Big Island Part 5: Adventures & Loss of Color at Depth

We don't see bigger fish while diving in Hawaii very often. Today this school of four threadfin jacks swam across the reef over to Shelley and I and circled for a few minutes. Each fish was between 3 and 4 feet long and they all seemed very curious about us. The video is the best near the end (the last 30 seconds. I think this fish travel quite a bit each day, but I am keeping their location a secret to protect them from spear fisherman.

Shelley and I took a kayak over to the Captain Cook Monument. The snorkeling near the monument is the best I have seen in Hawaii. The area is protected from fishing/aquarium collecting and is home to some wonderful fish. The monument itself is on British soil.

The tiny white line on the shore to the left of Shelley is the Captain Cook Monument. On the kayak trip over there was splashing in the water and it turned out to be tons of bait fish being hunted by small tuna. Below is the video of the bait fish swimming near the surface

Me on British soil. This monument is close to the spot where the Hawaiians killed Captain Cook. 

Reticulated Butterflyfish

My favorite butterflyfish, Saddleback Butterflyfish, and the first one I have seen since 2005.

On this dive I found my first Male Whitley's Boxfish. This is a rare fish in Hawaii (at least at diving depths) and his belly looks like a face.

After Kayak'ing I went and dove a nearby site and found this research instrument underwater. It turned out to be equipment placed by Duke University to study spinner dolphins. 

I found this neat old chain underwater.

Fantastic schools of mature Yellow Tangs! Only place in the world to see this is the Kona Coast of Hawaii (until the aquarium market harvest them all). 

Of course there are always wonderful sea turtles accompanying you on your dives.

One thing I have always tried to explain to non-divers is what happens to color when you dive, in summary, it disappears. But each color is affected differently. I wired some marker caps together and did an experiment. Click the photo to make it bigger.