Diving the Kona Coast: Day Octopus

Showing posts with label Day Octopus. Show all posts

Friday, June 6, 2014

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Betty & I spent last weekend at the volcano celebrating our wedding anniversary so there was no diving. However, there were TWO state holidays that week (Prince Kuhio Day & Good Friday) which afforded some wonderful photo ops. Here's a smattering...

Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus)

Day Octopus (Octopus cyanea)

Haig's Hermit Crab (Calcinus haigae)

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

That's all for now! Aloha!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Octopus Love on St. Patrick's Day

This Saint Patrick's Day I arrived bright and early (well, just early) at Two Step for a little diving. The water is still spectacularly cold at around 73 deg. F. The conditions, otherwise, were pretty good. Toward the end of my first dive, I happened upon a large, handsome octopus and settled in to get some shots.

Like most octopi, this one displayed a combination of shyness and curiosity. Sometimes hunkering down in the coral to hide and other times "standing up" on the reef to get a good look at me.

I followed the creature as it jetted from one coral head to another and morphed through a range of colors and textures.

After several minutes of this, He settled on a patch of coral and assumed an upright posture. To my surprise a smaller octo rose up a short distance beyond him. For a short time they remained stationary, just pulsating on top of the coral. Then, slowly, they oozed toward each other, tentacles reaching out. I was able to get a photo just as the male extended his hectocotylus arm under the female's mantle to inseminate her.

And then, just like that, it was over, each octopus jetting off in different directions. A brief flurry of 16 arms hopefully resulting in a new generation of cephalopods. Happy St. Patrick's Day, young lovers!

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!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Dive Report for Saturday 05/29/10

Saturday was a great day for diving with a flat sea and crystal clear water. It was not, however a great day for photography as both SeaLife strobes decided to act up! About 60% of the time NEITHER strobe fired, resulting in a lot of missed shots. Fortunately, the sheer volume of shots I took resulted in some decent photos. It is supremely frustrating to get in perfect firing position with a skittish subject abiding in a hostile environment only to be foiled repeatedly by technical failure. I was doubly fortunate in that we had plenty of Spinner Dolphins on both dives which gave me plenty of ambient light photo ops.

When Betty and I first arrived at Honaunau Bay (a little after 7 AM) the dolphins were rising and spouting in unison. This was something we don't see very often and it was neat to observe.

The wonderful thing about SCUBA is the chance to have dolphins above, below and beside you for extended lengths of time.

Notice the little nicks on the trailing edge of the dolphin's dorsal fin in the photo above. I wonder how they got there? It doesn't look to be the work of Cookie-Cutter Sharks.

These three males travelled together and swam close to us repeatedly. You got the impression that they were protectors of the pod and would take action if we made any threatening moves.

The dolphins stayed the entire morning and drew quite the appreciative crowd of snorkelers, kayakers and shore observers.

As much as I love dolphins, I can't spend a whole dive watching them. I was anxious to see if my little yellow frogfish was still where I left him last week. Sure enough, I was able to locate him (or her) in less than a minute after arriving in the area.

I hope this fish stays in the same area for a long time so I get a chance to see it change over time. As it matures, its appearance will change as its color and texture will mimic its surroundings.

Over the course of two dives, I saw four different octopi. Two were in close proximity to one another and may have been thinking about making a few hundred baby octopi. I could have gotten a few hundred good photos if the strobes had been co-operating!

When the octopus decides the encounter is over, the encounter is over ! And when this blogger is out of photos, this post is over as well.

Aloha!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Prince Kuhio Day - Dive Report for Friday March 26, 2010

Today is Prince Jonah Kuhio Day, a state holiday in Hawai'i and yours truly had the day off which was spent wisely at the beach.

On the first dive I found this Common Bigeye sheltered under a ledge. Note the silvery sheen on its dorsal surface. These fish always stay tucked away during the daylight hours.

I always have a difficult time getting close enough to Bluespine Unicornfish to get good photos. They tend to swim off when you begin to draw close. These are very aptly named fish with a prominent horn projecting forward from between the eyes. They are a beautiful light blue color.

The photos above are of an Orangespine Unicornfish. Despite the name, these fish don't have a horn on their heads. Go figure! What they do have is an ornately decorated face that reminds me of a tribal mask. Like other unicornfish, it's hard for me to get close enough for a good shot.

Undulated Morays, like this one, are sometimes aggressive. This one was pretty shy, keeping tucked in its coral haven and foiling any attempt to get a clear shot.

I'm still seeing a lot of octopus and a respected divemaster has told me that this is their mating season (the octopi's, not the divemasters'). Anyway, I've tried to cut back on octophotos but this one was just to cooperative. I was particularly pleased with the one where it blanched mostly white.

A try at an artistic shot with a sunny background. The fish is a Threadfin Butterflyfish.

The turtles are all doing well today. The one in the top photo is getting a good cleaning by a gaggle of tangs.

Saddleback Butterflyfish are beautifully colored and are one of my wife's favorites. They usually travel in pairs but this one was going solo.

Ornate Butterflyfish cue up at a cleaning station awaiting their appointments with a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.

On the second dive I saw yet another Day Octopus. I limited myself to this one photo. It was a nice day of diving. My only complaint is that the water is getting colder instead of warmer. Hopefully that will change soon.

Diving the Kona Coast

Friday, June 6, 2014

Octopus' Garden