The Sharks of Kailua Bay

     This tale begins three days ago.  On that morning,Sandra and I were completing a large spate of gardening and I had filled the trunk of the Honda to the brim with yard debris.  The last thing to get packed into the trunk was a pile of the nastiest vine in Hawaii.  This is a fern that is feathery at the top and is

A Fine School of Raccoons Hanging at Shark Central

sometimes used as an ornament in bouquets.  The part that isn't feathery is a wicked vine studded with thorns, much like the stem of a rose.  In our yard this viney fern can climb thirty feet or more, so when you remove it you end up with quite a pile of these thorny stalks.

   We headed to the transfer station with the intent of swimming at the pier after dropping off the debris.  In the process of extricating the thorns from the trunk, I dropped one on the ground and managed to impale the side of my foot.  As I am anti-coagulated (aren't all men over 55 taking aspirin?) this small puncture bled into my sandal all the way back to Kailua.  Looking down at my oozing foot, I said, "I guess this means we better stay away from sharks."

    Of course, neither of us had ever seen a shark in Hawaii, so my comment was totally on the side of glib.  But when we got to the pier we ran into the nice lady of a certain age with a large German shepherd of a certain age for whom she has installed an elevator to assist the pooch in getting up the steps into her house.

This Big Eye Was Chilling

After hello, the first words out of her mouth were, "Have you seen the shark?"

   Well, no, we hadn't even heard of the shark.  According to the lady and a helpful man, who was apparently one of her compatriot distance swimmers, a reef shark had been hanging around near the pier for three days.  While the dog attempted to knock Sandra over with his persistent snuzzling, I attempted to ascertain just how we could see the shark.  There was a bit of disagreement as to just what sort of shark it was.  The man, being the accepted authority, said it was a gray reef shark.  The location was said to be thirty yards beyond the last swim buoy and thirty yards towards the beach.

    Sandra got away from the dog long enough to change into her snorkeling outfit and we hit the water.  We got out in front of the palace, the area that fits those criteria, and swam and swam.  Over the next hour we covered everything from the buoy itself to fifty yards in radius three times!  This took us as far south as the

So where's the damn shark?

Kona Inn sign and a fair ways out into the bay.  There were lots of fish, but there was no shark. 

   It must be said that everyone has a different idea of how long a yard is in the ocean. After talking about distances with Bob Hillis a year or so ago,  I decided that I was over estimating by about double.  So when someone gives instructions like this you must both cut it in half and double it if you want to cover your bases.

    The following morning, it was Sandra's turn to work at the church.  She was still tired from the previous day's gardening and swimming, so she was happy to drop me off at the pier and head up to Kona Methodist. While I was changing, two girls of about 30 came ashore and I asked if they had seen the shark.  They said yes, it was just past the last swim buoy and a bit towards shore, hiding in a cave.

 Of course, that was just where we had looked the day before, but had we looked into every possible shark puka?  I headed on out and started diving every hollowed coral head and looking under every ledge  where

Follow me.   Eagle Ray   Kailua Kona   April 2017

the shark might be sheltering.  In the process I met two groups of people who had seen the shark on previous days,  bringing my total number of first hand witnesses to ten.  The first was a group of four adults who were heading in after looking for the shark.  After talking to me they headed back out for another look.

   The second was a pair of ladies of a certain age that I met about half an hour later.  They had seen the shark two days previous and had heard that on this morning the shark was hiding in a cave.  (I wonder who started that rumor?)  One lady said that it was no wonder the shark was hiding with all the people out bothering it.  The other added that if the shark wanted some privacy it had come to the wrong place.

    I swam around some more, adding a few fish to the list for 2017, what with diving and looking into holes.  The most interesting was the big eye with the dramatic silver and red pattern.

   Bottom line, I did not see the shark but came away with the idea that if we went earlier we might have a

Look carefully, that's three reef sharks.

better chance.

