23 Jan 2021
My first day of diving was a local dive off the Kona Coast with Kona Honu Divers. There were some familiar faces in the crew of the boat, and some of them remembered me, so that was cool!
The Honu One, KHD’s main boat for local (including manta) dives:
I like this boat- it has 2 tables in the middle for setting gear/cameras, and you can loop your towel over the rails so it has a chance to dry between dives. Plus, there’s always a basket of snacks on the back table 🙂
Dive #1 – High Cliff
You know it’s gonna be a good dive when one of the first things you see when you drop down is a nudibranch!
White-margin / Glossodoris rufomarginata:
And another (two)! Fried Egg / Phyllidia varicosa:
A Gold-lace / Halgerda terramtuentis:
Gold-lace nudibranchs making more nudibranchs:
A Strawberry nudibranch / Phyllidiella pustulosa:
and a couple Strawberry nudibranchs making baby nudibranchs:
It always takes me a couple dives to get my lighting figured out for not-macro pictures, but here’s a Devil scorpionfish:
I wish I had taken video of him, because he was “walking” around on his pectoral fins, something I hadn’t seen before!
A flounder!
These guys are just plain weird! But I love their lopsided eyes and strangely skinny pectoral fin 🙂
Dive #2 – Rabbi Ridge
Basically the same dive as the first, but one mooring over.
A whole school of Orangeband surgeonfish!
A Christmas wrasse:
A pair of Longnose butterflyfish:
The first of many eels, a Whitemouth moray:
I didn’t take as many pictures on this dive, partly because I saw a lot of the same fish from the first dive (though the pictures didn’t turn out the greatest) and partly because I was frozen- the water was much colder than I remember, a whopping 77°! According to my log book, the last time I was in HI, the water was 81-82°, and I was fine in my 5mm suit. Not so much this time. I borrowed a beanie for the second dive, which helped and wore my hood (which I had left at the condo, figuring I’d just grab it for the night dives) for the rest of the trip.
On the way back to the harbor, we saw whales!
Humpback whale back:
Whale tail!
This tool was chasing the whales (you’re supposed to stay 100 yards away) and letting people get in the water to swim with the whales (also not allowed):
So if you know the owner of the Keaolani, please turn them into the Coast Guard, thanks!
Farewell, whale!
Dive, little whale!
Dive #3 – Garden Eel Cove
I’ve dove this site numerous times, as it’s one of the main manta dive sites. We dive it in the afternoon, then return after dark to, hopefully, watch the mantas feed.
Look at all the Yellowfin goatfish!
I got a bit distracted watching the goatfish that I almost swam right into this Bluespotted cornetfish:
I looked at him, he looked and me and then he backpedaled away.
A Pacific trumpetfish:
Goldring surgeonfish, an species endemic to Hawai’i:
Flounder!
This is a sea cucumber, covered in sand, and someone drew a picture on him:
A pale Orangeband surgeonfish:
A Gold-lace nudibranch:
For a bit of scale, this is what he looks like zoomed out:
A crown-of-thorns sea star- I don’t like these guys, they eat coral 🙁
During our surface interval, this Hawaiian monk seal came to visit!
Slightly blurry, but look at that face:
Dive #4 – Manta Heaven (aka, Garden Eel Cove at night, with mantas!)
The spots on a mantas belly are unique to each animal, and can be used to identify them. This is Big Bertha, one of the larger mantas- she’s about 12-14′ across!
Sugar Ray:
Big Bertha dances with the fishes:
