14 Nov 2019
I took an extended range boat down toward the south-ish end of the island and dove some less-frequently visited sites.
This time, however, I took the chance and used my strobe- underwater pictures just aren’t the same without a bit of color.
Dive #4 – Driftwood
Porcupinefish!
Strawberry nudibranch:
Longnose butterflyfish:
Fun fact: this is also a longnose butterflyfish- there’s a black morph found only in Kona (fish taken from Kona elsewhere to be studied turn back to yellow) and this guy is mid-transition!
Bullethead parrotfish:
Smalltail wrasse:
Arc-eye hawkfish:
That orange guy in the middle is a flame angelfish- they’re super-skittish because people catch them and put them in aquariums.
Not a great picture, but another fish I hadn’t seen before- a chevron tang:
White-tipped reef shark:
Moorish idol:
Look at all the triggerfish at our safety stop!
Dive #5 – The Dome
Peacock grouper- I love his purple underfins!
White-margin nudibranch!
These guys were EVERYWHERE!!
Nudibranchs + eggs (the white spirals)
Just a little guy laying eggs!
Verconia sp. 4 nudibranch:
Slipper lobster!
Another slipper lobster!
Achilles’ Tang:
Smalltooth jobfish?
Barred? filefish:
Scythe triggerfish:
Arc-eye hawkfish:
Blacktail? snapper:
Yellowtail coris:
Gold-lace nudibranch (I spotted this one!):
Again, look at all those triggerfish!
Dive #6 – Garden Eel Cove
Last time I was in Kona, I did a manta dive, but no mantas showed up. The company I dove with (Jack’s Diving Locker) has a guarantee that lets you join the boat for free if there’s space for a 2nd chance at seeing mantas. So I joined the standby list and was able to go out for some evening/night diving. These dolphins joined us on the way out to the site!
Yelloweye filefish:
My, what big teeth you have!
Whitemouth eel:
Flame angelfish!
Potter’s angelfish and 2 yellow tang:
Flame angelfish, yellow tang, brown surgeonfish, gold-ring surgeonfish, Hawaiian cleaner wrasse:
Parrotfish being cleaned by a Hawaiian cleaner wrasse:
Gold-ring surgeonfish, brown surgeonfish, Hawaiian cleaner wrasse:
Side-spot goatfish:
Yellowstripe goatfish:
I like watching goatfish root around in the sand with their little whiskers:
Blue-stripe snapper:
Peacock grouper:
Soldierfish:
Threadfin butterflyfish:
Porcupinefish! (I love these guys!)
Freckled hawkfish:
Sleeping cornetfish:
Dive #7 – Garden Eel Cove (with Mantas!)
During our surface interval, we saw the “bat signal”- mantas swimming over and blacking out the lights at the campfire!
This is Doug:
An angry looking Gaby:
This is Timbuktu with a snapper:
(the fish sometimes swarm the lights)
Bluefin trevally:
Crown-of-thorns sea star:
Sleeping whitespot toby:
Marbled shrimp:
