Looooong dive report(s): Hawaii trip wrap-up!

Aloha!

My time in Hawaii has come to an end and I'm back in the Bay Area... sick as a dog & freezing my butt off.   

Lots of good food
+ quality time with family and friends
+ some solid time with the ocean
= one happy Fuzz   



Gave up trying to keep up with the daily reports, but here are 3 of my my more memorable dives.  Real long, but included a bunch of pics/videos for those of you with short attention spans like me.   

Before the dive:
My kayak never left my roof the whole trip. 




My consultant Waffles, deciding which spearguns I should use for the day.




Even with neoprene booties, some 8hour days on the water took its toll on my feet.  They swelled up and I had 9 blisters on my right foot alone. 






On to the dives:

1)  Some spot way out in the middle of nowhere!
My favorite dive of the trip by far.  The day started out poorly... to make an already long story shorter, we were supposed to do a boat dive, but due to engine troubles, we drove back & forth across the island a couple times and ended up diving off kayaks in the farthest possible spot.  One of my buddies was hijacked by his dad while returning home to pick up his kayak.  Instead of enjoying a day out on the water, he was co-erced into picking up compost.   While grossly misfortunate for him, such a humorous circumstance for the rest of us was a sure sign of a great day of diving.... there's always a flip side to Murphy's Law.  For once, I was on the right side of "you should've been there!"

Winds were reported as light and variable, but instead ripped out of the East.  We paddled out way past the surfline and worked a drop-off with poor visibility.  10-15ft of visibility opening up on the bottom slightly.  Repeated drops brought about lots of smaller fish and we each took a decent sized goatfish from this area, but agreed to move on.  Fighting the whitecaps, we relocated to another area with slightly better visibility.  Two dives in, I heard a shout - I swam over to find my divebud stringing up a nice fish.  He had put us right on one of his secret spots.  A dozen medium-sized Kumu (Whitesaddle Goatfish) milled calmly around.  Taking a few dives from different angles, I sniped the two biggest ones in the school and he shot an absolute beast of a Moana Ukali (Blue Goatfish) that cruised by.  The Moana Ukali was the biggest I've seen and a nice trophy!

We left the rest of the fish alone to preserve the spot and decided to try to find new grounds. We were completely unsuccessful.  We swam almost a mile dragging our kayaks with no quality fish seen.  As the sun began to lower, our fearless leader suggested a spot that was another mile out to sea... fine proposition, except that we were already so far off shore that the cars looked like ants.  No guts, no glory!  Off we paddled, our kayak bows punching through the steep windswell, lifting up, and smashing into the troughs.  At least the paddle in would be easy...

This final spot was one of the fishiest I've ever seen and is now embedded as one of my top diving memories.  I knew the spot would be challenging when my anchor rope hung vertical and I needed to tie off to another kayak.  My bud swam off & I couldn't spot him through the whitecaps.  Without backup, I decided to play it safe and spent some time in the "shallows" (50-60ft).  The fish here blanketed the reef - herds of Mu hovering in the distance like a fleet of starships, packs of Kumu patrolling the reef edge, and cracks overflowing with Menpachi (U'u or Bigscale Soldierfish), Ta'ape (Bluestripe Snapper), & Toau(Blacktail Snapper).  Roi (Peacock Grouper) could be found slinking around like slumlords, large Uhu(Parrotfish) grazed on scrumptious coral, and opportunistic Uku(Gray Snapper) circled mid-water, searching for unsuspecting victims.  Making smooth quiet drops and using the coral outcroppings as blinds, I systematically picked off the fish I wanted and filled my belt stringer.  Good shot placement and stoning or quickly subduing the fish were key to keeping the rest of the fish from spooking.




