Night Snorkeling

 One of my favorite things about being in Hawaii is that I can swim anytime I want, all year round.  The water is definitely saltier than I grew up with on Lake Michigan, but it's a small trade off for the variation of life that you get to see here.  The water is clear, and warm (usually).  The sights are unbelievable.  As soon as we moved here we got snorkel kits, and have used them extensively.  I got SCUBA certified in my second semester of school, but sadly have not gotten a tank on my back since the final certification dive. 

What I love with the ocean is that the life beneath the waves doesn't follow the same rules that it does out here in the air.  Here everything has it's head, mouth, eyes, brain, and all that pretty much in the same spot.  Underwater, the line between plant and animal is blurred so much that I often don't know what I'm looking at.  Tiny creatures make up the largest structures around.  The reefs are plentiful, and house myriad fishes, snails, cucumbers, and other life.  Sadly, with all this beauty, I do see a lot of trash.  We live on the windward side of the island, and the tradewinds blow pretty steadily all year.  With the wind comes the trash.  Mostly it's all beautiful, but I feel saddened when I see a beach covered with broken milk crates, fishing lures, and other rubbish. We are so proud of Finn though.  WHenever he sees ANY trash, he picks it up and announces, "Just saved a sea turtle!".  

I have a buddy who is always out hunting and spearfishing.  He's the consummate outdoorsman.  I have always loved the look of spearfishing.  I used to follow Kimi Swimmy on Insta back in the day when I was hip and on all the social medias.  Anyway, he took me spearfishing once.  It was quite the experience.  You have to go beyond the reef to get to the big fish.  Now, between the reef and the beach, it's pretty calm because the energy of the waves is dissipated on the coral before it hits shore.  Beyond the reef it is also pretty calm because the waves are just swells of energy with nothing to stop them, so you just bob around a bit.  It's that tricky part right ON the reef that things get dicey.  All the swells trying to get to shore pile up on top of the reef and make the large, surfable, waves you see on TV.  They're great if you want to surf on top of the water, but if you are trying to make your way under the water, it's a bit more difficult.  

I marveled at my friend's ability to stay down on the bottom waiting for a fish.  Spearfishing is the most sustainable form of fishing.  I feel like you are hunting the fish on their own territory.  You get to select just the right fish, and there's not accidental bycatch.  Fishing with a single line is not as, but you might hurt the wrong animal you're not going for, and I can't tell you how many lead weights and stray fishing lines I have found in the ocean.  Commercial fishing nets destroy whole fishing zones and all the habitats around.  Anyway, even though it looks amazing, and is the most eco-friendly way to fish, it was still too sad for me to be down there, seeing these beautiful, colorful, graceful fish, and then shooting one.  After getting a fish, he handed it to me while he got it strung up to his float.  I'm pretty sure it stared at me as it died.  

After a while of swimming around, we started to head back in.  Surprise surprise, the fish was no longer there.  To which my friend said, "I thought I felt something tugging on the line.  A shark must have eaten it."  I will definitely think twice before accepting a freshly killed fish while I am still in the water, and I will probably not go spearfishing again.

This same buddy also leads night snorkeling tours.  He goes to a popular snorkel spot that I've been to many times.  It feel like swimming in an aquarium because of all the colorful reef fish, and the clear water.  At night time it's a whole different ballgame.  All of the slower moving -and in many ways, more exotic- animals hide during the day, and come out to do their business at night. 

Giant cowrie shells clung to the underside of jagged rocks.  Holes of varying size and sharpness opened up to a hidden underworld.  Crustaceans of all sorts crawled out to feed.  They are some of the most easily spotted nocturnal animals since their eyes glow like bright LEDs when hit by a flashlight.

Creatures I took to be mainly stationary actually crawled around during the late-night hours.  There were several types of urchins.  Black spine urchins (hurt to step on, happened twice), Hawaiian banded urchins (poisonous, avoid), and boring urchins (so-named for their ability to bore into solid rock, and not so much for their lack of witty conversation) were all out in abundance.  

Sea stars were oddly rare on the nights I have been out night snorkeling.  I went a few times with my buddy, but then he had his appendix out and needed some help to carry things while he recovered.  This was a great way to have fun and make a few bucks.  I suppose I did well enough that he let me take over the tours while he was on vacation.  I am not as good of a photographer, but it was still great to share this underwater world with others, and feel more a part of it myself.

Who would have thought that snails and slugs were some of the most beautiful and mysterious creatures of the night?

There are two types of octopus that I have been able to interact with on these night tours.  They are so intelligent and aware that I have completely sworn off of calamari.  It was never one of my favorite dishes, but I still felt like I had to try some when I went to Chinese buffets.  The only way to stop animals from being hunted, is to stop ordering them on the menu.  I don't know why I don't feel this way about all animals yet, but perhaps someday I'll either get over it, or become vegetarian. 

Anyway, they have complete control over each individual sucker on each of their eight limbs.  This poor guy is down to six tentacles and two stubs.  I hope that it is due to fights with other sea creatures, and not due to mishandling by humans.  Perhaps someday I will be ok with just looking and not touching.  With the octopus, I always try to respect them.  I reach out to see if they want to be held, or to play, but they are very descriptive with their body language.  If he changes color, tries to squirt away, or just reached out and slaps my hand away, then I back off and give him his space.  Their bodies and tentacles feel like a mix between Jello and Velcro.

That there ladies and gents is a cone snail with his harpoon out

"All cone snails are venomous and capable of "stinging" humans; if live ones are handled their venomous sting will occur without warning and can be fatal. The species most dangerous to humans are the larger cones, which prey on small bottom-dwelling fish; the smaller species mostly hunt and eat marine worms. Cone snails use a hypodermic needle-like modified radula tooth and a venom gland to attack and paralyze their prey before engulfing it. The tooth, which is sometimes likened to a dart or a harpoon, is barbed and can be extended some distance out from the head of the snail, at the end of the proboscis.

Cone snail venoms are mainly peptides. The venoms contain many different toxins that vary in their effects; some are extremely toxic. The sting of small cones is no worse than a bee sting, but the sting of a few of the larger species of tropical cone snails can be serious, occasionally even fatal to humans. Cone snail venom is showing great promise as a source of new, medically important substances"  -Wikipedia

Who can tell me what this is?

The patterns and shapes that life under the sea takes is really awe-inspiring

I wish I had picture of all that I saw.  These are just a few of the species I noticed while out at night.  For some reason, it just felt more adventurous.  The water may have been clear, but it was still eerie to only have a field of vision as far and wide as my small flashlight could penetrate.  Sometimes surprises loomed around the next rock.  We once came upon a 6-foot long brown moray eel!  It's not their fault they look so mean, they are just breathing; but still, I wouldn't want one to lunge and make off with my finger.

These are Toby fish.  They are so cute, and they puff up and squeak if you try to hold them.  They are part of the boxfish/puffer fish family, but they have no spines.

Here is our friend from earlier.  The jeweled anemone hermit crab.  Apparently hermit crabs really do like to stack things on their shells to be all Shiny!  In this case, they put anemones on their backs.  The anemones get a free ride to better food, and the hermit crab gets protection in the form of stinging anemones in case someone tries to eat them.  

Well there you have it, a tiny glimpse into the underwater world of Hawaii.  I hope to keep sharing these adventures with you as time goes by.  I have a lot of catching up to do!