As a change from our usual pattern, we put in at Honokohau Harbor, which is just north of Kona town, rather than from the southern marina, Keauhou. We were hoping to find a whale shark, as they often appear in this area in December. I bet you didn't know whale sharks were harbingers of Santa, did you? There were reports of some sightings north of the harbor. For us, though, it remained just that: a rumor.
We took some pix of the lighthouse and the deep sea water pipes at Keahole Point. These pipes suck up cold sea water from a few thousand feet deep and pump it to over 30 enterprises in the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELHA). Some companies use the cold, clear sea water for aquaculture, including the raising of main lobster, abalone, Japanese flounder, seahorses, algae, and more. Other companies produce mineral-rich drinking water, such as MaHaLo Hawaii Deep Sea Water. This water is exported to Japan, where it commands a nice price. We recently read in the local newspaper, West Hawaii Today, that the pipe had some damage to it and would require extensive repairs.We cruised past the open water fish farm operated by Kona Blue. They have huge net enclosures out in this area where the current rips past. The amberjack they raise is called Kona Kampachi. Paradoxically, farm raised amberjack is arguably healthier than the natural variety. The fish farming operation produces fish that are free from ciguatera, the reef toxin that is common to this species when they live in the natural environment. The fish are fed pellets, so they don't ingest any reef toxins. An article from West Hawaii Today told of a recent fish breakout that occurred here. Apparently, a lot of the escaped fish just hung out in the area of the net, as they had no inclination to strike out for better things.
We took some photos of airplanes landing at Kona airport, and because it was pretty clear, we had a great view of snow-capped Mauna Kea, and got some pix of that, too. Then we hung around with the "swim with dolphins" excursion boats for a while. About 3 or 4 boats were there, and all the tourists were trying to get close to the spinner dolphins that were milling about in this area. The dolphins did their spins they're so famous for, and everyone got a nice show. A dog barking on one of the boats drove us a little nuts. I love dogs, but I wonder how the paying customers felt to have that yapping going on all day. The ocean off the Kona coast is a quiet place, unless you bring noise like that with you.After the boats left, Masa got in for some great pix. There must have been a hundred spinner dolphins there; a real sight to behold!
We headed out to ZZ buoy, where the water was particularly rough. We tried XX buoy next, but there was nothing there either, so we continued on. We did some fishing out at OTEC buoy and caught a couple of bigeye tunas for dinner. We almost had a nice one of about 40 lbs, but the hook came off at the surface. It was getting late and we were about 15 miles offshore and about to call it a day, when we noticed something going on in the water. We first thought they were bottlenose dolphins, but as we got closer, we noticed their blacker, larger bodies and discovered they were something more rare and exciting: false killer whales - Pseudorca crassidens! Two or three of them! As their latin name shows, they share characteristics with the more popular orca or killer whale. False killer whales are large marine mammals that grow to about 20 feet in length with a body shape somewhat like the killer whale, but more slender and without the distinctive black and white pattern. Like the orca, they are known to attack and kill other cetaceans such as dolphins and whales.
False killer whales live around the Hawaiian Islands, but range widely. They are generally difficult to see up close, as they are rare to find in the first place and tend to shy away from boats. This time, they seemed preoccupied with something at the OTEC buoy. They appeared to be blowing bubbles toward the buoy again and again. It would certainly be dangerous to photograph such "Killer Whales" up close, but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for wildlife photographer, Masa, to capture the moment.
As we slowly approached the buoy, we noticed the ocean current was ripping, so Masa dropped in the water up current of the buoy, and drifted toward it and two of the whales. According to Masa, it turned out the whales were trying to hunt a lone bigeye tuna which was using the buoy as a shield against the whales! Masa was kicking hard and trying to stay parallel with the buoy and whales in the strong current. He was barely able to keep himself positioned far enough from the buoy to not affect the activity of the animals, but close enough to watch and photograph this rare event. Masa said the false killers occasionally looked straight at him, but they seemed unconcerned about his presence. Apparently the tuna looked a lot more appetizing to them than Masa. Lucky for him!Besides these killer whales, there was another rare species in the vicinity, a lone silky shark. These are fairly rare in Hawaiian waters, but they're one of the most beautiful shark species. Masa was able to snap some good shots of the shark, because unlike the false killer whales, it seemed more interested in him than anything else, and it circled nearby.
As the whales continued to focus on the tuna, they blew big bubbles underwater with a loud noise. It seemed like they were trying to startle the tuna away from the buoy and snatch it as it tried to escape. Two relatively smaller whales tried this technique again and again, but at the last moment, the tuna was able to swim to the other side of the buoy, escaping the sharp teeth of killer whales. As this behavior kept on, a large false killer of about 19 feet came out of nowhere and swam right by Masa's legs and joined the rest of the whales. Now three whales with open mouths blowing bubbles ganged up on this poor, frightened tuna. Can you imagine if you were that tuna dodging these huge black monsters? Three whales persistently attacked the tuna in vain, and finally the false killer whales faded into the blue one by one. Yes, the tuna prevailed and went on to live another day! What a day! Masa was able to get some fantastic photos of two rare species. It was really a behavior we don't normally get to see, and Masa nailed the images nicely!
