Nudi Tuesday at Golden Arches and Shark Alley 4/27/21

 I have a list of sea creatures that I haven't yet seen, even after 13 years of diving up and down the Kona coast.  On that list is an actual blue Blue Dragon Nudi.  Ive seen a bunch of brown ones, but was today years old when I saw an actual blue one.  Laura found it.  Thanks Laura.  Here are a coupke of shots, first the little guy's head...cute, huh?  Then his articulated body. 

Also, since it was Nudi Tuesday, under the south arch we found plenty of locals out celebrating.  Whtie Margin family and a couple of Gold Lace.  Heading out from the arch there, right where she should be, was a fat Dragon Wrasse wafting around over the sand.

Off we go toward the dropoff.  Lots of Antler Coral and fish, Here are a few Yellow Orange Band Surgeons with Dascillus.

Here are my swim-bys with Guilded Trigger, Shy Octopus, and an adult Orange Band Surgeon.

Crossed paths with a pair of Moorish Idols, and Rob found the big upside down Viper, while a smaller white mouth eel was chilling nearby.  Under an arch a school of Bluestripe Snappers were moving back and forth in formation.

Out by the dropoff we found a little pinnacle with a tunnel through it.  Lots of fish in there, including a Long Jaw Squirrel with a Brick Squirrel and a longnose butterfly photobombing.  Way down in a coral head I found a Spotted Coral Blennie.

Near the end of the dive at Shark Alley Laura found some little dart-like fish that I couldn't ID.  Laura sez they are Juvie Oval Chromis.  

A nice White Tip Reef shark was resting at the end of the alley in the shallow cave.

 

Other fish I did recognize heading back out toward the mooring were the twin Teardrop Butterflies and a big Yellow margin eel in a hole.

Dotties and Pyramid Pinnacle 4/20/21

 Another flat ocean day, another chance to explore the reefs up and down the Kona coast.  Rob steps down off the bow and asks, "where do you want to go?"  I thought I felt us heading north of the green can so I answered, "Dotties?"  Response was universal: "we haven't been there in a long time, let's go!"

Cool, I haven't seen the protopalythoa soft corals in a while, except for the surprise small patch at Pipe Dreams last week.  Dive plan developed by Kevin was to kick out toward the arch at Preacher's and then wander back in through the large mounds and pinnacles.

This dive has topography with lots of holes and pukas where critters take shelter. In ole of the overhangs I found a Barred Filefish, and a nice ornate Butterfly was out in the open. Approaching the arch we were scanning the pukas and walls for nudis, but I wasn't prepared at the arch to see two big Undulated eels in the same hole.

 And those weren't the only eels of the day.  Here's another, smaller White Mouth Eel.

The one thing I didn't see were the soft corals I love so much at Dotties.  I guess I didn't go far enough north from the mooring.  Oh, well; I found some at Pipe Dreams last week so no worries.

Back underway on Honu One the conversation about next dive site zeroed in On Pyramid Pinnacle after Rob told us about the multiple frogfish he'd seen there last week.  You never know what you'll get, but it was a good reason to stop there.  A second good reason was that the calm seas might make it possible to traverse the inshore lava tubes.

In the water was crystal clear at PP and no current.  Great!  Immediately we stumbled on a couple of common nudis, a scrambled egg and a strawberry.  

But as we continued out toward the dropoff I relearned the lesson of how you need to check your tank pressure on the boat before you get in.  I looked casually at my computer and saw 2400 PSI with only 3 minutes on the timer.  OK, I'll just sip gas and not go too deep.  But it was a distraction, and I wasn't inclined to chase fish or join the gaggle of divers out at 70 feet tripping off their strobes.  I'll see the pics at some point.

The supreme treat of the day unfolded to be the fact that it was so calm that we could wander through the lava tubes and caves that link together to make a dramatic swimthrough.  Mostly at the mouth of this structure I see big vortices of bubbles at the entrance, signalling lots of surge that makes it dangerous.  Not today.  I shot video mostly but did get these White Margin nudis creating their next generation.  

Couldn't resist the big Moorish Idol posing for me, and the Spiny Lobster hiding deep in a hole.

We got through the swimthroughs and headed back out.  By then I had about 1000 PSI left and it was 50 minutes into the dive.  I signalled to Kevin that I was going to cut it short and head for the boat.  He gave me directional pointer and I headed through the pinnacles to the mooring.

 

Hoovers and Pipe Dreams 4/17/21

 Ocean totally calm today, sparkling sunlight cast diamonds across the surface as we headed north with Aquatic Life Divers.  Ohana boat today with only four divers and two staff.  I was completely relaxed even before we left the dock.

No dolphins at the harbor mouth so didn't linger.  Target for the first dive was Touch of Grey I was stoked to think of possible Whitley's, Wirecoral Gobie and shark sightings.  However, that prospect was dashed as we headed past Garden Eel Cove only to see another boat moored at TOG.  

We were right over Hoovers Tower so decided to just drop in there.  I've seen day mantas at Hoovers on few occasions, and Whitley's too, but today's critter haul included neither.  Instead we found a couple of big eels, the first Whitemouth and the second an Undulated, a bit further on I found a nice female Spotted Boxfish.

