Surfers in Kona

Today was the day after the Hawaiian Sea Turtle Research (see 11/28/07 blog), an event which ended in a tumultuous 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.

Just at the mouth of Keauhou Bay, 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 stock photo business, pictures of women surfers are kind of rare.

We watched the surfers for about an hour and finally left the harbor. Immediately we found a big patch of sawdust floating on the ocean surface. This was probably due to runoff from the big storm yesterday.

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 big yellowfin
tunas, Thunnus albacares. 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 dolphinfish, dorado or mahi mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, swam past us and Masa tried jigging for it. He also threw out a buoy, as it's common knowledge around there that mahi mahi gravitate toward floating objects. This one failed to live up to expectations, however, and went on its way. Masa retrieved the buoy, and we went on our way as well. Some playful pantropical
spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, accompanied us for a while and swam in our wake for great photo opportunities.

On this day, Masa caught one small 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, Megaptera novaeangliae, will be here, and we'll really have something to write about! Check back for that!

To Take or Not to Take Floating Trash

We left the boat launch at about 10:45 and headed out to the FADs
(Fish Aggregation Devices), as we normally do, but we hadn't even left Keauhou Bay when we came across a huge baitball of Akule or bigeye scad or akule, Selar crumenophthalmus. Photographer Masa Ushioda jumped into the water to get some photos, as shots of swirling bait can be beautiful in the right light. He was in the water for 10 minutes or so, got some ok pics (he said visibility was too bad in the bay) and then we continued on. There was a pod of long-snouted spinner dolphins, Stenella longirostris, with us for while, but they seemed unwilling to ride our wake, like they often do. No notable pics as a result of their standoffishyness.

We got to the VV buoy fairly quickly. At one point, two large dolphinfish, dorado or mahi mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, circled our boat and checked out 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 (prepared for wahoo,
Pacific kingfish or ono, Acanthocybium solandri), 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 300 feet from the VV buoy, we came across some trash in the water. It was a piece of floating styrofoam, and my readers, I know you're thinking, "Of course, you retrieved the trash in the interest of protecting marine life." Well, in this case, you'd be wrong! And since there is little else to talk about for today's blog, I'm going to pontificate on trash.

There is all kinds of trash in the ocean. Floating plastic can be a danger to sea turtles, as they ingest it, thinking it to be edible, like jellyfish or squid. There are discarded fishing nets that can get wrapped around seals, whales and dolphins, and of course, no marine animal will last long with synthetic nylon cords constricting its neck or flippers. On the other hand, there are bits of floating foam or other debris like this, which over time accumulate all manner of algae, plant life, and eventually, marine animals. This bit of styrofoam was now home to all kinds of life, including barnacles, small fish and crabs. At this point, it seemed unlikely to pose a hazard to turtles. On the other hand, ripping it out of the water would immediately cause the destruction of a whole ecosystem, with an unknown number of animals that called this ocean slum a home. A couple of months back, we came across a sargassum fish, Histrio histrio, which is one strange ranger, floating in debris like this. So for us, every bit of floating garbage is an individual issue, and we may or may not pick it up. Today, for better or worse, we let harmless trash lie.

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 by nature, 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.

On that day, we retrieved the plastic bag from the ocean. We looked around for what kinds of marine life might have called it home, and found only two tiny crabs. Sorry crabs, but in the interest of the greater good, we appropriated the trash. So you see, folks, in our world, some trash gets picked up and some remains where it was found.

Now I'll mention one last trashy item, but of the natural variety. Today we saw a large patch of weird yellowish-brown stuff floating in the water. It may have been an algal bloom of some kind. I have photos, but let's just say they lack sufficient impact to post here.

Next, we meandered about, trying to find "F" buoy. This is one hard buoy to find sometime when the ocean is rough with swells; it seems to drift 1-2 miles in either direction. We finally gave up and headed over to "C" buoy about 15 miles away. We had a short run with at least a hundred pantropical
spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata there, but like the spinner dolphins we saw earlier, these didn't want to play in our wake. They were active and doing some nice leaps, but they were a bit too far away for any good shots, and soooo unpredictable!

Drifting with an Oceanic Whitetip Shark

We started out today at VV buoy (FAD - Fish Aggregation Device) 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 SeaPics.com, we sometimes get photo requests for ocean currents, which is a tough topic to illustrate. Today, though, we got some decent shots of water currents around the buoy, along with the brown boobies, Sula leucogaster, resting on it.

After hanging around there for a bit, we spotted an oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, approaching the boat. Marine wildlife photographer, Masa Ushioda, was eager to get some shots of this one, so despite the strong ocean current, he jumped in at the up current of the buoy as the shark stationed at the down current. Predictably, he drifted fast away from the boat, buoy and the shark without getting off much of a shot. I took the boat down to pick him up, and we went back to the up current of the buoy to try again. We ended up repeating this exercise about 10 or 12 times until Masa got physically exhausted, trying to get off a shot of that shark right.

The current was still pulling hard, and there was a lot of fishing line tangled on the buoy chain, stretched out horizontally by the pull of the current. Masa was a bit worried about getting tangled up in that stuff while consentrating on the shark in the viewfinder. Most days, when there's no current, the lines just dangle straight down, unnoticed, but today it was a diver trap.

By now, the oceanic whitetip had accumulated some juvenile amberjacks, a nice rainbow runner and a pilot fish. These fish are sometimes seen together with oceanic whitetips, and shots of them in a group are colorful and very marketable. Despite the current and the dangerous fishing lines, we kept at it. Masa urged me to take a turn in the water on the grounds that I needed to witness this puppy face to face for my blog. I eventually got in, carrying a small bat with me, just in case...you know.

