LONGSPINE PORCUPINEFISH

Aloha! Well it's been a very nice day here on Kauai. We have had a few brief rain showers but nothing that was long enough to keep us away from the beach. As a matter of fact we have really enjoyed the overcast skies and cooler temps as the trades have lightened some what and without the trades it can become pretty hot and sticky especially if you have clear skies. Jackie and I left for the beach at about 8:30 this morning and when we got to Anini we were about the only ones there. I think there may have been a few locals fishing down by the boat ramp and Barr was there setting up his fish taco wagon but the only visitors we saw were a nice couple from Colorado who were killing time waiting for the lighthouse to open. They said they had gotten an early start this morning as they wanted to beat the crowds to the lighthouse which they did by about an hour and a half as the lighthouse opens at 10. The water was a little better this morning than it was on our last visit. Not nearly as much current and it was a bit clearer also. We ran in to Mr. Honu again this morning but I will save the video for a later post as you are probably getting tired of seeing him anyway. We did video a new fish for you though. It is called a longspine porcupinefish. This fish can puff up like a basketball if it feels really frightened and the spines stick out like a pin cushion! He was not real social and swam off when he saw us. It might be that we woke him up as these fish are more active at night and hang around on the bottom or under a ledge during the day. I swam with him as long as I could but he soon left me in the dust sucking on my snorkel like a drunk sucks on a straw! We encountered this fish out by the buoy in about the same area were we saw the giant porcupinefish and the stripebelly puffers. This has been a very productive spot for us as we have seen a lot of unusual fish there. The outer reef is a short swim from here and there is a crevasse there that is pretty interesting but always gives me chicken skin when I swim by it. Today was no exeption. We had just swam past it when we ran into a honu heading in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed. As honu is a sharks favorite snack it makes your pulse rate go up when you see one behave in a unusual manner like this. We had not gone more than about 25 yards further when a second honu swam past in much the same manner. That was enough for me! I turned to Jackie and said I was getting cold and thought we should head back to shore. I think my being cold excuse worked fairly well as it gave me a good cover story to explain why I was shaking! Not so sure it worked to explain the brown trail I was leaving behind though!