Dennis and Sky head for the coral at the start of a dive.
Postcard from the Reef
Not a good day to go snorkeling.
Heavy surf the day before left a legacy, murky water. Visibility was rather poor today. Whenever the surf is high the visibility is low. The surfers may be happy, the divers and snorkelers less so. At least these conditions are not all that common, if a somewhat more so in the winter months. Wait a few days and the silt will settle, leaving the more usual clear Kona side water.
At least we had a good swim.
Heavy surf the day before leaves murky water and poor snorkeling conditions.
A yellow-spotted guard crab (Trapezia flavopunctata) shelters in the arms of an antler coral (Pocillopora eydouxi)
Oval cup coral (Cladopsammia eguchii) at night on the Puako reef, photo by Pete Tucker
Pete, Sky and Rachel exiting the water after a night dive at Puakō
Hawaiian dascyllus are a favorite of ours. I would expect that these fish are a favorite of many divers and snorkelers. These bold little fish will often challenge even a diver who invades their territory. Floating nose to nose with a little black fish is just too comical…
Deb wielding a camera at a defiant Hawaiian Dascyllus (Dascyllus albisella)
The cave was huge, one of the largest I had ever seen on the Kona Coast. It was also thick with sponge, the ceiling inches deep in places… Perfect nudibranch habitat.
Pete found this group, a cluster of white margin nudibranch having a… uh… party? The results of the “party” can be seen in the center of the photo, small white, spiral egg masses.
The photo is actually upside down, the party was taking place on the ceiling.
Several white-margin nudibranch (Glossodoris rufomarginata) apparently mating and laying eggs
A gold lace nudibranch (Halgerda terramtuentis) on a wall at 20′ depth, Eel cove, Kona
Not where I expected it, a tiny cavity in an otherwise sheer rock wall covered with sponge. It was red… A flash bright red in the dive light had my attention quickly. I could not see the fish well enough to ID it, red is uncommon enough that I set up and fired anyway, just taking a photo was hard enough in the surge.
Only after downloading the photo I realized it was a scarface blennie…
Scarface blennie (Cirripectes vanderbilti), in a small crevice, depth 15ft.
The little teardrop butterfly was playing peek-a-boo with me. It would peek out, the strobe would fire, it would dart back into the coral. Repeat cycle…
This little fish had good reason to be shy, it is a favorite of the aquarium collectors.
Teardrop butterflyfish (Chaetodon unimaculatus) peeks out from under cover
