Tag Archives: Snorkeling

The Numbers Game #28

A view into Waipio Valley.

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 149. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A Scrawled Filefish swimming in the waters off Hawaii
Scrawled Filefish.
A Flowery Flounder swimming in the waters off Hawaii
Flowery Flounder.
A green turtle swimming in the waters off Hawaii
Green Turtle.
The Pride of America anchored off Kailua Kona.
Two Nenes confront a mongoose.
An old bomber which crashed in the Kohala Mountains. Original post here.

Scarface Blenny

A Scarface Blenny Peeks out from under a step at Mahukona, Hawaii

You don’t have to go far to see something interesting in the water. This Scarface Blenny hangs out around the ladder for getting in and out of the water at my local snorkel spot! I’d seen it before, but not been able to get a photo of it.

A few days ago, I had my camera ready as I approached the ladder. Sure enough, I saw the blenny’s head sticking out from below one of the ladder’s rungs. It quickly disappeared, but I hung on to the ladder to see if it would return. It did, and I was able to get a couple of shots.

I thought this was a Gargantuan Blenny, but when I got home and looked at the photos, I realized that the red eye ring and red marks on the face meant this was actually a Scarface Blenny. Both these blennies are endemic but the Scarface Blenny is slightly smaller than the other.

A Scarface Blenny Peeks out from under a step at Mahukona, Hawaii

The Numbers Game #27

An F-22 Raptor flies by at Kahului Airport, Maui.

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 148. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A spinner dolphin doing what it’s named for.
A grasshopper wondering if it could do that!
A Great Frigatebird knows it doesn’t have to do any spinning because it glides supremely well.
A manta ray swims in the waters off Mauna Kea Resort, Hawaii
A manta ray swims in the waters off Mauna Kea Resort, Hawaii
A manta ray swims in the waters off Mauna Kea Resort, Hawaii
This Manta Ray is quietly confident it can spin and glide with the best of them!

Gotta have rain for a rainbow

A rainbow off the Kohala Coast, Hawaii, seen from the water

A couple of mornings ago, it was teeming down with rain at home. I still headed out for a swim because that spot, a few miles down the coast, is usually warm and dry. This was not one of those days. The sky was solid gray, the precipitation steady.

I have an irrational dislike of it raining when I swim! I mean, I’m getting wet anyway. What’s the difference? The main compensation on this occasion was the presence of this rainbow offshore. This rainbow stayed steady throughout the swim and was still there when I drove home, with the heater cranked up and the fan blowing strong.

A rainbow off the Kohala Coast, Hawaii

Beware

A sign at Mahukona, Hawaii
A sign at Mahukona, Hawaii

The old boat hoist at Mahukona has been replaced, though it’s not yet ready to handle boats apparently. But recently, two new signs appeared at the site.

The top one, advising swimmers to beware of boaters is OK, though it implies there are boaters out there, cruising the waters, searching for swimmers to run down. If those boaters exist, I’ve yet to encounter them.

The second sign was the one that caught my eye though. Beware of swimmers! What do they think we’re going to do? Bite a hole in the boat? Attach a mine? Reach a long arm over the side and drag the boater to a watery grave? I guess ‘Watch out for…’ was too many letters!

The Numbers Game #26

Sunrise from the road to Mauna Loa Observatory, now no longer accessible since the 2022 eruption.

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 147. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A view of Rainbow Falls in Hilo Hawaii
Rainbow Falls in Hilo.
The stairs down to Kaumana Caves in Hilo.
A view of a river gully on the Hamakua Coast in Hawaii as seen from the air
A view of Kealakaha Stream gully, on the Hamakua Coast, from the air.
A Black Triggerfish looking agitated in the waters off Hawaii
An agitated Black Triggerfish.
Hawaiian Zebra blenny and Padina japonica in a tide pool in Hawaii
Hawaiian Zebra Blenny in a filed of Padina japonica seaweed.
A view of Mauna Kea from Mauna Loa showing Pahoehoe and A’a lava flows side by side.

Scrawled Filefish

A Scrawled Filefish in the waters off Hawaii

When I first saw this Scrawled Filefish, I tried and failed to get any decent photos, so I carried on swimming. When I looked behind me a bit later, I saw the fish following me as they sometimes do, and I got this photo.

Scrawled Filefish are not just curious looking, they’re also curious fish. They will often trail swimmers, checking them out.

The Numbers Game #25

Encrusted pilings in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Corals grow on the pilings in Kawaihae Harbor.

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 146. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

These photos, all with a 146 in their numeric identification, are from a snorkel in murky water in Kawaihae Harbor.

Orange Red Didemnid in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
I think this is Orange-red Didemnid, a kind of tunicate.
Encrusted pilings in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Pilings in murky water.
Antler Coral on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Antler Coral grows on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor.
A Banded Urchin on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
A Banded Urchin on a piling.
An Aama crab on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Above the water, A’ama crabs move around on the pilings.
A Diadema savignyi urchin on a rock in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
A rare Diadema savignyi Urchin, with its electric blue lines on the test.