As I offloaded my stringer into my kayak soft cooler, I heard my buddy call again.  I thought I had been on the motherload of fish, but it turns out that was nothing!  I was escorted out to the deeper ledges and found diving Shangri-La.  A deep section of reef with more biomass than I've seen in quite some time.  A large school of Kawelea (Heller's Barracuda) balled up in midwater while Kahala(Amberjack), large Uku, and Omilu (Bluefin Trevally) confidently swaggered about the reef.  As my friend gestured towards a ledge, I tried to relax myself and tipped over for a dive.  Closing my eyes and focusing on form, I angled to hit the roof of the ledge.  Arcing my back, I levelled off & settled on the ledge to discover that the ledge was actually a huge cave that extended from one side of the reef to the other... and was absolutely PACKED with Ulua!  Ulua soon surrounded me and as I peered into the cave, I couldn't see daylight on the other side!  I thought about taking a shot, but didn't see a need to rush, so I quietly backed up & headed for the surface.  Another recon dive confirmed that there were probably ~100 ulua there, ranging between shiny silver 10-pounders to grey 90-pound bruisers.   

On my 3rd dive, I was set on shooting an Ulua, but had a dilemna - I was caught between ego & common sense.  My family enjoys eating Ulua sashimi, but really prefer the smaller fish.  The ego in me wanted to plant a shaft through the head of one of those big bruisers...  I dove down, still not sure what to do.  I perched on the ledge and focused as Ulua casually passed within a couple feet of my speartip.  I almost pulled the trigger on a 40#er that I had lined up, but felt some hesitation and instead shifted my speargun & popped a much smaller one slightly behind it.  Aiming for that sweet spot right behind its eye, the shaft found its mark and the fish rolled over without a fight.  The quick assasination did little to disturb the school and actually piqued the interest of a large ulua well into the 60#+ range that almost ran into me as it cruised in to check out my shot placement.  In the end, I'm very happy with the decision I made - we made great use out of that fish and there was no need to shoot a bigger one or take another.  Sometimes it's the fish you don't shoot that make your day.  I took one last dive to enjoy the show, then headed back to my kayak... grinning like an idiot.   




2) Waikiki MLCD
Solo mission.  On even-numbered years, this MLCD (Marine Life Conservation District) opens to fishing/spearfishing.  As expected, the fishing pressure in the first couple weeks is high, but it's also one of the closest beaches to my house, so I decided to hit it.  The winds were forecasted at 15-25+mph this day so I didn't expect to make it out diving.  When I woke up, the wind was surprisingly absent.  I immediately took off for the beach!  As with most spots on Oahu, the diving is all about covering grounds, so I embarked with my polespear looking for some Menpachi (soliderfish).  Though small, these googly-eyed red fish are highly sought-out and my land-ridden former dive buddy asked me to shoot some for him.  He suffers from a horrible disease called "Toolazytogetoffhisbuttandinthewater". 




Nevertheless, he has always been a good friend so I set out to fill his request.  The fact that he has a large ice machine and a walk-in fridge that I store stuff in doesn't hurt either.     I kicked along looking for the ledges that the Menpachi frequent.  Unfortunately, the recent barage of fishing and diving activity has scared the resident Menpachi population silly.  As I peer under a ledge, little red blurs bolt into deep crevices, never to be seen again.   Working deeper waters, I find some less pressured crevices where I can pop a few of these tasty fish.  Unfortunately the Puhi (moray eels) are out in force and they tax a few of my Menpachi before I can secure them, ripping the fish off my polespear a milisecond after impact.  Fending off Puhi, an overly curious reef shark, and the advances of a Honu(turtle) who was set on trying to mate with me... I slowly managed to fill my stringer with the tasty little buggers.




A few Roi joined the mix as I drifted aimlessly and scouted out new grounds.




I also found a couple octopus that were of legal size, but turned loose to grow a bit more.  This one tried jumping in a hole with a baby moray eel, which charged and scared the crap out of me.
VIDEO:
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=7xlkhti&s=1

After grabbing the tako, I tried to be nice and let it go... and it latched onto my foot like my 3-yr old niece.



Midway through my polespear spree, I jumped on my kayak to make sure the fish were properly packed in the ice.  Looking downcurrent, I saw a pod of dolphins headed straight for me!  I quickly grabbed my camera and jumped back in, snapping pics as they swam under/over/around me.  Well over a hundred strong, the pod of dolphins were a delightful treat.  Unfortunately, it turns out my camera case's lense-port had fogged up and the images didn't turn out well.   






The culprit (foggy camera case):




With the sun lowering, the tourist catamarans started their sunset tours.  Some of the dive boats have cookies for the passengers and tend to share if you paddle up and give them puppy dog eyes.  As a general rule, I have found catamarans to be cookie-less and therefore, warrant less interest on my behalf.   




