Diving the Kona Coast: 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Spanish Dancer

For all my years of diving in Kona, I've never seen a Spanish Dancer nudibranch. I don't night dive very often and that's when they're most active. My luck changed, however, on an early morning dive earlier this month when I happened across a juvenile specimen in a small cave at Honaunau.

This was a small individual, only a couple inches in length, but very active. It was making its way to the back of the cave to escape the increasing sunlight.

This little creature allowed me plenty of time to take its photograph and I was happy with the images I got. In the past, this small cave has been the scene for encounters with sea turtles, ulua, a Whitetip Reef Shark and an assortment of interesting mollusks and crustaceans. It's a good place to check out.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Whitetip Sighting

Just wanted to share a couple images of a Whitetip Reef Shark I saw while diving on Nov. 20. She has a large, barbed hook imbedded in her mouth on the left side and not visible in these two photos. As a result she was restless and kind of "pacing" back and forth in a little enclosed area of the reef. I Took several shots but most were obscured by backscatter caused by sand she was stirring up. After a few minutes, she left and swam away along the reef.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Scarlip O'Hara and Me

Just before Thanksgiving, I had the most wonderful experience while diving with the Spinner Dolphins in Honaunau Bay. I had taken up a position in the north end of the bay, hovering at about 40 feet over the sand bottom which was at around 120 feet. There was an unusually large group of dolphins in the bay, easily more than fifty. Every now and then a dolphin would come nearby so, on a whim, I switched the camera setting so my strobes would fire. Usually I don't do this as the subject has to be six feet away or closer for the flash to illuminate it. Wild dolphins rarely come that close to a SCUBA diver but I thought I'd try something differeny.

After a few wasted frames I was approached by the dolphin shown above. She was carrying a leaf on her pectoral fin as she swam near. This is a common behavior among Hawaiian spinners. One will find a leaf and swim with it, deftly passing it from rostrum (nose) to pec or dorsal fin to tail fluke. Often, several individuals will pass a leaf amongst themselves in an activity locally refered to as the "leaf game".

As you can see, she definitely came close enough to be lit up by the flash and I was delighted! I noticed a little abnormality in the coloration around her mouth and presumed it to be the result of a scar. As I was hanging there, I thought of her having a scar on her lip which I extrapolated to "scar-lip" and then somehow came up with "Scarlip O'Hara".

As lucky as I felt to be getting close-up photos of a beautiful wild dolphin, I was soon to get even luckier. Scarlip stopped to drop her leaf directly in front of me. I knew she was playing with me and I wasn't going to disappoint her. Awkward human that I am, I started to swim toward the leaf only to have her cruise by and snatch it just as it came within my reach. She was clearly pleased and so was I.

Scarlip swung around and deposited the leaf even closer to me, providing me with my favorite shot of the dive. Again she snatched the prize from me at the last moment, not with a burst of speed but with serene grace and dexterity. This scenario repeated itself a couple more times. Finally, she went up for air leaving me to possess at last the object of our mutual desire.

When she returned from the surface, she appeared to be genuinely amused to see me holding the leaf aloft and waving it at her. She was probably thinking how foolish I seemed celebrating my false victory. I released the leaf and let it drop. allowing the game to resume.

All good things must come to an end, and in diving that comes when the air supply gets low. When I turned to shore, Scarlip didn't follow and most certainly rejoined her group. The few minutes of inter-species play that we shared is a memory I will treasure always. The possibility of us meeting up again is extremely unlikely. Spinner Dolphins are not as behaviorally structured as other dolphin species with individuals traveling among groups and groups seldom frequenting the same area with any regularity A small part of my heart hopes she'll always remember our encounter.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dolphins, again!

I went diving at Honaunau on October 7th and had a small pod of ~18 spinner dolphins on both dives. One very assertive male buzzed me repeatedly on the first dive, even though I was keeping some distance away from the group. It gave me some decent photo ops! Here are the pics.

Kaneohe Bay Air Show 2010

I've haven't posted for awhile because life has been super busy recently. A couple of weeks ago, I was honored to take my Grandson, Jacques, to his very first air show! Since we have no air shows on the Big Island we traveled to Oah'u for the Kaneohe Bay Air Show at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i on the windward side. We stayed a week over there and had a great time. More importantly, Jacques loved the air show. Here are some random shots.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Silent Call

I just wanted to quickly share this amusing shot I got at Keauhou Bay yesterday. I caught this Blackside Hawkfish in mid-yawn, looking as if he's calling out from his perch. Hope you like it!

Bloody Hermit Crab

Today I'm posting some photos I took recently of a hermit crab that let me take some extreme close-ups. This particular species is called a Bloody Hermit Crab, owing to the red markings on its claw-bearing extremities. This one appears to be inhabiting the shell of a Textile Cone, but the shell is so heavily encrusted that it's difficult to be certain.

The last photo is my favorite. It's kind of a profile portrait and the crab looks a little wistful, a quality seldom associated with crustaceans!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Spotted Burrfish

This goofy-looking fish is a Spotted Burrfish and, according to the field guides, it is not commonly seen in Hawai'i. I hate to say that any fish is actually rare as it is probably found in numbers somewhere or another.

This is a very close relative of the porcupinefishes, the difference being the burrfish has spines that are erect all the time, whereas the spines of the porcupinefish are erect only when the fish "inflates" with water.

This particular individual resides in a small cave in Honaunau Bay. Only once have I seen it outside the cave, as shown in the last two photos of this post.

This is a substantial fish, reaching about a foot and a half in length. Its mouth is a sort of beak and has been known to actually sever fingers from careless divers who have harassed them!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Thursday Morning at Keauhou Bay

Last Thursday, I went to Keauhou Bay for a couple of dives. With winter swells not far off, I thought I'd take advantage of the low surf while I could. Getting in & out is a bit more difficult here than at Honaunau.

The payoff was to spend time with this medium-sized manta on both dives. She was a little stand-offish at first but eventually started doing some nice close passes. I mostly took photos of her by ambient light as there was a lot of particulate matter in the water column. Still a great time!