A day at the car wash

For months I've been scanning tide charts and swell models, and buddy availability, to get out to Puako House 40 early enough to catch the Turtle cleaning station in action.  Seems turtles like to get cleaned early, and the little tangs and surgeons that do the cleaning like to have breakfast.  So early works best.

We got into the water around 10 am on an incoming tide.  Just what I like at Puako which is annoyingly shallow on the way out over the lava shelf inshore, and back at low tide.

Seems that others had the came idea since when we got there divers were already snapping pics of the actioin.  There were at least four turtles moving in and out of the cleaning station.  The fish were having a fine meal.

Also cool was a very large Orange mouth Lizard fish under a ledge.

Here are some pics.

Pyramid Pinnacles and Kaloko Arches/Canyons 6/25/2020

Calm ocean made us think that maybe the Pyramid Pinnacles cave might be navigable.  Once on the mooring we saw a little surge but worth checking it out.   The thing about that two-room cave with skylights is that if there are bubble vortices at the entrance it's a no go.

As usual I was at the end of the line with DM Mo (She was an awesome dive companion), and everyone else had gone in.  But as I looked into the cavern I saw not only bubble vortices but divers getting spun.  I guess it has been clear and then when everyone was inside - Bwawhahah!  Well, everyone was OK, but Mo and I and one other diver decided to bail and go around the outside.

The critter theme of the day was Eels and Gold lace Nudis.  But the diversity of eels was really awesome.  A lot of Yellow Margin Eels, one again with a head wound, and an Undulated eel.  But the prize Eel was a Dragon Moray, right under the mooring at kaloko.

Dragon Moray

Undulated

I had specifically asked Rob to find us a wire coral Gobie, so, as usual, Rob bubbled out "as you wish."  I'd looked so long at wire corals last time I was here that I'd got separated from the group, which at Kaloko can be unsettling because of the maze of canyons.  This time, I got the shot and tagged onto the back of the line headed off to go through the arches.  (see video)

After the Eel bonanza came the Gold Lace nudi convention, well, there were two of them so maybe not a convention.

There was also a fairly common Pustulose nudi near the end of the Kaloko dive.

So Kaloko came through with a haul of critter pics, even though we looked for and did not find the Whitley's Boxfishes, of which there is a female, and word has it, a male further out.  Neither was findable today.  Here are the rest of the cast that did show up for us. Dragon Wrasse, Four Spot butterfly, guilded trigger, Leaf Scorpion way deep in a coral head, and an Orange band Surgeon.

Here's a close up of the Pelagic Rob Bob we found cruising at Pyramid Pinnacles.  You never know what you'll see out in the blue expanse.  (see video below)

Here's the video, about 3 minutes.
https://youtu.be/YYJjqef3a6w

Wacky's and High Rock, then Aquarium and Suckemup

Today Honu One was cleared with all her fire supression bonafides so Kona Honu put her to sea with  a crew and 10 divers.  Divers were all locals except for a great couple from Maui.  It was a DM's wet dream: holoholo but being paid for it.

North to Wacky's - or High Rock - I wasn't sure which mooring we were on.  It looked like Honu Iki was on north Golden Arches with a few divers getting in the water.

Finally temps hit 80 degrees today, but I was still chilly in the 5 mil at the end of the second dive.

Right off the bat at Wacky's we found a Zebra Eel in a hole.  Was tricky to get the shot way down in there.

Zebra Eel

I didn't look for an urchin to feed him, partly because I'm ambivalent about intervening in nature, except when I do it.  But this time I didn't.

This was the first Eel I stumbled onto, but the rest of the day's theme was Eels and Coral Shrimp.  Here are some of the coral shrimp, including a cool Flameback Coral Shrimp.  These are often in holes with Eels but they were all social distancing today.

Banded Coral Shrimp

Flameback Coral Shrimp

Here are some of the Eels.  There big and small ones, and small ones in deep holes.  These are some of the bigger ones, including a yellow Margin Eel with bite marks around his head.  I've seen this before–something very large and hungry had got the Eel's whole head in his mouth.  How to get away from that is a good trick.

