We're Back in Kailua and So Is the Milletseed

     After a two month hiatus, during which we exposed ourselves to art in the low countries and hobnobbed with our friends and relatives in the PNW, we have returned to our beloved Kailua Kona.  Although we

Milletseed Butterflyfish,  Kailua Kona,  June 2017

were too exhausted to go snorkeling the day of our arrival, I hit the pier and Kahalu'u on the following two days.

    It only took a moment, as I swam out by the swim buoys on the Ironman side, to know that I had returned at the right time for snorkeling.  The water was really flat and just a little cool.  At 8:30 in the morning there
were already plenty of fish doing their thing among the coral that really looked pretty good. The recreational swimmers were plying the lane beside the buoys, their numbers somewhat reduced from peak tourist season.

   I swam out to the area where, just before we departed for the art of Amsterdam, I had seen the trio of sharks.  I didn't see them that morning and there was no one familiar on the pier to ask for an update.  Swimming seaward I was joined by a turtle who swam right up to me and hung on the surface for a minute catching his breath.  And then a little further out, we hit pay dirt in the form of a single Milletseed

Six Red Labrids  Coris Gaimard,juv

Butterflyfish.

    The milletseed was once seen in large schools while snorkeling in Kailua Kona, but now the individuals that appear at snorkeling depth are so rare that I wonder each time if this will be the last one I will see.  I did not see any in 2015 and saw but one in April of 2016.  I hope to see more than one this year, but I'm not holding my breath.    I did need to hold my breath to get the picture you see here.  This milletseed was in the deep spot past the last swim buoy where we sometimes see scribbled filefish, about 12 feet down.  A
couple good dives and we nabbed the photo.

Yellotail Coris  Terminal Male  Kahalu'u June 2017

    The following day I went down to Kahalu'u.  Sandra tagged along, but didn't swim, choosing instead to work the crowd under the big top.  The tide was out, so I crawled through the sand channel like some amphibious creature from Disney's Rite of Spring.   It was early so there were not a lot of swimmers, but
there was a nice variety of fish. A tiny four spot butterfly was playing hide and seek around a rock near the entrance, but my efforts to get his picture were futile.

The Rubenesque Mermaid by Mary Deveraux

     A patch of shallow coral yielded a novel site: six red labrid wrasses swimming together in a school.  Coris gaimard, schooling together.It made for an interesting sight.  A few moments later, their proud father cruised by and I nabbed his picture as well.

    Occasionally one sees this juvenile (that the uninitiated mistake for Nemo) swimming with a school of small mixed fry.  Its not unusual to see aggregations of baby belted wrasse,for example, but I have never seen a large grouping solely of this species swimming together.  In addition, these youngsters were very approachable.  Usually I encounter a single red labrid juvenile who does his best to elude my photographic efforts.  I'll be back to Kahalu'u soon and I won't be surprised to see this group still hanging out together.  Maybe I'll see you there, as well.

    Over by the decommissioned hotel, hoping for an octopus, my swim was interrupted by a Rubenesque young woman who took a break from swimming to stand on a patch of sand that happened to be right in my path. She was wearing a mask but swimming barefoot.  Having just returned from the art museums of Holland, I was bemused by the idea that she might be a mermaid model for Peter Paul Rubens.  And I wondered, did that giant of the Dutch renaissance ever paint a mermaid? Although we commonly use the term rubenesque to

Rubens and his wife, Helena Fourment

imply an obese woman, that really wasn't the case. Ruben's women carry a little extra weight, but its not excessive; pleasingly plump might be a fit.  One need to look at the self portrait of Rubens and his wife to see where his tastes lay, as it were. 

    So bemused was I, that I swam progressively into the shallows by the breakwater.  By the time I had exited my reverie, I was in quite a pickle. A very shallow coral carpeted pickle. Luckily, there was little surf and so I crept out of the very shallow coral without injury.  During my escape, I saw a pair of saddleback butterflyfish (which are clearly more common that milletseeds.) 

    As it turns out, Rubens did not paint a mermaid.

   My beloved was awaiting me back in the kiosk,  First she needed to warn me about a young man hanging by the stairs with his pants half off and spouting twisted religious jargon.   Then she introduced me to a pair of toddlers who were dancing to the music provided by a gray haired group of ukulele players.  Matt and Donny looked moonstruck as they attempted a few steps.

   On my way to the changing room I was accosted by the young man in the advanced stage of de-pantsing.  He blew smoke in my face and said, "If Donald Trump was Jesus, would we need a special prosecutor to crucify him?"

    We're all set to go swimming with Reverend Sunny this morning and I believe I will pose that question to her, if only to keep her on her ecclesiastical toes. In the meantime, keep strumming your ukulele and keep your eye out for that Rubenesque mermaid.

jeff