23 Jan 2024
This morning, I was curled up on the couch with my computer, trying to figure out how to fill yet another land-based day, when I got a call from my dive boat asking where I was.
Guys, I messed up.
That cancellation from last night? It was actually for my Kohala boat; the Kona boat was still going out, but for some reason my email combined the 2 so it looked like I had two cancellations from the same company.
I had been decently upbeat about all the cancellations until this point. I could have been diving, but because I didn’t read close enough, now I’m missing out on what is proving to be a very light dive trip.
Honestly, I felt like crying.
But, sitting around moping isn’t going to change things, so I decided to drive over to the Hilo side, then around the south end of the island and do some coffee tastings. I’ve had quite a bit of very good Kona coffee, but I’ve heard good things about Ka’u coffee as well, so today is as good as any to go test that out!
Ka’u Coffee Mill is a bit off the beaten path, but at the end of the road is COFFEE!
My cold brew was pretty decent. They also have a coffee tasting station set up:
Honestly, I wasn’t all that impressed. Besides the espresso (on the far right), most of the brews were on the weak side. Maybe I just got a bad batch?
Drinking my coffee among the coffee trees before our tour starts:
A few ripe coffee beans (the red guys) on this tree:
I learned that while a coffee tree can live for up to 100 years, they are most productive in their younger years (like the guy on the right), so after 4 years or so, they stump the tree and make it start over. The internet tells me most growers do this after 7-10 years. Four years seems a bit excessive…
After the beans are picked, they are laid out in the sun to dry. Then, some beans get washed to remove their outer skin and pectin layer or partially washed to remove the skin.
Ka’u uses washed beans for their lighter roasts, partially washed for medium roast, and unwashed for dark roast. Apparently washing them makes the flavor more complex but for dark roasts they use natural because the “flavors” get cooked away? I think that was the take-away.
I’m no coffee expert. I like strong, dark coffee, especially in cold brew form.
Coffee roasting station:
Light roasts cook at lower temps for shorter times, dark brews at higher temps for longer times.
I know traffic south of Kona can get rough in the afternoon, and since that’s the most direct route to my evening dive, I didn’t linger too long after the tour.
Fortunately, traffic wasn’t too terrible and I was able to stop in town for a quick bite to eat:
Banana bread, Coffee/Mauka Trail gelato, Coconut Chocolate Chip blondie
No, I didn’t eat all of this for dinner, just the gelato and half the blondie 🙂
Conditions are still a bit rough at the harbor:
Getting in and out is a matter of timing the swells and gunning it!
Weather tonight isn’t the greatest either- it’s raining up on Hualalai over Kona, but we’re going to be getting wet anyway so…
My boat is docked just to the right of the red-roof building.
The sun is setting- time to go diving!!!
Dive #7 – Kona Blackwater
Another one of those strange appendicularians:
Siphonophore, or net-caster:
A blackwater dive wouldn’t be complete without at least one Comb jelly:
Pelagic dandelion, aka a type of Foraminifera:
Hitchhikers on a potato chip:
Just kidding… the potato chip is actually a radiolarian colony.
Same type of net-caster as above, I think it’s a Sulculeolaria sp.:
Probably a Cunina sp.:
Comb jelly #2:
Veliger, the final larval form of a gastropod (snail):
I first noticed this guy because of his awesome fins!
I think he’s a larval blenny
Another common blackwater find, the salp:
Venus girdle:
He was in the perfect mustache shape when I first spotted him, but it took too long for my camera to focus and he moved 🙁
Acorn worm:
A different type of net-caster:
Maybe a type of dartfish?
A very opaque salp:
“Tongue jelly” aka Beroe sp.:
I like these guys!
They, however, do not like being hit with my light- every one I lit up started doing backflips away from me. Fun to watch, not so fun to photograph.
Comb jelly #3:
Love the fins on this guy!
I think he’s another blenny.
Salp with a hitchhiker:
And another salp that hit “copy” on itself:
Another acorn worm:
Appendicularian, with his “tadpole” (that yellow thing):
Thimble jellyfish?:
Little trumpetfish!
Unfortunately, this guy was near the surface and I started to feel seasick underwater trying to get his picture. Once on board, things got worse and, for the first time in years, I got seasick.
Fortunately, my stomach was empty as it had been quite a while since I had eaten so once it was done trying to empty itself, I grabbed a snack and filled it back up. Apparently, that’s not normal behavior after being seasick? I dunno, being sick is miserable enough, whining about it would just make it worse, so I went back to my normal after-dive activity: eating!