 

 I spent some time at Aquarium looking for Pom Pom Crabs, but no luck.  Present however, were the usual rubble feeders including a group of maturing juveniles.  These were a juvie Star-eye Parrot, a Yellow Tail Coris and what looks like a juvie bluespine Surgeon.

Here's a friendly mature Yellow Tail Coris

There was a lot of surge at Aquarium and i was unsure we'd be able to transit Suck'em Up.  We cruised through the lava tube and at the exit it appeared calm.  I've seen this before and been burned, but today there was no danger of being polarised onto the rocks above.  We all made it.

One of the stars of the day was the 7/11 Crab at Pinetrees somewhere between Aquarium and Suck 'em up.

Here are the rest of the fish we saw.

Barred filefish

Leaf Scorpion

Lei Trigger

Mostly the Usual Suspects, first day back on the boat

Back on Honu One, with Kona Honu Divers today–first day since March 16 on a dive boat.  Visibility was great at Kaloko and Eel Cove despite the lingering south swell, water temps about the same as in March at 79 degrees.  I was glad I brought the 5 mil instead of the 3, which I'd initially selected. So, ignoring any little rust pockets in my dive skills, it was like always: a great day in and on the water and under the sun.

When I arrived at the landing I noticed that the engine doors on Honu One were all open, allowing me to see the brand shiny new engine that had been dropped into her during the dry spell.  I wondered if everything was ok, and Carl replied that we were a go.

Tried Aquarium first but the south swell was still making Pine Trees too rough, so we wandered back toward the harbor and moored at Kaloko, one of my favorite spots for the deep trenches, canyons that mark the locations of collapsed lava tubes.

I always wondered if my nav skills were good enough to find my way back through the labyrinth of canyons to the boat if I ever got lost.  Well, after lingering for a while taking pics of the not-shy Female Whitleys I got to find out.  I was already the last in line, which is usual.  So when I finished getting the shot I wanted of Ms Whitleys I looked around and ... not even any bubbles.  OK, so I knew the plan was to swim out past the outer mooring toward the sandy patch, so I headed that way, still... no bubbles... did they go the other way?

Ms Whitleys

Just about that time the small northward current that was running when we got in got stronger.  Current sees a camera as though it were a sail.  So I tucked the rig in as much as I coud to streamline and continued heading south west.  Until, still no bubbes, I decided to head back to the boat.  Drifted along through the canyons and soon I could see the mooring.  YaY!  Cruised around the canyons so me more in search of the wire coral Id seen there in the past.  It had been a home for gobies which would have been a nice reward, but the wire coral was gone.

And after a while suddenly coming from the southwest...bubbles!  Rob had brought the lot back from their adventure, which Included an octopus, I heard.  But I'd seen a turtle so we were even.

Next stop was Eel Cove, or Fish Bowl.  Water was super clear and there didn't appear to be current.  But close in there was some surge.  We knew not to go in the cave the the south, though I did look into it:  votex of tiny bubbles means do not enter.  So I didn't.

There were a lot of fish at Fish Bowl, which you might expect, but conspicuously missing were Gooseberry the Cowfish and the old Alpha Viper Moray from their chosen haunts.  We all had scoured the rubble field at about 40 FSW a the start of the dive, and even went back and swam the grid again after an hour, but Gooseberry must have been somewhere else.  Likewise, the big Viper that lives in the pillar of rock just east of the main mooring was not home.  He's been away for extended periods before, so I don't worry, and for all I know, not having been there sinfe March, he might have just gone off for the day.

Fair amount of fish faces today, which is unusual because fish tend to be skittish and give you their butts.  But today the fish seemed really tame, and they didn't run away like usual.  Maybe the two months without humans made them forget being scared of us.  Anyway, here are the rest of the fish that were around me today.

Moorish Idol

Longnose Butterfly

Ornate butterfly

Ornate butterfly face

Parrot fish face

Yellow tail coris

Yellow tang, see the surgeonfish spike on his tail