Marc found a baby Hogfish.  So small and so darting around.  Luck to get one fishbuttz.com appropriate shot.  Then, deep in a hole was hiding a Banded Coral Shrimp.  No eel companion however.   Just outside were a bunch of orange Band Surgeons.  Here's one of them.  They tend to run away but I snagged the straggler.

Back on the boat, and how nice to be up in this neighborhood and not have to fight current.  Did I say it was a nice day?  We circled around out by the fish farms hoping for shark or Monk Seal sighting but nobody home except the fish in the cage.

Earlier on the way up a boat had taken Pipe Dreams, but now it was unoccupied so we jumped on it.  I hadn't been here for a while since it's been winter.  Previous trips here had revealed lots of frogfish and a very large Titan Scorpionfish.  I hadn't seen the Titan for a couple of years, so wasn't really counting on it.  We headed down to the pipe and the water was clear and vis seemed endless.  I shot the same video i always shoot approaching the pipe, and it never gets old.

 Immediately I saw divers kicking over toward the mouth of the pipe.  There was an adorable baby Frogfish.  Here are a couple of views of him.

Marc found something I don't think I've ever seen before.  Some kind of zoanthid perhaps, though at first I thought it was a crab.

Wandering back toward the mooring there were plenty of attractions.  The first was a very mobile Ewa Fang Blennie.  I just keep shooting as long as I have strobe power and hope something is in focus.  I kind of got him but it may be a better shot of the Goldring Surgeon and the yellow tang behind.

But just further on was the find of the day: the big Titan Scorpionfish that I guess is the same one that I've seen before here, though maybe not for a few years.  He was on a ledge in a crevasse, and was for a time, very popular.

It must be male Bullethead Parrot season right now because I've seena  bunch of these up and down the coast.  I never pass on shooting them because the color and saturation is so wild.  See the yellow spot on his flank? That means he's feeling amorous.  Aloomost back at the mooring I found another patch of coral that I didn't know was here.  A small patch of Protopalythoa, soft coral, that I've only seem reliably at Dotties.  hard to see them because I didn't have a way to get closer.  The only nudi of the day was this Strawbery nudi.  Common here.

Instead of doing a safety stop I elected to go chase this Supermale Belted Wrasse.  hadn't seen one of these in a while.  Last shot?  A nice Longnose Butterfly.

Sharkfin Rock and Eel Cove (Fish bowl) 4/13/21

 I was wondering why, on such a calm day, we were heading for Pawai–our winter haven from the north swell.  Not unhappy; I love Pawai moorings, with Lionfish, Psychedelics, frogfish, Whales (in season), and endless other species. But then I overheard that Honu One was headed for Sharkfin Rock, just off Old A's.  This was great news; I hadn't been to Sharkfin Rock in a couple of years, but I remember the wirecoral gobies, pinnacles, and endless structure.

Rob towed us over to the first big pinnacle and right there we found multiple Wirecoral Gobies. On the way over I found a Dragon Srawsse and a nice Goldring Surgeon.

 

 

The big find at Sharkfin, by Laura P, was a Gloomy Nudibranch.  She dragged me over to a pinnacle near the mooring as I was contemplating an early safetystop.  On the way I found a Manybar Goatfish.

Fun SI project: go do laps around the huge Yacht, Vida, that appeared in the bay on Sunday.

Heading north I was wondering if we might check out one of my all-time fav spots, Eel cove, or Fish Bowl.  Capt John and the crew must have been thing the same thing because just past Outhouse we slowed.  I looke ahead..hmm, a small boat on Rose Garden but Eel Cove was unoccupied.  And that's where we moored for our next dive.

The big question was, how to find Gooseberry?  Would he be deep, would he be shallow, or in between?  Last week Rob swam the grid from 40 ft to 70 ft and didn't find him.  However, today we all spread out and did a sort of organized scan of the rubble west of the mooring.  I looked down the slope from mu line at about 40 ft and saw Laura flashing her strobes.  That can only mean one thing:  she found him.  And she had.  I got there just as she finished getting her shots and here he is.  Also at home was the big, old Viper Eel back in his little spire near the mooring, but in a different hole and not sticking out of the top like he used to.  The Peacock Grouper in a hole was nearby.

I decided to cruise back out toward the dropoff and look in the boulders.  Found these guys out there.  A white mouth eel, Raccoon Butterfly couple, and a Big Scale Soldier.

The fish were definitely out today, and not being too shy were a Fourspot Butterfly, a Ringtail Wrasse, and a Threadfin Butterfly.

 

 

 BAck by the inshore wall again i noticed Laura flashing at something under a coral patch.  It was a baby yellow Frogfish.  Turn around and there is Dee with her camera in a crevasse.  She'd found a baby Trembling nudi.  Whee...I'll just follow these divers around and will probably find more things than I'd ever have an eye to see on my own.

BAck toward the mooring I ran into these two, a Male Bullethead parrot and an Orange Band Surgeon.