Back to North Pine Trees

 Swell model looked great today; calm ocean, so a good day for diving.  I arrived so early at the Harbor that the Kona Honu Staff hadn't pulled up to the gate yet, so I angled over into the gravel and waited about 5 minutes.  A guy on a bike came over and unlocked the gate just in time for me, the dive staff and their truck to roll through.

Out on the ocean to the south there was a huge cloudbank with a distinctly dark appearance; it was the one I saw from my house and thought, "Just don't drift north."  But at the boat slip everything was sunny, with no wind. Would have been a great day for a bike ride too, but I'd made my choice.

Rob suggested we go to Dotties.  Mo chimed in that that was a good idea, and so did I.  Last time at Dotties I missed my favorite Zoanthid soft corals, so this would be another chance to see them. The Big Island doesn't have a lot of soft corals, so the protopalythoa Zoanthics are a treat to see. and there's a huge wall of them at Dotties.

Splash!  wow, it's still 77 degrees. Glad I am still wearing my ratty old 5 mil with a hooded vest. Rob asked, "Is that wetsuit going to hold together?" Honestly not knowing, I thought, "I hope so."

We took a bearing toward the dropoff and eventually to Preacher's Arch. On the way i found a Day Octopus scrunched down in a crevasse of rock and coral.  It eyed me from a distance and as I slowly approached it seemed to settle further, though his eyes w3ere locked on me.  Great creatures, Octopuses.

On a wall rob found a puka with a tiny Dwarf Moray sticking its nose out, which is about all my camera was able to capture.

Toodling along I saw a large number of common butterfly fish.  here's a not as common one, a Four Spot Butterfly.

Oh, forgot.  Right under the mooring Rob found a very large yellow Frogfish, the first of two we'd find today.  As soon as I dipped back toward the bottom a Spotted Puffer swam right at me.

Here sitting on some healthy Antler Coral is a very common ambush predator: the Arceye Hawkfish.  Further on, under a ledge I found some Big Scale Soldierfish and a strand of Wire Coral.  Later, at our second dive site I found the same Wire Coral Gobie I shot last time here, last week.  Today's pic was not good though, so to see a nice  Wirecoral Gobie go back one blog post.

Here's yellow Frogfish number two for the day.  He was presenting more to the world than just his face, so you can see how they like to set their feet on the rocks for stability as they engulf their prey in a few hundred thousands of a second.

Near the end of dive number two we found a harem of Psychedelic Wrasses.  I didn't see a male–drat, but the females were frolicing around in the coral, or maybe they were trying to get away from me, probably that.  Anyway, I got a shot of them after chasing them across the reef for a while.

Only two eels today: an Undulated that was sitting right above the spot where a Helmet snail was gorging on an urchin.  The other was a small white mouth eel just watching the passing show.

Here's a video of me following Rob around, but he found some cool arches.

Chance surprise meeting with an old friend

Today was no-shadow day in Kona.  That means that the sun, in its way across the tropic of cancer, passed directly overhead.  Laura wanted to be sure to get back to the dock by 12:20pm when the event was to happen.  In the water and out in the channel we found Dolphins and Sandy! She is a friend and dive guide who, while I was away on the mainland,  moved to another part of the island, making seeing her and being in the water with her a much less frequent treat.  However, today as our group crossed the sand flats outside the harbor, she and a group she was shore diving with appeared, and much hugging and bubble-blown greetings ensued.

Sandy!

 

Next dive site was going to be Kaloko Ledges.  I was stoked because I had thought to find a bearing from Kaloko Ledges to Kaloko Arches (Canyons) moorings,  because if you are on your own, as camera people sometimes are, you can dial in 40 degrees from the outer mooring and that will get you to the inner mooring.   Anyway, current came up so we ditched that site and headed back toward the harbor, stopping at Turtle Heaven where there was no current.

This is a great dive ste, with healthy reef, lots of fish and eels, and close enough tot he harbor that you often get to see big animals like Tiger Sharks, though none presented today.  

What did present, however, was a wonderful cast of vertibrates and non vertibrates. 

First up was a very large Hawksbill turtle, I think anyway.  It swam right past me headed north.  In the same area of reef I found a juvenile Yellowtail Coris passing an Ornate Wrasse going opposite directions.

At one point on the way back around our big circle route Rob and Laura found a giant Cowrie with a Fried Egg nudi in the same crack.  Moments later, a Fried Egg Nudi on his or her own.

These are two different White Mouth Eels, found about 50 yards apart. They might be sibllings who live just close enough to help each other with chores.  Or they might just be friends with benefits.

Anoth3r great find by Laura: Jewelled Anemone Crab, hiding under a deep recess off the sand flats.  Had to really open up the aperture to get that one, he was so far back.  AS I looked up to find my group there swam by a male RingTail Wrasse.  Hip shot...I didn't even have time to look in the fviewfinder.  Lucky I got anything.

BAck near the mooring there was a nice overhang with wirecoral popping out from under the ledge.  Goodie!  Lets look for gobies and shrimp.  No gobies but Dot pointed at a section of one of the strands, and..Yay!.. A Wirecoral Shrimp!  I had to wrestle with my rig to get under the ledge far enough to capture him, but managed it after a while.  Later Doug said, "I saw you working your rig to get under that ledge."  Understatement.

 

Just about on my safety stop and here's a nice, stationalry animal, out in the open (ambush predator) for me to shoot.  I don't care that Blackside Hawkfish are everywhere and unremarkable finds.  I just didn't want to work to get a nice photo.

Here's a video with Laura and a Horned helmet about to have lunch, plus a Square spot Goatfish also looking for lunch.

