A Boxing Day Spectacular at Kahaku'u

    Christmas Day went off as planned.  We saw Kathy and Vernon in the morning before they left for the airport.  They bestowed upon us, as a sort of Christas gift, some of the stuff left over from their family vacation and returned car seats and boogie boards.  This meant we didn't have to drive to the airport, which was a Christmas blessing in and of itself. 

Ember Parrott, Kahalu'u Boxing Day 2025

    Back at home, Sandra and I collaborated on a big bowl of garlic alfredo mashed potatoes.  These were consumed on the lanai of the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, along with all the elements of a potluck feast, such that we struggled home and took a Rip van Winkle caliber nap.  Whether the nap was well deserved, I leave it to you to decide.  

    We shared a table at the Christmas feast with a couple of about our age, read: just this side of decrepit.  They hail from a very smalltown north of Milwaukee.  Mabel (the names are changed to protect the innocent) was very sweet and couldn't abide a football rivalry where you actually hated the opposing fans.   She's obviously never been to Autzen Stadium.  

    The Badgers, who are blessed with a devoted following in a state best known for Pabst beer, are long time denizens of the Big 10, which has now expanded like the British Empire.  That's right, the sun never sets on the Big 10.  There are so many new teams that Mabel and Barney needed to know who the bad guys were.  

The only thing missing from this picture is a target.

      In fact, it wasn't the Ducks that I was attempting to indoctrinate her against, not that with Phil Knight and his Nike filthy lucre don't deserve it, but the University of Spoiled Children.  Most especially, if you really want to despise something, you can start with the USC marching band, their fake Roman red and gold uniforms and that martial refrain that would make a self-respecting Centurion run screaming into the Visigoth horde.  

    Mabel said, and I'm not making this up, "If the children are spoiled it must be the parents fault."   I think Mabel may live a little too far out in the woods.

    For Barney's part, he noted that in his business he'd never met anyone from California that he liked.  Maybe he was just humoring me.  FYI, there's a shitload of people in California, some of whom are really nice.  And excellent fish watchers!

    Anyway, as Mabel was so precious, that on the way home I composed her a limerick.  I'm going to print it and give it to her at church, so she can put it on her refrigerator. 

Apparently, Badgers don't hate anybody

   We live fifty miles north of Milwaukee 

   Where we fish for bass and play hockey. 

   We never say f*** 

   When we're hit with a puck. 

  And the bass are not nasty or cocky.

   And this brings us to Boxing Day.   December 26th dawned clear and bright, just like it says in Mele Kalikimaka.  This made it ideal for doing yard work.  I filled up two barrels with leaves, Monstera leaves, Buddha belly leaves, leaves from the lemon tree, the Bodhi tree, etc.  I may have more dead leaves than there are people residing in California.  I've got a call in to Gavin Newsome's office to verify this.  I let you know when the governor gets back to me.  

Christmas Wrasse on Boxing Day 2025, Kahalu'u

   At any rate, when I finished with the leaves I went out on the lanai and was pleased to see that there was absolutely no surf.  My long-lost swim buddy, she'd only been gone for 24 hours at this point, had refreshed my religion, Fishwatching, as if there was any doubt, and I knew I had to answer the call.  Thus, Sandra was throwing me out of the car at exactly 11 AM.  The shelter at Kahalu'u was packed, but a nice Indian family from Mountain View made room for me.  Soon I was changed and headed for the rocky entrance.

    Noticia para esnorkelers!  Some person, possibly a well-intentioned reef teacher has placed four flagstones just past the first set of rocks at the K Bay entrance.  If they only had about hundred more of these paving stones, they could get their foot friendly trail all the way out to deep water.  But these four stones provide one's tender footsies a respite for about three feet.  Does the phrase "pissing in the ocean" seem appropriate?

Nothing's impossible, simply impassable.

   I soon had my flippers on, ready to take on the real challenge.   There was a plethora of people crowding the entrance.   As I had suspected, as I stood on our lanai, the water was quite still.  If one had water shoes this apparently made it ideal to just stand in the entry, no swimming necessary, no inconvenient waves to knock you over.  This created a forest of legs for me to negotiate.  I must have seen fifty pairs of water shoes as I slithered over the rocks. The main channel was so clogged as to be, in the words of the doorknob in Alice in Wonderland, impassible.

   As the people were standing still, this turned out to be somewhat less difficult than I anticipated.  Soon I was swimming in fairly clear water with no waves or current to speak of.   And, considering the crush of humanity at the entrance, very few fellow swimmers. Soon I was out among the coral, and a gentleman near me pointed out a large Pictus moray eel that was hunting ten feet away.  This is a big eel, so the size of this guy, big, didn't surprise me.  

Milletseed Butterfly, Boxing Day 2025

    Almost immediately, right here in the middle, I saw a male Ember Parrotfish.  This is not an unusual sighting at Kahalu'u. but this is an edible fish, spear fishing is allowed, and these guys are shy.  This fellow, on the other hand, swam away so slowly that I was able to get three good shots.  As you will see there was something in the water that was slowing down these otherwise wary fish.

    Over by the Rescue Shelter, among some coral that has seen better days, I encountered a beautiful big Christmas Wrasse.  Like his buddy, the male Ember Parrot, this guy was in no hurry to get away.  Ordinarily a Christmas Wrasse swims quickly by.  It's like, "Adios amigo, see you next year." This fellow allowed me three good shots and then swam up the middle at such a leisurely pace that I followed him for a couple minutes.  I kept taking pictures, but they were of the south end of a north bound fish, so you won't see any of those here. 

Pearl Wrasse male, Boxing Day 2025

 

    By the time I looked up, I was fairly far out.  There was no risk of being run down by a surfer.  Although a surprising number were out on surfboards, and there was no surf to speak of.

    Eventually I swam back in where I encountered what must be the one resident Milletseed Butterfly.  Kathy and I saw what must be the same fish the day the SD card was missing.  

   At this point I was swimming towards the exit when I ran into the male Pearl Wrasse.  As with the Milletseed, this must be the same fish I saw the day before Kathy arrived.  This time the conditions were better, and I'd had more recent experience with the camera.  I followed the fish until he got to a patch of water that was clear of temperature effect and well lit.  It's a good picture, and it reveals a bit of an injury just below the dorsal fin.  One has to suspect the reason we are seeing this otherwise wary fish is that he is not quite up to snuff.  Lucky for him he has a protected place to spend his golden years.  Do I resemble that remark? 

jeff 

A second look at the Christmas Wrasse on Boxing Day