I drifted for almost an hour with no signs of fish, then happened upon a herd of uhus grazing on the outer flats.  I could see some goatfish in the distance feeding, so I knew if I befriended the Uhus, the goats would be suckered into joining the party.  For two drops, I laid in a little depression in the reef, my eyes peering over the edge.  A tiny shrimp walked up to my mask and sat down on my lense.  I brushed it away and it waved its tiny little claws at me in contempt.  Though wary on the first drop, the Uhu and surgeonfish came in and befriended me on the second drop, curious what this clumsy creature was doing.  Sure enough, the pod of Moana Ukali couldn't stand not being the center of attention and made a beeline straight towards me.  Playing hard to get, I lowered my eyes and they settled on the other side of a little ridge.  I very very slowly lifted my speartip and waited till one crossed over the ridgeline... & Thwack!  A beautiful goatfish dead in it's tracks and what would turn out to be the best meal I had in Hawaii. 




On that good note, I decided to pack it in.  The wind never materialized and it was another great day on the water!




3) Kailua Beach Park

Paddled out far.  Real far.  And deep.  Took some time to check one spot, then do some scouting.  While lying on the ground, I had a large Uku come in on me and I made a very rookie mistake... I took a shot at it.  The water was clear and I thought it was a small fish.  It turned out to be a large fish farther away.  The shaft didn't even reach the fish and as I swam to the surface, one of my dive partners watching had a look on his face that said it all... "WTF did you take THAT shot for?!"   

After eating some humble pie, I drifted onto a reef loaded with parrotfish and shot one small Moana Ukali.  There were a few more swimming around, so I dropped back down in the fish pile as my dive partner hovered above.  I watched the fish bob and weave in and out of the cracks then looked to my left and saw a large Uku swimming away.  ARGH!!!  It had been right above me and I hadn't noticed it.  I aggressively smacked the ground with my hand, billowing clouds of sand over the reef and it turned broadside in response.  Not wanting to lose the shot, I pulled myself torwards the fish with my left arm to close the gap a bit more and gently squeezed the trigger.  The shaft toggled securely and the fish went bezerk ripping line off my reel.  Heading to the surface, I was relieved I didn't have to endure further embarassment from another missed shot.  My partner dropped down as I fought the fish to check the shot placement and gave me the thumbs-up.  Looking for sharks, I swiftly pulled the fish in and dispatched it with my knife.  Like the old saying, "Better lucky than good!"




Drifting along, I noticed that my 2 dive partners' yaks were anchored up outside of me.  I headed over to see what they had found & secured my kayak to the lead kayak.  No idea where they were, so I swam aimlessly toward the horizon and found a large herd of Mu.  Mu are the hardest fish to hunt in Hawaii.  They hover like little spacecraft exactly 1ft past your maximum speargun range.  They don't swim.  They teleport.  It's infuriating, yet challenging at the same time.  After a few unsuccessful attempts to shoot one, I needed a fresh approach.  I found a ledge that was also a tunnel, so I dropped down and pulled myself to the far side.  The first dive, it worked TOO well.  I looked out & saw the Mu had moved in close to investigate where I went, but there were also some large ones that were under the ledge with me!  Unfortunately, I couldn't manuever my speargun in the tight quarters and the smug little bastards teleported away, no doubt laughing at my incompetence. 

Looking back to the yaks, my buddies were out of the water, so I knew I had only one more dive left.  I breathed up and followed the same routine, but kept my gun tucked in tight.  The Mu tentatively approached and I slowly extended my gun.  Not slow enough - they teleported back a few feet.  Beginning to turn blue, I held my position and one of the smaller ones made the fatal mistake of approaching too close.  Thwack!  Solid holding shot through the gill plates.  Happy with at least landing a small 3# one, I hurriedly swam back to the yaks where I found out why the school was so skittish - one of my buds had shot a nice 6.5#er earlier out of the same batch.  No pics as we were getting abused by the windchop.

