Diving the Kona Coast: Keone'ele Cove

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.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Good Winter Diving Continues! Dive Report for Saturday 03/06/10

Another weekend of great diving at Honaunau this weekend. The seas were almost flat with only some occasional, small sets slapping at the shore. The weather was nice and sunny, the U/W visibility easily 100' and the water temp an exhilarating 74 degrees. Except for the temp everything was as close to perfect as it gets. By the way, before I go any further I'd like to point out that the area I've been referring to as Honaunau Bay is actually named Keone'ele Cove. Please forgive the inaccuracy.

Betty dove with me today and it was nice to have her company.

We went deep to check on our little cluster of Longfin Anthias and found them all to be doing quite well. Here Betty checks on two of the females in the "harem".

We went south along the face of the dropoff and happened upon a number of Oval Chromis in the act of spawning.

This is a male Oval Chromis displaying his "spawning colors" Spawning season is from about February through May. During this time a male will establish a territory, prepare a nest and defend his territory from rivals. The male then performs the aquatic version of a mating dance to attract females to his nest. When an interested female arrives she deposits eggs at the nest site and, afterwards, the male fertilizes them. Once the eggs are fertilized, the female departs, leaving the male to rigorously defend the eggs against any intruders, even those far bigger than himself including divers!

For the second week in a row a Peacock Grouper was seen engaging in cooperative hunting. This time the partner was a good-sized Whitemouth Moray. When we first saw the pair, the eel was free-swimming but it dove into the coral when we approached.

We found this Whitesaddle Goatfish, or kumu, resting after a night of hunting along the reef. This fish was highly valued in ancient times and could be offered as a sacrifice in lieu of a pig if a pig was unavailable. Men could eat the kumu but women were forbidden to do so.

We saw several of these young Whitebar Surgeonfish during our first dive. They seem to stay solitary when they're small but form small schools when they mature.

Seeing and photographing Green Sea Turtles is pretty routine but I really like this photo of a honu I took toward the end of the dive. It's not a great picture of the turtle, but the water's surface looks really amazing. It sort of reminds me of a Salvador Dali painting combined with Van Gogh. I particularly like the way the clouds are distorted in the upper part of the frame.

Here's another photo taken a couple of seconds later but minus the view of the clouds. When I'm photographing a moving sea turtle, all I really concentrate on is keeping the animal in the shot. How the background appears is completely serendipitous.

On the second dive we encountered this trio of Hawaiian Dascyllus just before they dove into a coral head. These fish are in the same family as the Oval Chromis and can also be quite bold. attacking fish that trespass into their territory.

We went into a swim-through and surprised this little juvenile Blackside Hawkfish who wasn't expecting company, apparently.

Tucked deep inside the swim-through was this cute little Ambon Toby. The neon blue color at the base of the anal fin is a defining characteristic of the species. There was another Ambon Toby in the area but it was really hidden deep in a crevice behind this one. They usually appear in pairs.

The population of Convict Tangs in Keone'ele Cove continues to grow. This pair comprised the tail-end of a long chain that was traveling close to shore as we finished up our dive.

The Humpback Whales that had been residing outside the cove appear to have left the area. I haven't seen them for the last 3 weeks. Maybe they'll return next year.