Whales, Sharks, and an all-star appearance of underwater critters

Right out of the slip on Kona Honu Divers' _Honu One_ Sarah M headed for the bow to look for tiger sharks. They do sometimes come into the harbor, and we see them as wiggly dark shadows creuising over the lighter sand of the harbor entrance. Sure enough, we spotted a smallish Tiger Shark wiggling her way off the starbord bow toward the harbor entrance. Further out I looked for dolphins but they were elsewhere today. Present, however, increadibly this late in the season, were a mom and baby Humpback whale. The mom gave us a tail salute to send us on our way north to our first dive site.

The site we chose, despite some slight current and south swell was a favorite, however exposed, because of the large structures and inshore swim-throughs. Whether we'd actually be able to transit the long cavern-like structure was another question. On the way there we feasted our cameras on the largest Slipper Lobster I'd ever seen, and I startled a Flowery Flounder who found a new perch to blend in with hs extreme camo. Small creatures were on display too, and this Reef Lizard hung out long enough for me to get the shot. The first swim-through was just a small arch with lots of Blue stripe Snapperes congregating, but I was more interested in the tiny White Margin nudis that Kevin S pointed out. Two of them with eggs, so a family portrait.

The cleaner Wrasses were everywhere; perhaps it was car-wash day. Here's a Four Spot Butterfly gettting spiffed up. Nearby, under a ledge I found a Giant Porcupine fish who didn't want anything to do with me. He tolerated one shot and then beat it, but I got another shot of him on the run out of the hole. He wasn't the only underwater thing moving fast. The surge was strong and it was throwing us back and forth like a carnival ride. As I tried to move through a narrow crevasse I spied another White Margin nudi on the wall. I literally took the shot as I flew past him, and that shot, the only one I got, was miraculously in focus.

As we got deeper I rounded a rock to find a Pale colored Orange-Band Surgeonfish, Usually they are darker but a few have this paler color. Out on the reef i found a Juvenile Stareye parrot showing off her teeth.

On the deeper reef slope, as we headed for the dropoff, I was on the lookout for Psychedelic Wrasses. They are interesting due to the fact that the males are surrounded by a group of females who make up the harem. And if the male gets eaten or runs off, then one of the females transitions into a male and the family is whole again.. I didn't expect to actually find this treasure of Psychedelic Wrassehood: First, a transitioning female-to-male, second a bunch of females, of which this was one (more in the video at the bottom), and a male who might have been ditched by the females for being a knucklehead.

It wasn't an especially Eel-filled day, but the ones I saw were big and posing out of their holes. Here's a large White Mouth Eel, later I found one a bit smaller, but still large.

A very cool thing about butterfly fish is that many of them pair off in couples and go everywhere together. Here's a pair of Milletseed Butterflies and a solitary Threadfin. He's a threadfin because of the tiny thread trailing his dorsal fin

On an earlier post from last week i found an Indo-Pacific Sergent guarding his eggs. Here's one just hanging out under a ledge, apparently he got a baby sitter. Another instance of a fish getting shined up by a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse, this time an Island Goatfish.

We found a couple of very large Scrambled Egg nudis, this one was about 3 cm in length which is pretty big. Looking up, I saw Laura P kicking toward a ledge. That meant she found something cool and so she did: a Female Whitley's Boxfish. The site we were diving on is famous for being home to both male and female Whitleys. Apparently, the male was on a bender and not presentable.

Hear the end of the second dive I saw Laura P again crowding into a hole under a coralhead. I thought perhaps she'd found an Octopus trying to become invisible to no avail. After she moved on I slotted in to prolong the poor Octopus's ordeal for this shot. Turning around to find the mooring line a Redbarred Hawkfish was sitting in a coralhead, and beneath, over the side of a wall a Supermale Bullethead Parrotfish was biting into the rock.

Here's the video.