Diving the Kona Coast: Yellowmargin Moray

A rather drab and overcast day, weather-wise but the ocean conditions were pretty good with only a tiny bit of surf. It was one of those days when things just didn't seem to go right. My strobes, which worked perfectly on the pre-dive check, were incredibly frustrating while I was underwater. The right strobe failed totally and the left strobe only worked about a quarter of the time. Very gratifying, especially since it was too overcast to shoot with ambient light. Of course, when I got home they worked perfectly.

You can tell I might have had a bad day when my lead-off photo is this Iridescent Cardinalfish. Pretty drab but this is probably the best photo I have of one as I don't do much night diving. It was so overcast this morning that a lot of these were out.

This honu was very mellow and hung around me for a long time which favored my 1 out of 4 or 5 successful strobe ratio.

Even though green sea turtles are easy to come by, this girl was the high point of this morning's dive. The low light kind of worked well giving some extra contrast to the wide angle captures.

This Yellowmargin Moray was sticking straight out of a small wall near the shoreline. It was a little shy but I managed to get this one useable photo.

These two Longenose Butterflyfish were caught picking at the coral in unison.

This Threadfin Butterflyfish is still sporting its muted "night-time" color scheme with the white portions slightly dulled. Again, perhaps due to the darkness of the day.

I have a spare flash unit in storage that I put there because it wasn't working properly. I'm going to use it to replace my current right strobe and hopefully will get more flashes out of it.

Hopefully, next week I'll have more and better material to offer you! Aloha

I had the day off on Thursday and thought I'd get in a couple dives. I was disappointed to get to the beach and find high surf. It would have been possible to get in and out safely, but visibility was sure to be poor. I just went home and did some chores.

I got to Honaunau Bay bright and early today to find epic diving conditions - smooth, flat seas and clear skies. I talked with some of the paddlers who told me that a Hawaiian Monk Seal had been seen here earlier in the week.

I got into the water a little before seven today. That's early even by my standards, but the ladies in my life were going to the spa later on and that means grandpa duty for me!

It was even early for big ol' Peacock Groupers, lots of whom were just laying on the reef waiting for the sun to come all the way up.

Down a little deeper I happened upon this male Threespot Chromis displaying his spawning colors. Normally these are are dark grey/black with three white spots near the base of the tail. The little fish in the background is a Chocolate Dip Chromis.

I have very few photos of the fish above. It's a Potter's Angelfish and has a beautiful combination of orange and blue markings. It is a shy beauty, however, and usually darts into the coral when I approach. This is the best shot I've gotten of one since I started shooting digital. I guess this guy was still a little sleepy too!

It was a great morning to see big moray eels. This Whitemouth Moray was out free-swimming and I kept an eye on it until it settled down on the reef. Morays often appear to be baring their teeth in a threat display but are actually just using their muscles to pump water over their gills.

Just a little further down the reef was this big Yellowmargin Moray. These are usually pretty docile as are most morays. However, a couple years back I found one of these that was absolutely huge. I took a couple friends down to the rock where it lived but couldn't find the eel right away. I shone my flashlight under the rock and found him tucked way back in. I signaled my friends to come take a look. I was astonished to see one of them reach her hand directly towards the eel's face! Before I could process what was going on it was all over. The eel bit down on the web space of her hand so hard I could hear a distinct "pop". Dive over. The eel let go and disappeared further under the rock. It was then that I saw the big Marlinspike Auger shell my friend was reaching for. From her angle, she never even saw the moray. It took a few stitches at Kona Hospital ER to close it up. A fun fact is that many moray eels have a third and sometimes a fourth row of teeth on the roofs of their mouths. These are known as vomerine teeth and aid in holding prey in the mouth.

The cleaning stations were busy this morning and I got a photo of this Ornate Butterflyfish being groomed.

Tucked under an overhang, this Tiger Cowrie gleams like a polished jewel. I'm always amazed how nature decorates marine snails and slugs with beautiful colors and patterns. Their terrestrial counterparts are seldom as attractive.

I love to find an octopus. Whenever I see a goatfish swimming excitedly near what appears to be a moving rock, I know I'll get some photo ops with my favorite mollusc. This was a little one, but quickly adapted to my presence and let me follow him around the reef.

I watched this octo for around 15 minutes before my air supply began to run low. Octopus are not at all uncommon in Hawai'i but they're also not really easy to find. Seeing one always makes me feel a little privileged.

The last thing I photographed on my first dive was this Mushroom Coral. This is a really interesting coral in that it is not attached to the bottom. The colony you see in the photo can be (but shouldn't be) picked up like a stone or shell. Most hard coral colonies are mound-like and attached firmly to the substrate.

My second dive was a pretty one but not as eventful as the dawn patrol. Sometimes when you're not seeing things that are big or uncommon, you just have to kick back and enjoy the little, everyday things that are always there in front of your face mask. Like..

... a Fourspot Butterflyfish

... an Agile Chromis

... or a Threadfin Butterflyfish.

I also found an overhang in shallow water that was crawling with Reticulated and Humpback Cowries. Here a Humpback hangs from the ceiling Spiderman-style.

When I came up from my dive, my daughter was at the Two-Step waiting to help me with my camera. My wife and grandson were at one of the tidepools with Jacques earnestly scooping the water with a dipnet in his own version of "fishing". Then the ladies took off for the spa and we boys were left on our own. My day was just beginning.

Diving the Kona Coast

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Saturday, May 8, 2010

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

Olympic Diving Conditions-Dive Report for 02/20/2010

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