Hooking Up with the Honu Divers

    For the last few months, Sandra and I have been exercising at Pacific Island Fitness, not the fanciest club in the world, even here in Kailua Kona, but it is included as part of our Kaiser Permanenete insurance plan, which makes it significantly more attractive.

Worldwide Distribution of the Green Sea Turtle, aka the Honu

   Across the parking lot from the fitness club, which is in the hillside mall directly below the Queen Ka'ahumanu expressway, is the shop of Kona Honu divers.  As you may recall, elsewhere on our emerald orb the honu is known as the green sea turtle.  Although Hawaiians would have you believe that this is an animal unique to our archipelago (an endangered species no less),  the green sea turtle is the most widely distributed of the sea turtles.  If you have ever had sopa tortugua anywhere from Boton to Buenos Aires, you were probably dining on a GST.

   Regardless, the honu holds  special fascination for those of us in the Sandwich Islands.  Up in Kohala, the honu is found on ancient petroglyphs, while down here in Kailua, tourists delight in
seeing one at Kahalu'u. Even your humble correspondent experiences a small thrill when seeing a turtle swimming free along a deserted shoreline.

Honu Libre  Ho'okena 2012

 But setting the turtles aside for a moment, let us return to the dive shop. These are the nice people that sold me my current mask and snorkel, and they run a shop full of goodies that appeal to the water minded.  Thus, from time to time, after pedaling the stationary bicycle for half an hour, we have wandered in for a chat and a look about.

   On Monday I found myself conversing with a pleasant young lady by the name of Shel.  One has to assume that her given name is Michelle, so in a different place and time she might be known as Shelly.  But if one thinks about it, there is something rather poetic about a girl named Shell working for an establishment whose name celebrates the sea turtle. She shared some of her favorite snorkeling spots, which, of course, are similar to mine.  Shel had one spot on her list that I found very interesting.  She

goes in to Pawai bay, at the end of the runway at the old airport. I have read about people entering there, but have never felt up to it myself.

Indigo Dartfish Courtesy of John Spears

    Not only is Shel a scuba diver, but a talented free diver.  She said that in that location, over rubble 40 feet below the surface, she sees indigo dartfish.  This fish, according to John Hoover, is found over sand or rubble below 30 feet.  About thirty years ago I took the boys on an early morning snorkel to Kahalu'u, squeezing in one last swim before we headed back to the mainland.  That morning we saw a pair of indigo dartfish, my only ones.  Having an attention span only slightly longer than Donald Trump, I had not read Hoover's piec on the dartfish in the Ultimate Guide.  Therefore,  I didn't realize how lucky we were that morning so long ago.   I have often wondered why, despite my vigilance, I didn't see another pair of dartfish...now I know.

   But getting back to Ms. Shel, noting my interest in seeing new fish and going to new places, she directed my attention to the bulletin board by the door where the dive shop advertises their upcoming trips.  Low and behold, they are going to Bali.  But wait!  They are also going to the Philippines and the Solomon Islands.  Their trip to the PI is divided between a  week on a dive boat and a week at a dive resort on Negros Island, near the southern end of the archipelago.

     Being much like Mr. Toad from that charming children's classic, The Wind in the Willows, I left

Off to Dumaguete.  Mole, Badger and the Water Rat bid Mr. Toad Bon Voayage.

the shop bedazzled.

     The next morning we went to Walmart, the employer of choice for recently arrived Philippine girls. While Sandra was shopping for paper towels and pill containers, I went to the photo department where one of my Philipina friends redirected me to the seasonal department.  There I tracked down a young lady named Thuma, who was kind enough divert her attention from the Easter supplies to talk to me about snorkeling in the Philippines. Thuma is not a diver and she didn't know too much about Dumaguete, where the dive shop is going, but she did know that there is good snorkeling at several places on Luzon, the island home of Manila and hence the international airport which can be reached non-stop from HNL.  The names she gave me were Subic (the home of our former naval base, still inhabited by Americans), Thousand Islands and Batangas.

    A little research revealed that she is right on.  There are, indeed, dive resorts in all those places.  

Subic Bay upper left, Batangas lower right.  Next stop Danang.

    Thuma had to get back to stocking her shelves, but her parting words regarding travel in the Philippines was to be careful and stay safe.  On the plus side, travel time to Manila is about 9 hours less than that to Denpassar.  And it is possible that we would add a few species, both fish and invertebrates, especially if we went to Dumaguete.

    The negatives are not inconsiderable.  Travel on Luzon may be tricky.  Strange as it seems, I believe taking a bus in Mexico may be safer than in the PI.  Things like lodging are twice as expensive in the Philippines as they are in Bali.  I don't understand why this should be so. However, we had lunch with our traveling companions Peter and Marla this week and when she heard this , Marla wasn't surprised at all.  She said that American Samoa is terribly expensive...90 USD per night for a dump.  Perhaps prior exposure to the US economy has had a lingering effect on the Philippine prices.

  More investigation is warranted.  Virginia at Hone Divers is going on the Dumaguete trip and she promised to keep a list of the cool stuff that she sees snorkeling.  I can hardly wait for her report.

jeff