   This morning we got up early and were down at the pier around 7:30.  Out we swam, hitting ground zero before 8 AM.  Once again, we covered a large patch of Kailua Bay, with no shark.  After 45 minutes Sandra had had enough and it was hard to argue with her.  So we spread out and started heading in.  At the fourth swim buoy I met a large, dark snapper going in the other direction.  I was impressed by his size and followed him for a bit, never getting closer than a a coupe yards.

   When I came up,  I was back in front of the palace.  There was a young swimmer next to me and he said, "If you want to see an eagle ray there is one right back there, maybe five yards, straight out from the flagpole."  Now I ask you, what jaded so and so doesn't want to see an eagle ray?  I was in luck and I found the ray in just a few strokes, much less than five yards.  He was cooperative and let me take several pictures,

So how manya dese fingers got white tips?

as you can see.  For most of the pictures, I was a foot or so below the surface, which increased the clarity dramatically.

    I followed the eagle ray as he swam toward the palace and then made a sweeping turn toward the pier.  And as he did so, he swam right over the sharks.  Yes, Virginia, there were three sharks!  Trying not to exaggerate, I would estimate that the smallest was five feet and the largest a bit over six.

    They were irrefutably white tip reef sharks... just look at the tip of the tail and dorsal fin in the accompanying pictures.  When I gave my first report to Bob Hillis two days ago, he said that a sighting of a gray reef shark was excellent, that they were usually seen off shore and at depth.  As it turns out, that second witness should be turned over to Cousin Vinny. " I got no use for dat guy!"

    In reading John Hoover, one is instructed that the white tip reef shark is the most commonly encountered in-shore shark.  Luckily, that species is the least likely to attack you.  The latter fact became my mantra as I watched the sharks circle once, passing pretty much about eight feet right below me, and then settle on the sandy bottom.  Another fact that the Great Oz imparts is that the White tipped reef shark is unusual among requiem sharks in having auxilliary muscles of respiration that force water over the gills when it is at rest on the bottom.  Tiger sharks, by comparison, can not perform that trick: they must keep swimming or suffocate.
   
   And while we're at it, why do they cal them requiem sharks?

Definition of requiem

1. 1 :  a mass for the dead
2. 2a :  a solemn chant (such as a dirge) for the repose of the dead  b :  something that resembles such a solemn chant
3. 3a :  a musical setting of the mass for the deadb :  a musical composition in honor of the dead

Do you get the feeling that somebody mighta died here?  Sharks have undergone catastrophic predation by homo sapiens, in large part for their fins, which are turned into soup.   But I don't think the guy that named the largest group of sharks, the ones that swim free and fast in the ocean, requiem sharks was anticipating this turn of ecological events.   To borrow from Papa Hemingway, the bell tolls for you, dude.

    I buttoned up my courage, and dove a couple times towards the sharks to increase the clarity of my

White-tipped Reef Shark  Kailua Kona April 2017  Resting On the Sand

pictures.  I then watched them rest there on the bottom for a minute or two before deciding that there was no point in further tempting fate.  I was, after all, out numbered three to one and I'm not ready for anyone to write, sing or play a requiem on my behalf just yet.

    All kidding aside, its good to keep in mind the sentiments of the two ladies from the day before.  It's an honor to have these reef sharks in our bay and if we can give them enough space, and if some asshole doesn't spear them, they may feel comfortable enough to become regulars.  My observation today differed from previous reports.  It was obvious to me that the sharks are not living out in front of Hulihee's Palace 24/7.  Rather, they are living and feeding somewhere else and coming into Kailua Bay to rest.  There are no laws protecting  sharks similar to those that supposedly protect the dolphins.  Let us hope that common sense and a love of nature prevails and that we have many more opportunities to enjoy these magnificent creatures.

jeff

Mālama i ka manō

 In Ancient Hawaiian culture, the shark,  manō, is one of a few animals who may be the embodiment of an ancestor, an Aumākua.  Ano lani; ʻano honua, which is to say of heavenly and earthly significance.  Another such animal is the pueo, the native short eared owl.  Because of this special relationship, sharks are held sacred and protected.