Squid! Or a return to the Sandwich Islands

     About a week ago, perhaps longer, we returned to Kona.  In this time we have been doing a bunch of gardening and home repairs; we have a toilet disassembled in the Ohana waiting for a gasket from Amazon. 

Asian Swallowtail, Kona November 2024

     It's hard to hang out in Hawaii and not see butterflies.  Although we have yet to go for a walk with a net, we have seen the three bigger butterflies, Asian Swallowtail, Gulf Frit and Monarch close up many times.  Initially this was quite a treat as we came from a place where there are no butterflies in November.  One day in our garden a nice Asian Swallowtail and my phone camera came together to create the nice picture you see here.

    Driving around, we have seen lots of small, pale-yellow butterflies, which I presume are sleepies.  And some really small butterflies wihich must be skippers.  Gotta take that walk with the net and some vegetable bags.

    There was lots to do and it wasn't until today that I got off my duff and went snorkeling.   We have been getting high wind weather alerts, but the morning was clear and still.  Sandra dropped me off at the pier, which was uncommonly deserted.  I chose the pier because it is clearly the most forgiving place to swim here in Kona and I hadn't donned a mask and fins in over seven months. 

Finescale Triggerfish, Paul Allen's Reef, 2014

     The water was cool and clear, just like a refreshing beverage, and I was excited to see what was around.  Immediately I saw a small linckia starfish in the sand.  There were a few butterflies and the usual surgeons on the way out.  Finally in the coral past the last swim buoy I spotted a Finescale Triggerfish.  This ghost of a trigger is not exactly rare, but uncommon enough inshore to merit a mention.  

   So as I made the turn for home, I allowed that I had seen some stuff and I was wondering if that little starfish was going to turn into the best invertebrate for the swim.  The Body Glove with a deck full of tourists pulled out and I decided to swim back on the outside of the swim buoys.  

   Near the third swim buoy I got a delightful surprise...three Bigfin Squid hanging out doing whatever they do.    Which is to say, they seem curious enough but you never see them feeding or anything else of a purposeful nature.  Unless you count them keeping an eye on you with those saucer-like peepers and swimming backwards out of spearing range, the better not to make the transition to calamari.  Mostly though, like the Dude, the squid abide.  

Bigfin Squid courtesy of the Monterey Aquarium

  So I imagine you are wondering why I'm showing you a picture of the squid lifted from the internet as opposed to some fantastic pictures taken this morning.  Well, over the last week we have been taking note of the things we didn't bring to Hawaii.  Forgotten in a box back in Vancouver are both sets of our binoculars.  In another box is the disc reader that would permit me to transfer pictures from the water camera to the computer.  Shazbatt!

    Needless to say, I spent ten minutes with these friendly little cephalopods, photographing them from every angle and even taking a small movie that I'm sure you will enjoy in a week or so, when Jeff Bezos sends me a new disc reader.  

Give a squid a beverage and call him Jeffrey Lebowski.

   Two of the trio hung together.  One was slightly larger than the other.  The larger was possibly 14 inches in length, They were opalescent with brown blotches.  The third guy was smaller and more of a rich brown.  And while the duo mostly swam with their tentacle stretched out as in the picture, this guy liked to hold his tentacles down in front of his face.  It made it look like he had a silly brown beard.  

    Supposedly this camera will transmit pictures to a cell phone, but this involves steps like downloading the correct program to deal with the pictures and then a QR code to link it all up somehow.  I spent a couple hours trying to make it work , even enduring a condescending lecture on QR codes from our daughter.  Her parting advice was to find a helpful teenager. 

     It's possible that I deserve this, after all, against my will I have turned into an old fart.  But I can still go swimming and it's just possible that I can replace a toilet gasket.   Stay tuned and I'll let you know on that one in a couple weeks.

jeff

PS.  At the end of my swim I discovered that the showers and changing rooms at the foot of the pier are closed.  There was a rumor of a sewage leak.  This explains why there were so few recreational swimmers!   If you are going for the squid, you might pretend you are headed for  Ho'okena and bring a bottle of water to wash off and a sarong for changing.