Weekly Summary--Week 3 (01/07/21)

First things first: Airport Beach

Honokowai, West Maui. Cladophora up to our nostrils. Ocean floor littered with Lyngbya. There comes a time when conditions get so bad you have to ask, "What's it like somewhere else?"

So we went somewhere else.

We decided to dive at Airport Beach, about 1.5 km down the road. Airport Beach is a popular dive/snorkeling spot at the north end of Kaanapali. Our first impression: shock. The condition of the corals has deteriorated markedly compared to the last time we dived this area.

Second impression: slime. Cladophora snagged many of the Pocillopora meandrina and some coral heads appeared brown and smothered.

Cladophora snagged many of the Pocillopora meandrina and some coral heads appeared brown and smothered.

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We kicked northward and into deeper water and then the algae conditions proved similar to Honokowai.

Cladophora grew from Halimeda stalks and on the coral reefs.

Cladophora grew from Halimeda stalks and on the coral reefs.

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Here too the brown slime covered Amansia.

Here too the brown slime covered seaweed Amansia.

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We collected this material and we're in the process of getting it identified. It looks suspiciously like Lyngbya. In the algae world, however, as in the real world, looks can be deceiving.

We collected this material and we're in the process of getting it identified.

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Exciting resight

Airport Beach is humdrum compared to the goings-on at our dive site. For one thing turtles are conspicuous for their absence. While at Honokowai we can see two dozen turtles with no effort, Airport Beach usually serves up a couple at best. We saw one cute little honu but the real surprise--and delight--was seeing a hawksbill.

We recognized the 'ea immediately. Swimming along, as nonchalant as ever, was Ake, (pronounced "AH kay") whom we hadn't seen since 1999 at Honokowai.

Swimming along, as nonchalant as ever, was Ake, whom we hadn't seen since 1999.

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"Progress"

As we headed back to the car, Ursula videotaped the construction going on in the last bit of wild area left between Kaanapali and Honokowai. The scrub and trees have been cleared and now ground movers are having their way with the place. More condos, hotels and timeshares.

"Progress."

Progress.

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Roll call: Nui checks in

Every resight is an important occasion. Without resights, we'd have no longitudinal information on these turtles. Some resights are special. though, because of the number of years we've known them. On July 15th we resighted Nui for the first time this summer.

What joy! Of course Nui didn't care; he had no reaction whatsoever. We've known Nui since 1990 when he had a short tail and we didn't even know what sex he was. Delighted Ursula slid beside the big ol' honu and Peter captured the moment on video.

Delighted Ursula slid beside the big ol' honu and Peter captured the moment on video.

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Foraging foraging foraging

Nui provided us with another highlight this week. He'd just gone up for air, then descended to rest on the bottom. There, Nui lowered his head and his eyes looked purposeful. Clearly Nui was in foraging-mode. Like all other honu we've seen foraging, Nui targeted the seaweed Amansia.

This is only our third week, but we've already documented more foraging this summer than we have in many years combined. We're still trying to figure out why.

Like all other honu we've seen foraging, Nui targeted the seaweed Amansia...

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...then he went for more Amansia...

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This leaves us with a concern. The Amansia forage all over our dive site (and south to at least Airport Beach) is coated with that as yet unidentified reddish-brown slime.

The Amansia forage all over our dive site (and south to at least Airport Beach) is coated with that as yet unidentified reddish-brown slime.

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Pumehana

Last summer we reported on a delightful young honu we named Pumehana--Hawaiian for "affectionate". For whatever reason, this turtle enjoyed landing beside, on top, and under Ursula. On one occasion Pumehana even walked over Ursula.

To our great delight, when George Balazs (Hawaii's sea turtle expert) visited with us, Pumehana took one look at George and made a run at him. We call this honu behaviour "chin music."

Unfortunately, we also knew Pumehana was getting fibropapilloma. Both his eyes showed the tiniest of white lumps--lumps that we knew would be tumours. This week, we sighted Pumehana by Mt. Balazs resting with our resident Black Turtle, Ho'omalu.

We were saddened to see the young honu's condition. The eyes were much worse. Here is a comparison.

The eyes were much worse. Here is a comparison.

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There was one other thing new for 2001. Pumehana now had the long tail of a male honu. This leads us to believe that the behaviour we interpreted as "affectionate" last summer was really just a young male feeling his oats.

...and tossing them about!

More bad news: Ho'omalu

This week we got a really good long look at Ho'omalu's right eye. There is no doubt now--she's got tiny lumps erupting the rear portion of her eye.

There is no doubt now--she's got tiny lumps erupting the rear portion of her eye.

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Just as worrisome, we've noticed that one of the several neck blemishes we reported on last week has now turned white. We believe that this is the beginning of a tumour collar.

We hope we are wrong, so we're not ready to classify her as having FP. Still, we've upgraded her to "FP SUSPECTED."

We believe that by summer's end, those tiny lumps in her right eye will have burst through the conjunctiva and become tumours. Then we will have the dubious distinction of documenting the course of fibropapilloma disease in an East Pacific black turtle.

Ho'omalu is beautiful.

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Week 4 Summary

Summer of '01 at Honokowai

Turtle Happenings

Who's Who Underwater at Honokowai

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