The best thing today wasn't a visual; it was the close and deep whale song we heard just over the dropoff at Pawai Arch (Devil's Doorway). As soon as we dropped for the second dive of the day we heard the deep, sonorous whale song. Multiple whales. Gazing out into the blue beyond the drop off. Nothing. But they were there. Later we heard from the skipper that they were3 a stones throw away.
I've seen whales in close at Pawai before, the deep water is so close to shore that they just wander right in there among the moorings, of which there are about 5. It's the go to area for winter diving when there is a swell running, which there was today.
Today was a usual suspects day, at least for me. Others found Vipers and a few more exotic or dramatic animals than I did. So here are my captures for the day.
Reef Lizard, White margin nudis, some with eggs, Varicose dorid, A small Zoanthis patch, Black Surgeon, Milletseed butterfly, Peacock Grouper and a Juvenile Regal Parrotfish.
Fitting that we would go back to Freezeface today; it got colder this week. Water 77 degrees and I'm now in the Pinnacle merino 5 mil with a 3/5 hooded vest. Very comfortable and in fact a bit warm at a few moments. Better than cold.
In between big swells today but the surge is still running, so getting pics of stationary objects. like frog fish, is a challenge.
At Freezeface we immediately headed for the cave to see if the two frogfish are still there. I was a bit unsure of this goal as soon as I got to the wall that angles in toward shore that you have to follow. I saws Sarah B. swooping in and out of the threshold of the opening. Never mind going all the way in to the cave. OK, well there's a frogfish right there on the wall! So who needs to go furether? Still, getting the shot flying back and forth past it was tricky.
All the rubble-feeders were out in force today, with Yellowtail Coris, both mature and juvenile, and Rockmovers. Also out and a bit grumpy: a Devil Scorpion.
Here are a few of them.
Finally, A Four spot butterfly, a few nudis, fairly common Pustulose and Varicosa, along with a nice Leaf Scorpion.
Vierginia was trying the macro the gill hairs on a Trumpetfish.
Some dives are pretty barren without a lot of marine life. Shark Alley was like this today. Murky because of the rain runoff. There wes a wire coral Gobie out by the drop off but there was current and I didn't get good enough focus with the 105mm.
The cave was not worth going in; just too murky. There was a shark under the ledge but again not worth trying to get a pic.
But where one dive is not critterful, then ext one is. Eel Cove mooring at Rose Garden. Two jobs: look for Gooseberry the Cowfish, and find the Viper Eel the cove is named after. Both were showing off their best sides!
The rest of the usual suspects were out, including the Raccoons and the Sgt Majors.
But st the end of the dive Kevin found a Trembling nudi that looked like something alien and circular that only looked like a Trembling. But it was just a circular Trembling, maybe a juvenile.
Cold, rainy winter day and here we go diving. Heading to Honokohau Harbor with windshield wipers on full I turn up the heat. Yes, I'm in Hawaii, but it does get cold here, like today.
I figure I'll be wet all day so who cares? Maybe I should have brought the 7 mil... Maybe I should have brought the hooded vest... Well, I certainly should have done the latter, except that I forgot it was here. OK, I've got a nice warm 5 mil.
Freezeface was our first stop. I hear from Sandy that there are Psychedelics and Harlequins here. That would mean new ones, since the last pair were taken by collectors two years ago after someone broadcast their locations on social media. Don't be that guy.
Sure enough there were Psychedelics, and I found a male with females. Score.
My big miss at this site today was the Frogfish event in the cave that Sandy and Laura recorded. Big Commersons and a smaller Frogfish settled into Lauras camera frame. Then the Commersons made a big yawn. Awesome, but you had to be there sincer I couldn't get the shot. What was I doing? Getting caught in a big surge and fighting not to be polarised onto the lava rocks above. Fortunately for me, Sandy saw me and grabbed my sleeve. Friends don't let friends get shot to the surface. Thanks Sandy.
Here are a few cool fish I did get, however, a nice fat Dragon Wrasse and a Longnose Butterfly transition either to or from being a Hawaiian Black Longnose. Something about their diet makes them changer from one to the other.
