There’s only 37 pics in this post, and I think I kept them all to around 100kb apiece. Indulge me.
You may recall we last left off on Friday, June 11th, when I returned from My 2010 West Texas Extravaganza. Well, I’m truly living a charmed life, because the next day I was on a plane to Hawai’i. We spent a week on the Big Island with my in-laws at a timeshare they own on the Kona side of the island. Similar to what many of you have experienced, I was reminded this was NOT a herping trip. But it was hard NOT to find herps!
As soon as we arrived at the resort (well after dark), I was excited to see this gold dust day gecko, Phelsuma laticauda, on the wall right outside our condo.
Granted, it’s an invasive, as are most Hawai’ian herps, but they’re still beautiful. I figured I’d take a few shots the next morning…
…but then realized just how downright abundant they were on the resort. They were everywhere:
Poolside,
In the gardens,
In the bathroom,
On my back,
And in my hair.
That last shot was more along the lines of a shirtless treat for the ladieez.
The day geckos weren’t the only disgusting, exotic, invasive species around. There were also these other geckos—mourning geckos?
and green anoles, Anolis carolinensis:
The filthy invasives weren’t limited to herps either. Pretty much everything the casual observer associates with Hawai’I has been introduced. I like these birds, but they’re all freeloading strap-hanging invasive species:
Mynahs from Asia,
Zebra doves from Australia,
Yellow-billed cardinals from South America,
and saffron finches, also from South America (pictured with a Plumeria flower—also invasive):
We saw a few of these too, but they were pretty hard to photograph—mongoose:
Saw a few inverts of note as well, including these nasty blue-headed centipedes which crawled out of the bathtub drain:
and this crayfish in a stream in a botanical garden on the Hilo side of the island:
There were a few other neat mammals to see as well—we took a dolphin snorkel cruise, in the hopes of encountering the schools of 200+ spinner dolphins as they returned from a night of feeding. While we were told 90% of the time the tours find the dolphins, this time we did not. On the other hand, we found 3 or so Pacific bottlenose dolphins, some of which are pictured here:
Another tourist boat alongside them:
Although they’re close to the boat in that picture, they don’t take kindly to humans in the water near them. I jumped in and swam furiously and for my efforts caught a fleeting glimpse of two sets of flukes about 50 yards away as they swam off.
Let’s get our feet dry for a minute with another pic from the botanical gardens near Hilo:
And warm up next to this active lava flow near Pu’u O’o Crater (from helicopter):
OK, back to the herps. I always enjoy seeing honu, the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas agassizi) when I’m in Hawai’i. Occasionally I’ve been lucky enough to swim near them (laws prohibit touching or approaching within a set distance—depending on what sign you’re reading, either 20 or 30 feet), and I hoped to repeat the experience on this trip.
I was happy when my in-laws pointed out these two turtles feeding on sea grass in a small cove at Pu’uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Park. First pic is one of the turtles in about two feet of water:
This pic shows both turtles:
We also saw them in the harbor while boarding for the dolphin cruise, and this one and a friend not pictured near the charter fishing boat on which I got skunked for the first time ever while deep-sea fishing:
My family and I went snorkeling several times, in several different locations, always hoping to see a turtle, especially so my Kid could share the experience:
I assure you, those bubbles were previously produced by the snorkel and no other source!
Most of these underwater pics are from a lousy disposable underwater camera—we bought a digital one, but it leaked after a very short duration and was rendered useless.
Me with a small school of raccoon butterflyfish:
The Kid (left) and Wife (right) with threadfin butterflyfish and yellow tang (Wife’s favorite):
The Wife and Kid with more yellow tang, and an unidentified surgeonfish:
Black triggerfish and numerous Moorish idols—never seen them school like that before:
Pinktail triggerfish (lifer):
MORE Moorish idols and yellow tangs—it’s like swimming in an aquarium:
All that effort and still no turtle. On our final day on the island, before heading to the airport we returned to Pu’uhonua O Honaunau for one last attempt. The Kid and I swimming near the tikis:
Convict tangs, yellow tangs, and a cool yellow trumpetfish:
The water was a little murky, partly due to particulates, but also because of cool, fresh water emanating from underwater springs and mixing with the warmer salt water—the thermocline made for some interesting refractory properties.
Yellow tang followed by a longnose butterflyfish:
Because of the cool water, The Kid gave up the adventure fairly quickly. I stuck it out, and as I ran out of film in the camera, finally got a “decent” underwater shot of my target honu.
And so ended my second (and last) Big Trip of the summer. I’ll close with a couple of sunset shots:
And an even better one:
Mahalo for looking!
Chris
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