Surfing the swells back in, we decided to try one last spot.  We jumped in and found mediocre visibility but a wide assortment of smaller fish.  Big Aweoweo (Hawaiian Glasseyes) hovered above the reef cracks, but these normally tame fish slinked out of view at the nearest sign of danger.  Though not normally regarded as prized gamefish, we giggled like little schoolgirls as we brought out our smallest spearguns and stalked these wary big-eyed prey.  Skirting the reef's contours, I managed to pick off two Aweoweo.  One of my buddies missed two close shots before ending by shooting 3 in a row.  I rounded out the belt stringer with an Uku that swam by chasing some baitfish and a Roi that I dive-bombed.




Ended the day taking some ghetto photos out of my car window as I drove back over the mountain to my side of the island.




Couple Extras

From another dive, here are a couple random octopus videos:

Extracting a tako (tickling with the polespear till it gets agitated and tries to flee its hole)
VIDEO:
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=6u7ae68&s=1

Freeswimming tako (too small to take)
VIDEO:
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=7wssxlf&s=1



a hui hou,
da Fuzz

Fuzz:  I found your reports from Hawaii to be refreshing at first and then it bugged me that you were still in Hawaii and I wasn't!     Now you've dropped this bomb on us - way to go, Man!   

This is a very well written, entertaining, and truly epic report.  I am impressed and pleased by your writing style and how it flows from your true center:  "We left the rest of the fish alone to preserve the spot" and the tale of your dilemma about wanting to shoot the 40-60 pounder but knowing you only wanted/needed a smaller one.  Those are the qualities that earn my respect.  Thank you for sharing and also for caring.    

Harold, after several weeks diving in Hawaiian waters, what do you do to acclimate yourself to Nor Cal waters again? Sit in a walk-in freezer for an hour or two?  Thanks for the reports...very well written with much appreciation for connecting Hawaiian names with generic names for the fish you caught.

Howard

I have a serious case of fishing-envy...    Great reports, and welcome back to reality!

Excellent reports. I was seriously jonesing for more of your spearfishing reports when you went silent a couple weeks ago.

Scott

Dang that's  a chunky goatfish.  Thanks for the reports, and thanks for posting a picture of tape over those blisters.  Otherwise, it would have been

Great Report Fuzz,  Makes me want to pack my bags tonight.  I did some scuba diving in your area.  Coolest location was a Corsair wreck in about 100 ft of water near Waikiki beach.  Also dove in an area north of Waikiki, lava flows with 10 to 15 ft walls, very cool.  This was many years ago, but still remember it like yesterday.


John

Fuzz,
Do you guys worry about the ciguatera in the reef fish?  Do you have to test them?  I know a couple of people who have gotten really sick from reef fish off Maui.  Just curious.
Dave

It's never easy coming back & even worse getting back in the water to dive here...   


The Corsair is a cool wreck to visit.  I've only dove on it once in ripping current.  Very clear waters & given the sandy surroundings, it's a mini-oasis of fish.  This trip, I visited the other wrecks like the YO-257 & the Sea Tiger, but try not to make a habit of shooting fish off them since they attract the bubble-blowing PETA crowd. 


Ciguateria is a concern that I touched on in my earlier reports.  Over the years, I've talked with a few people who have done studies on ciguateria, so I have a good feeling of which areas/species are prone to higher levels.  For example, I will eat the roi off Waikiki area, but would not touch it on the Big Island with a 10-ft pole.  Other concerns include size limitations too.  The bigger a fish is, the more of a chance it has to accumulate the toxin.  Basically, ciguateria is a real possibility, but with some background knowledge & common sense, the threat is severely diminished.  There are also commercial test kits available.   



BTW, I've been back over a week and I'm still friggin freezing. 

Dude... looks like mom fed you good while you were visiting home.
Damn... looking at your foot... are you and the Mooch related?

Thanks for the great "fuzzie style" reports, pics, and vids.
Glad you had a great time!
Ready to try to something colder and slower paced... like sturgeon fishing?   

Add me to the list of people that thoroughly enjoyed those reports, and enjoyed the thought of you back, sick and freezing, just a little more,  .

Now where's your yellowtail-chasing report?

and when are you going perching?

J

Great report, makes me want to go back!

hot damn!  i know what i'm doin this summer

Wow. 

Very nice, as usual.  I cant wait to wade through more of your pics. Thanks for taking the time to warm things up for us here!