii, they are usually in open water among deeper rocks.  It is probably just luck, but this is the second aspricaudus I have added to a location this year.  The first was adjacent to Paul Allen's canal.  Perhaps they are becoming more common.  I tracked this guy around for a couple minutes trying for a picture, but the water was shallow and he was elusive.  I did get a picture suitable for identification, but little else.

    Before heading out to Surfer's Rock I made a turn towards the beach and was rewarded with my best Hawaiian Day Octopus sighting.  Here was a beautiful big octopus, not especially wary in four feet of clear

The Brave Octopus Stands Tall

water.  He allowed me to approach within five feet and take multiple photographs.  We have discussed previously how the day octopus seems to have a coating on it skin that defeats photography.  I believe you will agree that this guy had his shields down and that this is an octopus, as opposed to a mass of slimy mush.  At times the octopus stood quite tall and at others he was a bit lower with his body and legs forming an arch over the coral.

    I sang the doxology and was preparing to go when a lady swam nearby.  Wanting to share my find,  I gestured for her to look.  Little did I realize that I was addressing Pestilence, the vanguard of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  I turned back to the octopus to be confronted by her companions.  As you might guess there were four of them in all, wearing black dive skins and black water shoes, the better for crushing the coral.  One if them, I'm not sure if it was War or Famine, was standing upon the very coral head where mere moments before the octopus had formed his magnificent arch.  I confess, a moan of dismay echoed through my snorkel.  What is the world coming to?

   Soon enough the horsemen paddled away in search of a new area to despoil.  And who should emerge unscathed, but our fine friend the octopus, once again standing tall upon his coral.  A veritable Frodo Baggins

Oriental Flying Gurnard,  Juvenile

standing bravely against the minions of the Dark Tower.  If you wanted a jumbled allegory, you came to the right place!

    Well, my swim was completed without destroying my recuperating knee.  On the final approach in the sometimes sand channel I saw a tiny gurnard.  The keiki seem to have the best colors and this one had beautiful blue patches in his wings.  The water was only inches deep and swishing back and forth so you will have to be satisfied with a picture of another small gurnard on another beautiful day in Hawaii.

jeff

Nehacky's Angelfissh in Honor of John Hoover,  paper mache by the author

    My confusion over the snapper mimicking a longjaw squirrelfish spilled over into John Hoover's lap.  The pain of addressing this pointless investigation was softened a bit by this picture of one of the great author's most prized sightings.  A year or so ago John saw Nehacky's Angelfish while diving off South Point.  He has a super photograph of that fish on his web site, Fish Not In My Book.  Here you see that event captured for posterity in paper mache.  Mark your calendars.  Our collection of paper mache fish of the Pacific will be on display at the Thelma Parker Library in Waimea through the month of November. 

    In this way Dr. J will challenge the world.