The Humpback Whale season here has been underway for a few weeks, but I hadn’t seen many until a few days ago. Then, on one of my coast walks, I saw half a dozen or more.
This whale was in the company of another one, which had dived just before this. I like the curve of the tail and how the water drains off it, just before it’s full submerged.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 174. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, commonly known as “The Eddie,” is scheduled to be held today. This big wave surfing event, at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, only takes place when open-ocean swells reach a minimum height of 20 feet. Such swells result in wave faces of 30 to 40 feet in the bay. Because of this requirement, this event will be only the eleventh to go during the 40-year history of the tournament.
The tournament is invitation-only with 45 competitors lined up this year. If you’re interested in seeing the activities, the contest will be streamed on ripcurl.com or rogue.tv, starting around 8:00 am local time.
For more information about the event, go to https://www.theeddieaikau.com/ or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eddie.
The photo was taken from Keokea Beach Park, and features much, much smaller waves!
The Blackspot Sergeant is a solitary damselfish which lives near the surface in shallow waters. They’re fairly common around here, but quite shy, so tricky to photograph. Coloration can vary, but the black spot above the base of the tail is ever present, hence the name.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 173. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
This month’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘Metallic.’ See more responses here.
The top photo shows a Metallic Skink (Lampropholis delicata), which is also known as Delicate Skink, Garden Skink, Rainbow Skink, and less-flatteringly, Plague Skink. This one was crossing a road, luckily a lightly-traveled one.
The second photo is an orchid with the catchy name of Rhyncholaeliocattleya Shingfong Gold Gem ‘Golden Gem.’
The third photo is shoal of small, silvery fish, which I think are the aptly named Hawaiian Silversides.
One of the perks of snorkeling here is that there are often rainbows to be seen, such as this one just north of Lapakahi.
Recent swells stirred up the water so visibility in the water wasn’t great. Instead, I focused upward to where bubbles and debris floated on the surface, yielding some interesting images.
Graham's Island 