Golden Arches South and Pyramid Pinnacles 6/22/21

 First day of Summer calm was on the ocean today, and the sky was clear and vaulted blue up over the crest of Hualalai and Mouna Loa in the distance tot he south.

Honu One, Kona Honu Divers flagship boat idled out of Honokohau Harbor and picked up our dolphin escort.  Also escorting us was a single outrigger paddler who hitchhiked onto our stern wave way out past the green can.  Life is good.

There had been some north running current in the last few days, and at Golden Arches we noticed a small current, but not enough to be annoying.  I was glad, however, not to have my wide angle dome on the housing.  That thing makes my rig a sail that catches any current.

First thing we found was an assembly of Flameback Coral Shrimp and Banded Coral Shrimp.

The variety of creatures today was stunning–seems everyone was out to enjoy the summer conditions. Here's a Devil Scorpionfish and a couple of nudis, a Fried Egg nudi and a Gold Lace. Near the end of the dive, as we angled back toward the south arch Rob found a Viper Moray lying upside down in his hole.  We've seen him in there before but he was a bit more accessible, even though still upside down.

Back under the arch I found the resident school of Bluestripe Snappers that live there and flipped upside down to get a pic of the golden Cup Coral that the arches are named after.

Back on the boat we headed south back in the direction of the harbor to check out Pyramid Pinnacles, where the calm conditions might afford us a rare chance to explore the inshore lava tube that meanders under the lava shelf and feels like a Disney attraction that we can swim through.  Out on the reef before heading toward the shadowy lava tube entrance we found a number of day Octopus.  Here's one who decided to slink back in his hole as I approached.

Here's where I had a WTF moment.  Hey, an underwater centipede, and it does look like one, though this specimen is a Lined Fireworm.  Actually, the three species of Fireworms in Hawaii have a lot in common with centipedes.  Mainly, they are venomous and can deliver a painful sting.  Thus, Fireworm.  This is a young one, and I stayed away.  Shortly afterward I found this Orange Band Surgeonfish and a couple of more nudis, a Strawberry and a Trembling nudi.

Finally we arrived at the opening of the lava tube.  What you do is look in and see if there are any vortices of small bubbles whirling about in the first few meters of the entrance.  That means, don't go in.  Today, nothing but calm water and no surge.  In we go.  

That shot is from about half way through.  Here's the video. Click here.

 Back out in the boulders  Janine found some pretty Zoanthids, and found me to look at them because she knows I love them.  Thanks J9.  The boulder field is a great habitat for lots of animals with lots of cracks and crannies to find homes.  Here's the Spotted Puffer i found under a ledge and a Bicolor nudi that Janine's sharp eye singled out.

Finally, I found a fairly common Arceye Hawkfish in some healthy antler coral waiting for lunch to swim by.

 

 

 

 

 

Touch of grey and Kaloko Canyons 6/17/21

 On the Aquatic Life Divers boat Amelia we learned that Rachel had never been to Touch of Grey.  "Every time we try someone's already on it," she groused.  So, without further discussion, we headed north, up past the fish farms and into the offshore expanse where the gigantic lava slab ends in deep notches and walls where the Grey Reef Sharks like to hide from the current.  I guess they go in there and sing, "We will survive."

Today there was little to no current for the first part of the dive through the giant archway that leads to the shark den.  I'm actually there for the wirecoral gobies, of which there were a few.  Here's a link to the video. https://youtu.be/3f148-cSPRw

From the exit of the big shark and gobie grotto, at about 70 feet depth we turned north and headed with the current that was coming up.  Not to worry; it was a drift dive so we didn't have to worry about getting back to the mooring.  On the way we followed the continuing wall and big crevasses where critters love to hide.  Below are some Blackfin Chromis in a healthy antler coral, a mated pair of Fourspot Butterflies, a big Puffer and the business end of an Undulated Moray.

 

I've been looking for seastar or cushionstar shrimp and finally found one very tiny specimen.  Becca found an also very small Dwarf Moray poking out of a hole.  Very shy, this one.  Then very deep in some antler coral was this little  endemic Lion Fish.

Here's a White spot Toby ducking under some wirecoral.

 

It was a fairly deep dive and so after about an hour Becca deployed her SMB and we herded up off the lava slab toward the surface, popped up and of course there was Rob with the boat right where we hoped he'd be.

Next stop: Kaloko Canyons, another one of my favoritte spots because of more wirecoral and Gobie action, plus the possibility of finding the Whitley's Boxfishes that are often there.  Well, we didn't find the Whitleys, but there were plenty of critters in the canyon maze we navigated, finally reaching the sand flats out past the outer mooring.  Yes, I looked for Rubber Duckies. Nope.

On the way out I found some Bigscale Soldiers bivouaced under a ledge and a Fried Egg nudi, and another Wirecoral Gobie.

