Reef triggerfish

The reef triggerfish is reminiscent of abstract art.  We see them often, but they don't hang around long.  Rather, they go swimming by.  The Hawaiian name for this fish is humuhumu nukunuku apua'a.  This is the fish that is mentioned in the "My Little Grass Shack" song from 50 or 60 years ago.  They grow up to 10 inches long.

A Bay, today

Anaeho'omalu Bay is often called A Bay.  It is north of Kona along the South Kohala resort area.  We had read about the bay, but never visited until today.  The water was calm, but not really clear enough to be good for snorkeling, but lots of other water sports were happening there this morning.

In the distance, we could see humpback whales spy-hopping and breaching.

Today was a canoe club race day.  The 6-person, outrigger canoes were zipping around the bay.  Quite an interesting sight to see.

From shore

From shore

From the water

From the water

It seems like everywhere we go, we see wild turkeys.  On our drive home from A Bay, we encountered 4, along the road.

A male turkey displaying to 2 females, plus another female left of mirror

Oh the patterns you might see

Tropical fish are often brightly colored, but even the ones that aren't neon colored can display intricate patterns.

We frequently encounter black durgon (a triggerfish).  Most often, it appears very dark with a white line beneath the dorsal and ventral fins.  However, under just the right conditions, a very elaborate pattern of markings is displayed.  Fish were 8 to 10 inches long.

Sailfin tang (in the surgeonfish family) also display a very interesting pattern.  This fish was about 8 inches long.

More butterflyfish

Here are two more gorgeous butterflyfish that we often see while snorkeling.  The ornate butterflyfish has the more spectacular markings, but the longnose butterflyfish is also striking in appearance.  Both use the same basic colors as the butterflyfish that appeared here a few weeks ago.  And both species grow up to 8 inches long, but these were about 5 inches long.

Always a joy to see.

Ornate butterflyfish

Longnose butterflyfish.

Just another day at the beach

Today the wind picked up, and waves were looking big, so we went to the beach to watch boogie boarders and surfers catch the waves.

The beach was Mannini'owali, not too far north of the airport.  Really a pretty site, but not much shade or sand.

The 3 photos below show the progression of one man's ride of the same wave.

Fishing

After waiting for the right conditions, we headed out fishing this morning with Captain Jay in his boat Mariah.  Although we started later than we expected, we were motoring out of the harbor before the sun rose above Mauna Loa.

On our first pass to the northwest, we saw one boat with a marlin on.  After we circled around and headed SE, we saw a couple of humpback whales, and bait fish jumping out of the water.  Shortly after passing the bait fish, we headed back towards the northwest, following the bait, and a mahi mahi hit one of the lines.  That is what Bori really wanted to catch, so he was happy.  It weighed about 20 pounds.

After the mahi mahi was iced down, the hooks went back in the water, and we headed back towards the marina (2 hours away).  We saw a few more whales, and a while later, a blue marlin hit one of the lines.  So, Bori had to reel that in.  Originally, after seeing it jump out of the water, Jay estimated that the marlin was about 150 pounds.  It turned out to be about 250.  And it took off, so Bori had a lot of line to reel it.  They tried to release it, but it didn't shake the hook out, so they landed it.

A unicornfish

Several species of unicornfish live in the waters around Hawaii.  Some have very long horns, others have short horns.  This species, the orangespine unicornfish has no horn, but is quite lovely.  We often see this species. It grows to about 18 inches.

This morning, we encountered an individual that was being cleaned by a Hawaiian cleaner wrasse.  It was the first cleaner station that we have seen here.  The wrasse (about 3 inches long) has a yellow head, and it's body changes from blue to purple towards the tail

Birds of the Safeway parking lot

It's easy to feel like you aren't back home when you encounter odd birds, while at the grocery store.  By now, I've grown accustomed to seeing the chickens and roosters.

But today, we encountered a female Kalij pheasant.  This species is native to India and Pakistan, and was introduced to Hawaii in 1962.

Heading north

This morning, we opted to head to the northern end of the island.  The topography is quite varied up there, and our route was a giant loop so each mile looked different.

Our first stop was just south the deep-water port at Kawaihae, at Spencer Beach Park, and the Pu'ukohola Heiau above it, built by Kamehameha the Great.  This temple was one of the last sacred structures built in Hawaii (1790-91) before contact with western civilizations altered local culture.

Spencer Beach Park

Pu'ukohola Heiau, built to insure that Kamehameha would conquer all the Hawaiian islands

We followed the north Kohala coast up to Hawi and Kapa'au in the north, to find the old statue of Kamehameha the Great, built in 1880.

Then we followed the Kohala Mountain road to Waimea.  The temperature dropped as we climbed to over 3500 feet.  And the hills became quite green and lush looking pasture land.  Lots of cattle are raised around Waimea.

Looking southwest from the Kohala mountain road

We were able to get a clear view of the top of Mauna Kea, with several of the observatories visible above the snow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Swimming with green turtles

We often encounter green turtles as we snorkel.  We always enjoy seeing them, but we respect them, and never touch them.  Here are a few of our favorite photos of a couple of green turtles.

We found their secret napping spot, beneath a small coral head

On another day, the same spot, but a different (smaller) turtle

Visiting the Volcano

This morning, we drove over to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  We left early, and arrived at the visitor center shortly before it opened.  The weather was dry and fairly clear in the park, and we learned that the lava lake inside the Kilauea Caldera was erupting.

So we headed to the viewpoint behind the Jaggar Museum and looked into the Halema'uma'u Crater which is inside the Kilauea Caldera.

The first video is a view of the crater.  The second is the erupting lava lake.

Nice way to spend the day!

Another day in the water

This morning, we headed to our favorite local snorkel site ahead of the crowd and before the big surge that is predicted for the next few days.  We encountered a lot of current, but were still able to enjoy the marine life.

Today's photos represent one unusual-looking fish species, the bird wrasse, and one invertebrate, an octopus.

Octopus

Octopus out in the open

A small female bird wrasse (about 4 inches)

A male bird wrasse (about 8 inches long)

The bird wrasse uses its long snout to feed on small benthic prey.