As the sun was setting, we thought we saw the false killers again in the distance, but they turned out to be short-finned pilot whales. It was a large pod - maybe hundreds of them - spread out for miles. We all traveled together riding large offshore swells for a while, and tried to photograph the pilot whales rocketing out of large swells like in the emergency surfacing scene of the Navy submarine from the movie, Red October. Believe me, it was very hard to capture the scene in the near-sunset because the whales were quick and totally unpredictable as to where they were going to appear. Besides, the boat was rocking pretty bad, and in the end, neither of us got a decent shot. Despite that, it was a great day for marine photography; 3 false killers, spinner dolphins & a silky shark! We'll catch the pilot whales and the whale sharks another day!Kona Sue
http://www.SeaPics.com
Links to stock photos of species mentioned in this blog. Please be patient! 10 seconds to load:
spinner dolphin
false killer whale
yellowfin tuna
silky shark
pilot whale
Today was the day after the green sea turtle tagging (see 11/28 blog), an event which ended in a cataclysmic rainstorm. Because of the storm, the surf was particularly high today. Big Island is not the top surfing destination of the Hawaii chain, but on this day, the surfers were out taking advantage of the swells.
Right at the mouth of Keauhou Harbor, there were some nice sets coming in. This is kind of unusual for this location – or at least I've never seen it like this. We stopped our boat at the point where the waves were coming in to take some shots of the surfers. There was a guy and a girl out there, and we had a nice angle on them. The guy managed to stand up 5 or 6 times, while the girl, who was probably a novice, just got up once while we were watching. I wanted to get some shots of the girl, because in the 
We passed a fishing boat that was using a green stick, which is a technique used in Hawaii, though apparently it originated in Japan. The reason it's "green" is because that's the original color of the equipment used in this technique. One long pole sticks straight up from the boat with a line trailing from the very top of it. It drags along a floating object called a "bird," the purpose of which is to keep the line taut. Attached to the line are other lines hanging straight down with lures dangling into the water, just barely skimming the surface. The lures appear like squirming squid on the water, which is irresistible to tuna and marlin. We didn't stick around to watch if they caught anything, but I took a shot of the boat so I could describe the fishing technique on my SeaPics blog!
A mahi mahi swam past us and 
On this day, Masa caught one small yellowfin tuna – about a 15 pounder. We took a few pics of the waves crashing off the rock cliffs near Kealakekua Bay, and called it a day. Today wasn't exciting for wildlife, but we got a few photos of the surfers, which we don't usually get. Soon the humpback whales will be here, and we'll really have something to write about! Check back for that!
We left the boat launch at 10:45 and headed out to the FADs (Fish Aggregation Devices), as we usually do, but we hadn't even left Keauhou Bay when we came across a huge baitball of akule (bigeye scad). 
At one point, two large mahi mahi circled our boat and investigated Masa's lure. One of them grabbed it just underneath the boat, and leaped 15 feet out of the water! It's always exciting when a mahi mahi takes your lure and leaps so high up - the very behavior that led them to be called dolphin fish! That long, green fish ended up breaking off the hook, and making a clean get-away. It's odd that he managed to break off the hook, as it was on a 60lb wire leader, so we speculated on what other toothy fish (wahoo, barracuda or shark) was down there that may have done the job before him. We hung there for a while, but came up empty.
About two weeks ago, we came across a large plastic bag trailing a long monofilament line in the ocean. I had so much to write about that day (see Oct. 25 blog!), that I couldn't make room to discuss it. Near South Point on the Big Island, where a strong wind blows almost everyday, many shore fishermen use plastic garbage bags in a fishing technique called "kite fishing." They blow the bag up with air, tie it closed, and attach their fishing line to it. They then launch the improvised "kite" in a windy area and let the wind and water currents pull their fishing lines out to sea. In this way, they can get their fishing lines out to much deeper water where they have a chance of catching some offshore species like ahi (yellowfin or bigeye tunas), aku, ono (wahoo), mahi mahi and even marlin. For people who can't afford a boat, this may be their best chance of landing those excellent eating fish. On the other hand, predictably enough, plastic bags end up getting lost at sea. It's deplorable, but it happens.
By the end of the day, we had managed to catch a couple of good sized aku for our dinner out at UU buoy, and we headed home. It wasn't a great day for photography, so I'll just post a nice sunset, which is what we saw as we ended our day on the water off the Kona coast! Mahalo for checking out the blog!
We headed south, trolling for ono, also known as wahoo or Pacific kingfish. We traveled at high speed of about 8 to 12 knotts, which is best for ono fishing, and with all the right gear out. We found ourselves in a small parade of fishing boats doing the same thing: going out to the 150 to 250 ft. depth, called "Ono Lane", then following the drop-off in a southerly direction. We did this from about 7:30 to noon. There was no action on our lines, so were taking pictures of the nothing that surrounded us. The Kona coast doesn't have the dramatic cliffs of the Hamakua coast on the north side of the island, so pictures of this area aren't very marketable. We got some scenic photos that could make background shots for a magazine spread or pamphlet. We also got some shots of the waves crashing on the 20 ft volcanic rock cliffs when we passed by the tip of Kealakekua Bay.