Failure to trim

 Gorgeous Friday morning in Kona.  I was happy to be headed to the harbor to get on Kona Honu Divers' _Honu One_ for a relaxing day of diving with a friend, Laura.  I remember so many Fridays heading out to the green can, watching the dolphins move slowly over the channel and sometimes catch a bow wave.  For years the Aggressor would always be moored at Turtle Heaven, and that's how i would know it was Friday.

Today I was futzing with my camera on the way out so didn't notice if there were dolphins.  Have had good luck lately with camera and housing functioning reliably.  

We turned north toward Pine Trees where there are half a dozen mooring balls at interesting sites. On tap today was a very nice, large arch where we hoped to find nudibranchs on the walls that are covered with sponges and cup coral.  Super colorful.

On the north side of the arch Kevin found a very tiny Dot Dash Nudibranch. It's not even half an inch long.  Little bugger was on the move and I followed him along the wall until I got a good shot of him.  Next up was the Gold Lace nudibranch.  He was happy to just stay in one place so I had an easier time framing up a shot of him.   

The roof of the arfch is covered with sponges and cup coral.  Here's a Longnose Butterfly and a Bluestrie Squirrelfish upside down looking for snacks on the roof.

There were lots of other fish under the arch and in the reef to the north.  Just outside I found a Leaf Scorpion just lying out on top of a coral head.  Usually they are deep in the antler coral and hard to shoot.  This guy was right out in the sunlight.  Before I left the arch I found a nice Moorish Idol and a Raccoon Butterfly cruising along the wall of the arch.

I got separated from the group after spending time with the Leaf Scorpion, and as i kicked to catch up I looked under a ledge and deep within the crack was a very large Undulated Eel getting himself detailed by a cleaner.  So I got further behind getting this shot.

AS we prepared for a secod dive my buddy Laura said her video light wasn't working, so I lent her my seconday torch so she could at least get some light on her subjects; we were going in at a spot that has lots of overhangs and pukas with cool critters.  I figured I'd compensate for the loss in ballast by adding another pound to my belt...But I put it on the wrong side, so in the water I was lopsided and listing heavily to the right. Stupid.  Tried to swap weights from one side of my belt to the other but couldn't manage it with the camera.  Got lost again and Kevin even had to ditcfh the group and come back to get me twice.  Second time I just decided to thumb the dive 20 minutes in.  Better to just go up so that's what I did.

However, that wasn't before I was able to get a couple of good shots.  Stout Moray and a Wirecoral Gobie. 

Flying Octopus

 Forecast was for rain and overcast, so naturally, morning in Kona today was sunny and nice.  Calm seas and diving prospects were high.

A bit of current forced us to look around for a quiet spot, which Kona Honu Divers Capt Taka found, and we were in the water.  Very nice visibility, around 80-100 ft, and bright sun lit up the healthy reef colors.  Octopus love was the theme today, and we also found octopus just hanging out in their pukas, while one decided to fly up the ridge were swimming through.  I tried to get a shot off but he was so fast a bit of his head got cut off.  In the shot directly below can you spot the Octopus checking me out with eye stuck up above a rock?

 

 

Along the way a big Spotted Puffer turned a corner and almost ran into me, a Stout Moray, and Rob-Bob found a Reef Lizardfish.

 

Laura spent some time out on the wand flats searching for Rubber Duckies, but it's not the season yet.  Did find a couple of very common nudis, a Strawberry and a scrambled Egg.

Eels everywhere, plus a big Frogfish and a small Wirecoral Gobie

 Today dawned with dark overcast and multiple rain squalls across the horizon.  Looked north to Pawai Bay; big whitewater all over the moorings and crashing on Wash Rock. Guess I won't ride my bike; fuck it dude, let's go diving.  Fortunately I had a space on Kona Honu Divers Honu One, so off to the harbor we go.  Here's Skipper Connor launching divers at our first site; same as yesterday since that area was the only place to dive with the swell coming in from both south and west.  We headed down the wall with guide, Kevin Stewart, and I was delighted at the lack of surge.  That, however, would catch up to us on dive two.

This area has multiple moorings across a large cove, and we were at the second farthest north.  The reef here is super healthy and full of fish....and today: Eels, Yellow Margin, Undulated, and four White mouth Eels.  All these White mouth Eels are unique different individuals.  At the bottom the nose of a Yellow Margin Eel is poking out of his hole.

Now that we've covered the eels, lets talk about some usual reef nudis, fishes and shrimp.  First up: a Strawberry nudi, then, nearby a Peacock Grouper heading for a hole, an Oval Butterfly fish,  an Oraangeband Surgeonfish photobombing an Arceye Hawkfish, a Longnose Butterfly, a Linkia Starfish, and a couple of Banded Coral Shrimp with an upside-down Red Barred hawkfish.

 

 So I saved the best finds for last.  Three awesome creatures. A very large Pale Yellow Camo Frogfish, a very small and shy female Whitley's Boxfish, and a wirecoral Gobie, found at the very end of dive two.

 The frogfish was so big I had to back up tofit it into the frame of my 60 mm macro lens. I spent so much time with the frogfish that when I looked up across the boulder and pinnacle field: no bubbles.  Crap, Well, I thought, the must be headed for the mooring by now, which convenientyly is close to the large pinnacle which is a feature of this site.  I swam that way and through the gloom began to see bubbles.  yay! 

The Whitleys was very small.  I chased her all over the reef, but she kept diving into overhangs and holes.  Finally she emerged from the shadows and met me head on.  Hi, you little beauty.   

Under a ledge on the pinnacle where I found the other divers there was a strand of wire coral reaching out into the water column.  I always closely inspect these becvasuse they very oftten harbor a couple of teeny, very cool animals.  Today on the wirecoral was a nice little Wirecoral Gobie.