The Prodigal Snorkeler Returns to Magic Sands

     Things must have been shaping up for a good fish watching swim.    Our good friend Peter, who lives in Hawi,  developed a little medical problem. Now I agree, that overall this isn't a good thing.

Happy Birthday to Bob.  Less filling, tastes great.

But as a consequence, he and Marla  had to come to Kona to see his doctor at Kaiser Permanente.  And this afforded us the opportunity for a lunch at Ultimate Burger, rife with lots of good fish yarns.   Not only that, but there was a rumor  that our number one snorkeling compadre, Bob Hillis was getting ready to celebrate a birthday.  Hence, I had the opportunity to put together a shark- themed greeting card.

    With all these wonderful harbingers putting wind in my sails, I set off yesterday for the pier.  It was pure kismet that I was unable to find a parking spot.  I'm telling you, there were a dozen cars circling the lot hoping for an illegal spot. And so I found myself motoring south on Alii Drive, past Pahoehoe Beach Park.  And I was surprised to find the ocean down right pacific.    Many of us have been muttering about the sand at Magic Sands Beach Park, which is still present to a surprisingly large degree.  So I thought to myself, "Perhaps this will be the day to go to Magic Sands."

 A beautiful day at Magic Sands

    Its been a while since I have been in the water at Magic sands.  The last time I attempted to go snorkeling was four years ago.  I had ridden my bike south from Alii Villas.  Although their was a substantial amount of surf, I was darned if I was going to let that bike ride go to waste.   Entering the water through the three foot faces, my mask was knocked off and lost in the swirling sandy water.  Suffice it to say, that put the kibosh on
any snorkeling that might have occurred on that benighted day.  I reported my mishap to the lifeguard and he said that I was not alone.  Several people would lose their equipment on such a day.  Amazingly, he reported, many of the masks would  be found by swimmers who would step on them and bring them in.  Following his instructions, I returned to Magic Sands later in the afternoon, and there was my mask.  No surprise.  There was a ton of sand wedged into all the seals.  A trip to a local dive shop provided the opportunity to clean the mask and I'm still using it.  However, I had not gone snorkeling at Magic Sands since that day.  

A View of Magic Sands from the Sea

   The last time I swam at Magic Sands was about two years ago.  My younger son and his wife were visiting, the latter being the sort of girl that you have to keep entertained.  She isn't truly ADD, but she certainly likes to keep busy.  Casting around for something new to do, I suggested that we go swimming at Magic Sands.  It had been calm when we drove by earlier that day, but when we got there in the afternoon, there were two foot faces with bigger sets.  Sandra stayed ashore while the three of us hopped off the rocks into the sandy water.  Out in the swell it was quite enjoyable, paddling around and striking up conversations

Whitemouth Moray at Magic Sands

with tourists and locals enjoying the water just outside the break.  After about twenty minutes it was time for me to head in.  At the shore I was faced with stepping up onto a rock about 18 inches above the sand.  Waves were washing over the rock, making for a tricky target and I was frankly having a bit of trouble.  Luckily a good Samaritan reached out and gave me a hand.  So I lived to write another blog, albeit with a bit more respect for this beach, when the sandy beach has magically washed away.

    But today was special.  The sand was in and the surf down.  Not only that, but I drove right into the small lot and scored a parking spot.  I even found a place on a shaded picnic table to leave my gear.

   The entry was as easy as I had hoped, working through mild surf.  I swam out a bit and headed south around the point.  Immediately I started seeing a nice variety of fish swimming over a reef of dead coral.  It was not until I got into the small bay, known among the dive community as Mile Marker 3 that I saw a single head of living cauliflower.  This is similar to the reef in front of Paul Allen's estate where the kill rate on cauliflowers is 100%.  Over the span of this relatively long swim I saw 2 living cauliflowers.  On the Ironman

Longnose Butterfly at Mile Marker 3.

side of the pier, by comparison, the rate of living to dead cauliflowers is 30 to 1.  Depressing, to be sure, but in these other locations the loss of the genus Pocillipora  (so important as a home for small creatures, including baby fish)  is catastrophic.

   The best things that I saw were a tiny red labrid and three stripe belly puffers.  What I didn't see was a single Achille's tang.  Much is made by a variety of folks, not just men of color, that taking reef fish by spear is an acceptable situation.  Otherwise, they say, the people would starve.  It is my experience that where spear fishing is common, desirable food species like the Achilles tang can be in short supply.  I'm told that if you didn't grow up eating this handsome fish with the orange oval just forward of the caudal peduncle, you would not like it.  On the other hand, many is the time I have seen a diver walk out of the ocean with a half dozen Achilles's tangs on his stringer.   To quote Gary Larson, bummer of a birthmark Hal.

   Eventually on my swim I found myself about 100 yards off shore, all by myself.  I started thinking about that shark on Bob's card and made my way back to the beach, stopping every couple of minutes to check my back.

    The sand being in and the surf being down, getting ashore was a piece of cake.  Life on the beach looked wonderful and I have to call it a happy homecoming after so many years.

jeff

Better be careful if you choose to eat this handsome fellow.