At Turtle Heaven Sandy was talking about swimming out to the green can and dropping onto the sand there. Not my favorite thing to do, but it is a good way to see Tiger Sharks. Anyway, she decided to head north along the dropoff and that's when we saw the biggest Titan Scorpion I've ever seen.
At that point my whole day was made. Here are a few other cool fish I found followed by a lot of Butterrflies, including the fairly rare Saddlebsck.
Teamed up today with one of my favorite dive partners, Brent Madison. Brent is a professional photographer and PADI Divemaster who I met as soon as I moved to Kona, and we have teamed up to do a lot of salvage and clean-up work along the west side of Hawaii.
Today was a fun day for exploring the outer wall of Honaunau Bay beyond the big pinnacle on the point where Place of Refuge sits. Water was calm, but there was the prospect of a swell building during the day. I felt we were going to be out of the water by the time it hit.
The plan was to swim out to the big pinnacle at the mouth of the bay and then take a 270 degree heading west to where the coral garden slopes gradually, then suddenly into the abyss. Idea was to drop over the wall and then turn right to track the wall all the way back into the bay and the shallows where we left our float.
The presence of dolphins today led to there being many snorklers out in the middle of the bay. Many of them keep a respectful distance - after all, the dolphins are here to sleep and rest after a night of feeding. A few humans however do think the dolphins are there to play with them. This is an unfortunate thing, but all you can do is reinforce the idea of just leaving them alone, and then people just make their own choices.
We swam out to the point, during which swim I was regretting not wearing a 5 mil suit, and complaining to anyone nearby, which was Brent. Temp was 79 degrees, so under 80 and I felt vindicated. Swimming helped and soon I wasn't think about being cold.
We dropped at the pinnacle in ok vis - maybe 70 ft - and headed for the wall. The reef was very fishy and the usual intersting outside-of-the-bay structure unfolded.
Soon we were at the wall, and since it was so early in the morning and winter the sun was still low. This imparterd a deep blue to the darkening abyss before and below us.
Right turn and here we go, oops, gets deep fast if you're not paying attention. We decided to stay abvove 75 FSW to conserve gas, and make our way back into the bay.
Pretty soon we were encountering patches of plate coral, which looked very much more healthy than it did two months ago during the ocean warming episode back in October/November. Out of the gloom appeared the sillouhette of the big overhang, the one I call Godzilla Head - and as I was happily realizing we'd get back without running out of gas Brent was waving at me to look down to the sandy slop 50 feet below us. Hey, a White Tip Reef Shark, just resting on the sandy bottom. huh, haven't seen that often.
Once past the overhang we found the big cascades of Plate Coral that were badly hit last fall with massive bleaching. Most of the corals looked like they had recovered their color, with the worst of the corals from last fall still showing spots of bleaching. But overall, things are looking better.
Back in Kona and the Holiday parties are over, so the Kona Honu Ohana converged on the boat for some winter diving. OK, water was 78.8 degrees, which is cold for Kona-thin blood humans. I was swimming on the wild side with a Pinnacle Merino 5mil, while others more sensible were in their 7s.
Highlights for me are the things I didn't see, but Laura found some Imperial Nudis, and everyone else but me saw the 9 foot Tiger Shark at Turtle heaven. I was looking everywhere in the blue and didn't see it.
But I did see some things I'd never seen before, like the Blacklip Butterfly and the Longjaw Squirrelfish.
Visibility was better than last fall, even though there were storms. Which is good for photographers who often get engrossed in getting the shot they want, while veryone else swims away. Fortunately I found faint bubbles on the 150 degrees heading we were on at Turtle Heaven. Just where I thought they'd be, only 100 meters lfurther on. Swim hard; use gas.
For a couple of years I've been searching wire corals for Wire Coral Shrimp. Fiknally today I found one, in an overhang at Turtle Eeaven. I couldn't get closer but here she is!
Then I saw Laura zommingt in on something behind a coral ledger. Ah, Female Whitley's Boxfish. Awesome.
Here are the other great things that came out to be seen today. White Margin Nudi with baby and eggs. Not sure where Papa is. White Mouth Eel, arceye Hawkfish, Barred Filefish, Yellowtail Coris, Leaf Scorpion, Porcupine Puffer, and a bby Yellowtail Coris or Rainbow Wrasse.
