Diving the Kona Coast: 2012

Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts

Friday, November 9, 2012

Election Day 2012

Here in Hawai'i, we have early voting so Betty and I voted the Saturday before Election Day. This freed me up to do a little diving on Tuesday. I had a couple of really nice dives but the second one was really special. I found a small Hawaiian Red Lionfish also known as a Hawaiian Turkeyfish (Pterois sphex).

This is only the fourth time in twelve years I've seen one of these in Kona. Apparently, they used to be fairly common but they've been over-collected for the aquarium trade and are really rare now. The spines of these fish are very venomous inflicting a sting that is very painful. The last time I saw one was when I was still shooting film instead of digital so that's a long time!

Surprises like this are what makes diving so much fun. It's no always the big, glamorous stuff that makes for a special dive. Sometimes a small surprise like this is more than enough!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Pacific Trumpetfish

Last weekend I was able to get some pretty good close-ups of a co-operative Pacific trumpetfish (Aulostomus chinensis). Trumpet fish are found on coral reefs all over the world and are successful hunters on the reef. They have a rigid stick-like body and swim by fluttering their dorsal and anal fins. The mouth of a trumpetfish is a complex affair designed to quickly create a vacuum and suck in small prey fish. In doing so, the mouth flares like the bell of a trumpet and hence the name.

On its chin, the trumpetfish sports a small barbel which may serve as a lure to unsuspecting fish. While the trumpetfish presents a large side profile, it is extremely thin and very hard for prey to see head-on

I like this last photo as the sun is backlighting the fish and glowing through the almost-transparent parts of the mouth. On the left upper corner, in the far background, another trumpetfish can be seen hanging vertically in the water, stalking its prey.

Monday, October 15, 2012

White Leaf Scorpionfish

Another interesting find this weekend was this large, pale leaf scorpionfish (Taenianotus triacanthus) sitting out in the open in the shallows. These are often tucked into crevices during the daylight hours, so to find one out in the open was a nice surprise.

These fish will sway back and forth in the surge, mimicking the movement of a fallen leaf in the water.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Ornate Butterflies at cleaning station

First off, my apologies to anyone who might have been following this blog only to have me let it go for a couple months. Betty & I spent a good deal of the summer visiting with our kids & grandkids on the mainland. Once back, we got ready for company as my brother Chuck & his lovely bride Jeanette paid us a visit. Come early December, my Mom will be here to visit for a month. So it has been, and will continue to be, a little busy around here.

Yesterday was a beautiful and sunny day at Honaunau. I've been trying out different settings on my SeaLife DC-1400 and think I may have hit upon a good combination. Early in the dive I saw this cleaner wrasse working on an ornate butterflyfish pair. This was early in the morning and with previous settings my background would be stark almost totally black. But this gave me a more natural and softer blue background which I like better.

I hope you enjoy these photos and I'll try to post more shortly. Aloha!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Mystery Crab

I saw this tiny crab on a recent twilight dive at Honaunau and have been unable to identify it. It seems like the distinctive heart-shaped white area on the carapace would make ID simple, but I haven't seen anything like it in my reference books or on the web. Any help in making the identification would be greatly appreciated!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Quick Change Artist

I snapped these two photos of a Common Bigeye (Heteropriacanthus cruentatus) literally just seconds apart. That was all the time it took for the fish to change from its blotchy red and silver resting color to its blood-red active color. The Hawaiian name for this fish is Aweoweo which translates to "glowing red". It is most active at night and is a popular food fish.

Friday, January 13, 2012

New Year's Day Dive

Betty and I arrived at Honaunau Bay bright and early on New Year's Day to be the first SCUBA divers there in 2012. We were in the water by a few minutes past 7AM.

The water was a little cold with an average temperature of about 73 to 74F. At one point, both of our computers read 69F.

Because of a bad fiber-optic cable connection, my strobe wasn't firing so I had to rely on the camera's built-in flash which is pretty weak. But I managed to get some decent shots like this one of a Bandit Angelfish.

Bandit's aren't rare but they are uncommon. I considered this a good start to diving in 2012!

Several cleaning stations were quite busy for so early in the morning. I snapped this Ornate Butterflyfish at one such station. The cleaner wrasse is in the far side of this fish.

This Barred Filefish was also getting cleaned and held up his dorsal "trigger" so the wrasse could clean around it.

We were also lucky enough to catch this Day Octopus out in the open. This is the time of year that I've noticed a lot of mating activity among the octos.

At one point, the octopus blanched. I probably got too close for it to feel comfortable.

I took this picture of a male longfin anthias on the second dive when the cable was re-attached to the strobe.

Photo 2012 by Barry Fackler

This lurid Ringtail Wrasse was comfortable under a deep rock. There was also an Undulated Moray under there with it.

And that's the way it was on New Years Day for us. Hope your year is off to a good start also!