It is worth a moment, even in the limited time of a dive, to stop and look close at the coral itself. Never mind the psychedelic fish, the coral is what makes a reef. Untold billions of small polyps, each a separate animal, cooperate to build the largest natural structures in the world.
Some corals are easier to examine closely. Honeycomb coral has corallites much larger than most, easier to get a good look without magnification. Getting your mask close allows you to appreciate each little animal, part of the larger colony.
A closeup view of honeycomb coral (Gardineroseris planulata) showing the individual corallites
Keeping the cat off the kitchen counter? Rasalhague is an obstinate cat, yell at him and he will just cock his head and seem to say “Who Me?” Extremely cute, but not effective.
A stack of soda cans on the kitchen counter as a feline booby trap.The problem, as usual, is the kitchen counter. Ras seems to think bedtime is just the time to explore what interesting things might be in the sink. Go to bed, just to hear the clinking of dishes along with his distinctive collar bell.
I could build some sophisticated cat alert, an IR beam with a loud alarm perhaps? It may come to that. In the meantime I thought of something considerably more low-tech… A stack of empty soda cans.
The cans work. The mere brush of a kitty tail brings them down with a substantial clatter that sends Ras running. The cans have the advantages of being readily available, easy to stack, make a kitty terrifying racket, and don’t hurt anything when they come crashing down.
More importantly it has worked. No cat on the counter for a week now. The cans have been tossed in the recycle bin… Until next time.
The dawn is getting crowded. While three planets, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter have been dancing on the dawn stage for weeks now, tomorrow morning a thin crescent, waning Moon will join in. Tomorrow morning the Moon will be 10% illuminated and 4.5° south of Jupiter.
Over the next couple mornings the Moon will continue to wane and slide along the line of planets in the dawn. On the morning of the 4th it will be 5% illuminated and between Mercury and Mars. On the 5th it will be lower than all three and only 1.6% illuminated.
Sometimes I just take a few photos of the flowers found out the front door. My plumeria are in bloom, a pleasant bit of the tropics available for everyday enjoyment, even if just heading to the vehicle and work…
Access is through the Hualalai Resort. You must check in at the security shack just off the highway at the southern entrance, just 1/4 mile south of the main entrance to the resort. There you get a beach pass from the guard and head down to the public parking area. Get directions from security, you have to double back and take a right. There are only so many public parking spaces available, to ensure entry just get there early, arrival before 8am is pretty much guaranteed access.
The entry point for diving at Kakapa BayFrom the parking area a nice concrete path leads to the Kukio Bay beach, a few hundred yards further north along the shoreline. The beach is not where you want to go! The beach is on Kukio Bay, we want Kakapa on the south side of the point. Divers only need walk a short distance to the dive entry into Kakapa bay, a good thing when weighed down by tanks, weights, and in a wetsuit.
A small sign noting the presence of public restrooms at the beach is the marker to turn off the path and head straight to the water. Head to the little inlet where a small point of rock creates a protected pool where you can finish gearing up and swim. The pool is deeper towards to the right and the small rocky point.
Tropical storm? What storm, it was one of the prettiest days on the water we have ever seen. Apparently everyone thought so, the water was busy with dive and tour boats everywhere. The sky was clear blue, the water a blue crystal. No wind and just a bit of south swell. The day seemed at complete odds to the dire storm watch messages on the radio. We will do the storm thing tomorrow, today we dive…
Manta ray (Manta birostris) cruises the reef at Garden Eel CoveWith a storm watch out we did not go far from harbor. For both dives we used one of the moorings at Garden Eel Cove, the same moorings used for the famous Kona Manta Dives. These moorings also offer decent daytime diving, with rich coral and one of the shallowest places you can visit garden eels.
At one point I filmed a manta cruising the reef right below me. Just after it passed by the manta swung about and came right at me. I continued to film and the manta bumped the camera. Yes, it was that kind of day. The mantas were coming in close. These manta are familiar with the idea that divers mean food. During the night manta dives the dive lights attract plankton, creating a buffet for the mantas. The behavior seems to spill over into the daytime, with the mantas coming very close to divers.
Garden eels (Gorgasia hawaiiensis ) at Garden Eel CoveOn the second dive Deb and I wandered in the other direction from the rest of the group. Crossing under another dive boat we dropped to the sand in the corner of the cove. Here is one of the shallowest places you can visit a garden eel colony. Usually you must drop to the sand at the base of the reef to visit the eels, 70-100ft down. Lying on the sand my gauge read 57 feet as I waited for the eels to poke back out of their burrows. A little patience rewarded Deb and I, as the eels re-emerged and allowed us to get a few decent photos.
After the last dive we often head for harbor. Today we just hung out at the mooring for a while, it was such a nice day. Out of air? Not problem, a mask and fins is enough, just take another swim.
Today Mercury reaches maximum elongation, the furthest point it will reach from the Sun in the sky and the highest it will be above the sunrise for this morning apparition. The planet is easily visible as a bright, starlike object about 19° above the rising Sun as the twilight begins. Over the next couple weeks Mercury will slide back into the sunrise, heading for superior conjunction on August 24th.
As Mercury passes through maximum elongation it is part of a trio of bright planets in the morning sky. Higher in the sky you will also see Jupiter and Mars dancing in the dawn.
Almost all the photos shown here on Darker View are cropped at a 2:3 ratio. The reason for this? I like it. And perhaps I am used to this ratio. It is very traditional, having been used for many applications for decades, including the venerable 35mm photographic film.
Common cropping ratiosA cropping ratio is simply the ratio of the dimensions in the image, height and width. if the print on the wall is 24 x 36 inches, it has a ratio of 2:3. This is calculated using the smallest common denominator… Remember that term from learning fractions in grade school? The images here on Darker View are usually 600 x 900 pixels, also a 2:3 ratio.
Any number of cameras produce images with a 2:3 ratio, including APS-C sensor DLSR’s like my Canon 60D. The ratio is by no means universal. Many cameras use a 4:3 ratio, most compacts do, including my Canon G12. Other ratios are popular, HD video is 16:9, spurring a rise in popularity of this wider format.
I have read a little about the choice in cropping, the argument regular rages in photographic circles. One article in particular got my attention, the author extolling the virtues of a square crop, a 1:1 ratio. Perhaps I am in a rut, and need to explore the use of other cropping ratios. I use 1:1 on occasion, usually for astrophotos. Perhaps I should experiment with other ratios more often.
Laurent’s hermit crab (Calcinus laurentae) peers out from under a shell