We ended up saving some of the best for last.  Becca found a pretty big Frogfish and right under the boat on the way back I postponed my safety stop to get a shot of this very large Yellow Margin Eel.  The first set of shots of him were totally blank?!?!?  What now, camera rig?  I'm so mad that I can't get this awesome moray that I dialed up the ISO to 1200, opened up the aperture to about f 5.6 and just shot with my focus light.  Those came out meh but at least I could prove it was there.  Close examination now of all the flash system parts. Oh, the primary strobe was somehow turned off. Some fish must have snuck up on my left side and bumped the strobe selector to off.  Yeah, I'm sure that's what happened. 

Suck 'em up and Eel Cove 6/8/21

 Not diving a lot lately–no reason, just taking a break.  But back in the water today with Kona Honu Divers and the Ohana Tuesday gang.

Ocean conditions were perfect with very light chop, hardly any wind and negligible swell.  Once in the water at Suck'em up I felt a slight current, but it soon died out and wasn't a problem.  We headed for the dropoff, planning to come back to the lava tube at the end.  On the way out I found a Saddle Wrasse and a Raccoon butterfly catching shade under a ledge. 

We didn't see any big pelagics out there, nor any Tinkers, which is what i was looking for, so we headed back in toward the lava tubes and did Skull Rock first.  Vis was kind of murky at the entrance but it seemed better once inside.  I took a video and will post a link to it here.  Rob found a big Spiny Lobster in the ceiling, and I tried to get a shot of it, well, part of it...he was way back in his hole.

But the coolest thing as we left Skull Cave was  what we found at the exit of Suck 'em up.  This huge turtle decided to launch out of the small sluiceway (to the surface) that Suck'em up exits into.  I was looking straight into the hole as he swam out.  Then he did a fly over.

 

 

Back out in deeper water I found a young Tiger Snake eel, and a Barred Filefish decided to come check me out. The big Rockmover wrasse ignored me until i started turning over rocks for her.  Then she liked me. But this was not what most of the fish today were doing.  For instance, the Female Whitley's ran away before i could get a shot, and so did a big Ulua.  I guess the fish are growing a bit tired of returning divers now that boats are mostly full, or maybe it's just me.

 

 

So Rob found a coral head with two Leaf Scorpionfish, one magenta and one mostly white.  Heres the White one; the magenta was too deep in the antlers to get my light on him.  Laura C Found a White Margin Nudi just out under a ledge.  He was actually moving pretty well, on his way somewhere, as white margin nudis are apt to do.

  Along the wall south of the mooring at Eel Cove, near Rose Garden we found a big Tiger Cowry in a hole.  Lzura C found a young Spotted Puffer under a ledge.  I had to get way down into a rocky crevasse to get the shot.

This Bluespine Unicorn wasn't shy, and hug out until he was satisfied I'd got a shot of his best side.  The juvenile Blackside hawkfish was totally uncernec that I was there.  Most of the time they swim away as I pull the shutter, giving me a smear of color at 1`/200 sec exposure.  This one just sat there, thanks.

Crescent and High Rock 5/25/21

 South swell came up overnight so our choices were limited today for a suitable dive site on Kona coast.

The easy choice, which we took, is to drop to a mooring right outside the harbor at Crescent or Nai'a, and go out to see Garden Eels, Bicolor Anthias (I missed them) and big Tigers (they didn't show).  The reef is healthy and drops considerably from the mooring, where the goatfish school shimmers like a moving curtain, and ends in the flat sand at 80-100 ft depending on tides.

Right under the mooring there was a nice Clumpy Nudibranch.  Cool! 

On the way down the gradient I found a couple of big White Mouth Eels.

 

 

Once on the sandt here were some Garden Eels, but you can't get close enough to them to get pics because they sink into their little holes as you approach.  Predictably, when I got to the little rock patch where the Bicolor Anthias live I was too late.  they'd already hid away.  Later Janine said she'd hang out with me while I wait for them to come back out.  Thanks J9, I'll take you up on that offer.

Out by the Green Can anchor chain I heard some heavy boat traffic churning by 80 feet above.  I was reminded of the time out there years ago that a diver near me had an out-of-air emergency..  Oops, can't go up, can't go down...maybe go south to the shallows.  (She was cool and everything worked out.)

Now some cool things:  A bunch of juvenile Dascillus were flitting around in a coral head.  Then in a sand patch we found what looks like a crab of some sort.  And another mystery critter.  Here's a flatworm or nudi that I couldn't ID.  Help?

 

 

More nudis:  Strawverry Nudi and a nice Bi-Color Nudibranch that Janine found.  There was another smaller one with it but if I'd take a shot with both you wouldn't be able to see them.

 

 Lots of Lizard fish today, but most of them were too fast for me to get them.  This one was a tick slower.

Back at Naia, one of the stars of the day was this Female Whitleys Boxfish.  She was not in a mood to be photographed and only gave me this one fishbutts.com contender. And back up in the shallow boulder field there were plenty of attarctions, including the Goat Fish school, some nice Plate Coral, and a Srawled Filefish that was really trying to get away.

 

 

This was a big Honu, hiding in a hole.  We roused him with our strobes and he wasn't that pleased.  But, see the barnacles on his nose?  I'd hate that.