Now we were at B buoy, which is really far out from Kona for a small boat. The B buoy is located about 5 miles offshore of an old fishing village, Miloli`i. We quickly got another bigeye tuna, 15-20 lbs, then another. These fish are great for sushi, but for the moment, we were fascinated by the small cookiecutter shark scar that decorated the side of one of them. For those of you unfamiliar with this species, a cookiecutter shark is a small (20 inch) shark that latches onto dolphins, whales and large fish with a suction action. It then twists its body in a violent motion and slices off a hunk of flesh, leaving a single circular scar of 2 to 4 inches in diameter, depending on the size of the shark. The victims generally have no long term effects from this, but live the rest of their lives with that nice, round tattoo.
There we caught a small great barracuda. Barracudas are beautiful fish, but not good for eating because of the danger of ciguatera, a reef toxin prevalent among predatory fish that inhabit tropical reefs. It's rare to catch a barracuda so far out, as they generally stick near the reefs where they feed. As we took some photos, it thrashed about and cut the line with its sharp teeth, and plunged back into the water. Chalk up another one for the fish.
We thought the pilot whales had gone north, so we slowly went that way, back in the direction we came from this morning. We soon came across them again, and they appeared much more relaxed now. We've seen pilot whales often, and it's always hard to know what kind of behavior to expect. Sometimes they leave as fast as they can, sometimes they stick around to see what's up. This time, fortunately for us, it was the latter. We watched the pilot whales "
He got into the water, and sure enough, that big whitetip rolled right up to him. This species will often do that, as they're curious to see what you are. They'll come right in for a bump to see if you're edible, so it's nice to have a camera housing between you and them. With the adrenalin rush of that big whitetip coming in, Masa waited and waited till the last second and snapped the shot. He got it nicely, and the shark veered off when the strobes flashed. Check out the shot to the right, as well as this nice profile shot of an 
While we were focusing on the oceanic whitetips, the pilot whales continued heading north. Masa got back in the boat, and we followed them for another go. Masa kept shooting the oceanic whitetip sharks, but he also had a good opportunity to observe a mother and calf pilot whale pair. This is not easy to do, as the mother is protective of her offspring, just like human mothers. Invariably she keeps the calf on the far side of her, away from strangers, which means she's usually blocking the shot. She kept nudging the calf away, but at one point, the calf, like a typical teenage, ignored Mom's warning, and slid under her for a better view of Masa. The shot here on the left is the result of that episode of misbehavior.
We caught no fish on this day, but it was awesome photo-wise. There's actually a lot more to write about, but I'm going to save if for another day. As a final shot, though, here's Sugar, expressing her feelings about today's experience on the water. Don't worry viewers; after two minutes on dry land, she stopped drooling and was feeling just like normal!
We began our day at VV buoy where the current was really ripping. There wasn't much going on there fishing-wise, so we concentrated on photography. We took some photos of the buoy, which was tilted over diagonally by the current. At 
I climbed out of the water, and Masa tried his luck again. We repeated our game of hide-and-seek with the shark, but the current never did cooperate, and we called it a day, with just some so-so pics of her. Too bad; that 
From there we went to C buoy. A small pod of pilot whales, probably juveniles, was out there, just a little too far away for any decent shots. We noticed a frigate bird circling, which is usually a sign of baitfish, which in turn attract the big fish and the dolphins. As expected, there were some pantropical spotted dolphins leaping around the baitfish. We got some excellent pics of airborne dolphins. They jumped so high, it was sometimes hard to keep the horizon line in the shot. There were also some big tuna out there, and I got off a nice shot of a leaping tuna. I say it jump once and held ready for the second jump, which I got. Nice work, me! After a good afternoon of dolphin photography, we took off for home. Some baby dolphins followed us and rolled around and around in our boat's wake.
By now, a huge dark cloud had descended on us. We wanted to reach port before it really started pouring, but just then we spotted a beaked whale break the surface! We cut the engine, and miraculously, that whale metamorphosized into a drifting log. Incredible, the things that happen at sea. Despite the impending downpour, we decided to fish the log. Driftwood tends to accumulate small fish, and before long, it's a complete environment. We had time to catch a small striped wahoo, and then headed back to the Keauhou marina. We were drenched from the rain, but I had no time to change or even dry off, as it was my turn to carpool for my daughter's gymnastics group. No time to help Masa clean out the boat either; maybe next week!
After about 2 hours of watching the mahi mahi swim races around the boat, we finally hooked one! It leapt out of the water about 10 times, and got as high as 8 ft out of the water. Several times it jumped up and landed on its side with a big splash! When we got it in, it was over 3 ft long and about 15-20 lbs, a beautiful yellowish-green with blue speckles. Masa was so happy, as we'd been out all day. About an hour later, we caught another.