Oceanic whitetips are large pelagic sharks and known to be aggressive. They like to approach fishing boats and pilfer whatever fish are being reeled in. When a diver's in the water, they'll come right up to bump their nose with whatever, or take a nibble of whatever limb is being offered up. I was hoping this one, a female, wasn't in a mood for contact. As it turned out, she stayed about 12 to 15 feet away, which suited me just fine. We checked each other out for a while and drifted apart.

I got 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 oceanic whitetip lost her chance to be a cover girl for SeaPics.com.

As we left the area, we saw some small skipjack tunas, Katsuwonus pelamis, jumping out of the water. Boobies were flying all around us, attracted by the baitfish schooling there. A dog on a nearby boat was barking its head off, which made us laugh.

From there we went to C buoy. A small pod of short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus, probably juveniles, was out there, just a little too far away for any decent shots. We noticed a great frigate bird, Fregata minor, circling, which is usually a good sign for fishing. As expected, there were some pantropical spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, leaping. We got some great pics of airborne dolphins. They jumped so high, it was sometimes hard to keep the horizontal line in the shot. There were also some big yellowfin tunas, Thunnus albacares, 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 breaking the surface! We cut the engine, and miraculously, that whale metamorphosized into a large drifting log. Incredible, the things that happen at sea. Despite the impending rain, 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 wahoo, Pacific kingfish or ono, Acanthocybium solandri, by jigging under the log, and then headed back to the Keauhou Bay 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!

The Mahi Mahi Were Jumping!

We got a late start on this overcast day, and headed out to the VV FAD (Fish Aggregation Device) near Keauhou. We checked out what the other boats were fishing there, but it turned out to only be small aku or skipjack tuna,Katsuwonus pelamis, not to our liking. From there we headed out to C buoy, trolling with 4 rods as we went.

Three miles offshore of Kealakekua Bay (where the famous Captain Cook met his maker) we came across a nice pod of short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus, heading in the opposite direction. This was not unusual, as we often see dolphins, beaked whales, pilot whales and more in this area. On this day, however, we knew the BBC was filming on the Big Island about oceanic whitetip sharks, Carcharhinus longimanus, which often accompany pilot whales, so we called our contact, marine photographer Doug Perrine, to identify the whales' location. No word yet if we actually aided the BBC effort.

We continued south and had no luck trolling. Then the ocean, which had been a bit rough, suddenly went flat, like glass. For a while we didn't see any boats around us, but after we passed C buoy, we spotted several fishing boats ahead of us. We knew something was going on there. As we approached, we started to see pantropical spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, leaping high up in the air. It was a large pod of dolphins, and they were head slapping, tail slapping, mothers and calves alike, putting on a real show. They were excited, it seemed, about the school of bait fish right below! Just then, a humongous yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, popped out of the water, right in front of us! If we were going to catch anything today, this was the spot!

Masa, who usually has a good sense of how to position the boat for fishing, tried a maneuver. He went to position us in front of the dolphin pod, as spotted dolphins and yellowfin tuna often travel and hunt together, and that would put the tuna heading in our direction. The move didn't work, though, and the pod went the other way. The dolphins were moving with the bait fish, and apparently those bait fish were avoiding all fishing boats, dolphins and tuna down below.

The direction of the pod was very unpredictable. Although we weren't quite in the right spot, Masa dropped a jig down deep hoping for a mega-bite from a huge yellowfin tuna. However, as the jig decended, the pod of dolphins moved farther away from us, and we quickly understood there would be no chance for a tuna. We tried several times to predict the direction of the school, but we finally got tired and drifted away from them. The pod of dolphins was now way off in the distance, and as Masa reeled in his jig from the deep, he spotted something following it. Then we saw them - about 7 or 8 mahi mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, trying to bite Masa's jig under the boat!

Mahi mahi, as you probably know, are great eating and popular in all the restaurants. They're also known as dorado or dolphinfish. The latter name has fallen out of favor in restaurants, as people (in the West anyway) are not eager to eat anything called "dolphin." Mahi mahi (the Hawaiian name) are fish, and have no connection to dolphins, except for their high leaps in the air.

As Masa had been using a huge jig for monster yellowfin tunas, he switched to a much smaller one for mahi mahi. As he cranked his reel, a mahi hit his lure. Yes, fish on! Hana Pa`a! Unfortunately, immediately after the hook-up, the mahi shook his head hard and got away. Other mahis hit the lure a few times, but they didn't get hooked up for some reason. Soon they started losing interest in jigs.

Masa started throwing real bait into the water and got out every rod he had in the boat - about 10 or 12, and put on an assortment of lures. The mahi mahi kept circling, but no bites. After a while, Masa threw out a hook with some bait and caught a hagi (a spotted triggerfish; a junkfish for fishing). He kept it on the line as a decoy to keep the mahi mahi interested. He then got out his new chum box full of last week's fish guts. Masa keeps the previous catch frozen for just this purpose, and he tossed it in. Unfortunately, the knot untied and Masa's brand new ChumPro box slipped into the blue. See ya, $29.99!

After about 2 hours of watching the mahi mahi swim races around the boat, we finally hooked one on a baited line! 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 slap! 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 by jigging.

After we reeled in the second one, all the mahi mahi disappeared, like they'd suddenly got the idea we didn't have their best interests at heart. Masa released the poor hagi (he was ok!) and phoned his wife to tell her we were heading home. Then just as we got underway, all the mahi mahi came back for one more lap around the boat. Oh well, we'll see them next time!

On the way back, we passed VV buoy again, the one we started at this morning. There were two guys out there fishing from their jet skis, with their coolers of beer on the back. It was like Easy Rider out there, three miles into the ocea.