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.

Deep Treasures

 Overcast and still this morning made me think the sea would be glass on the Kona coast.  Good day for diving.  I was hoping for dolphin bow riders as we exited Honokohau harbor, but the dolphins were sleeping elsewhere.  There's the green can that's moored at 90 feet, with an anchor chain pile on a concrete block that's home for some very exotic creatures.

For a bit of a geek-out, I was stoked to see Mark from Queensland, a wreck diver, show up with not only a DIN reg but a long hose rig.  Here we are as neighbors. Turned around and there was Laura.

 

Immediately in the water, Laura and Doug found some Indigo Dart fish.  Here they are, though one is lurking behind the other one..

We cruised around the drop-off west of Pine Trees and again Doug had the eagle eye, spotting a Curious Wormfish.  I chased it for a while and didn't think I'd got a shot of it, but here it is.  Around the same area I found a Rockmover Wrasse turning rocks over, an Orange Spine Unicorn fish, a Leaf Scorpion deep in a coral head, and a 4 spot Butterfly.

 

Kevin awesomely spotted some tiny beauties: A Hawaiian Lionfish and a Bicolor Nudibranch.

Back near shore we explored some overhangs with White Tip Reef Sharks.  My shots are out of focus so you'll have to go find Laura's pics for that.

There was a lot of surge inshore, and that made Nudi shots a drive-by affair.  Still managed to get a few good shots, Including a Gold lace Nudi and a yellow Baby Frogfish.  So cute!

 After a surface interval we headed for deeper water, looking for rare creatures and hoping for some big pelagics.  The biggest I saw was a whole school of big Ulua; but no Tiger sharks. What we did find was a rare Green Lionfish.  My best shot of it was sadly a bit out of focus, so again look for Laura's pics for a better one.

 

While we were still in deep water we found some other great critters: A Whitestripe Cleaner Shrimp at the mouth of a hole, waiting for a fish to show up to detail.  A few feet up the reef I found an Undulated Eel with a couple of Orange Band Cleaner shrimp getting the job done.

 

On the way back up the reef toward the mooring Doug and Laura were gathered around a small outcropping of rock and coral.  I got there in time to see the small Stout Moray before it retreated into its puka.

Additionally,  a few of the usual creatures: Raccoon Buttefly front view, Moorish Idol, and a Black Longnose Butterfly, endemic to Hawaii, being photobombed by a normal Longnose.