Ocean Watch

Laysan ducks die by dozens on Midway

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:49:45 -1000

This week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent out a depressing news release: Since Aug. 10, 106 Laysan ducks at Midway...

The zebra fish is a rock star for scientists

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:59:08 -1000

How do you repair damaged heart muscle? Which genetic mutations cause malignancies? Why does a drug effective for testicular cancer impair hearing?

The answers to these weighty questions, and more, could lie...

Sailing book explains many nautical terms

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:41:56 -1000

Recently I found a little book called "The Sailing Pocket Companion" which contained entertaining nautical trivia.

Among my favorite sections were those explaining commonly used terms that originated on Old World ships. Son of a gun, for instance.

In days of old, women were not officially allowed on ships, but captains often welcomed them ...

The pelican is a bold and clever bird

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:44:38 -1000

BRISBANE, Australia » "A wonderful bird is the pelican. His bill can hold more than his belly can. He can take in his beak, food enough for a week, but I'm darned if I see how the helican."

merican newspaper editor Dixon Lanire Merrith wrote this catchy little...

Whale cruise in Australiaan eye-opener

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:17:23 -1000

BRISBANE, Australia » I'm in Australia preparing my boat, Honu, for our next big adventure: Mexico's Baja Peninsula.

I'm not sailing her there. Honu will be riding on the deck of a ship built for that purpose. Going thousands of miles upwind this way is much easier on Honu, and certainly on me, but getting ready for the ride has been as much work as any other voyage.

Since I arrived,

Column about sea snakes hits a nerve

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:21:26 -1000

It was the best of e-mail; it was the worst of e-mail.

On July 15, 2005, I recounted a story told me by a surfer who in 1995 watched a yellow-bellied sea snake slither over his board off Waikiki. That column, posted on my Web site, has...

Lion-fish becoming king of Atlantic

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:14:04 -1000

A friend sent me a link to a news report that on the South Atlantic coast of the U.S., the lion-fish population is out of control. Film clips showed divers coming up with sacks of lion-fish, a fraction of what's out there. This alien species got a fin-hold in the area in the '90s, the reporter said, and is now multiplying like mad.

Alien species? I didn't know. These popular aquarium fish...

St. Elmo's fire provided sailors with hot tales

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:00:06 -1000

While paging through a book of sea stories recently, I found some legends about St. Elmo's fire, one of nature's best fireworks shows.

Is this glimmering on one's boat benign or dangerous? I wondered. What should....

Superferry trip to Maui was enjoyable gift

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:21:43 -1000

While sailing around Australia's Great Barrier Reef last year, I got e-mails from several friends telling me the new Hawaii Superferry was causing a lot of controversy, particularly on Kauai.

Controversy? I e-mailed back. About what?

About the possible spread of....

Injured turtle lays eggs, heads home

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:42:02 -1000

Pukalani laid her eggs. Pukalani is the satellite-tagged turtle who lost a front flipper to a shark recently. I wrote about her last week, and countless people have been wishing the best for this turtle.

And....

Tracked turtle loses a flipper in shark attack

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:10:22 -1000

Life can be hard for turtles, even the ones Hawaii honu lovers watch over, tend to and track.

The green turtle Pukalani, otherwise known as L-18, had a particularly hard day...

Crossing paths with rays leaves an impression

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:17:36 -1000

In response to my May 23 column about jumping rays, I received an e-mail from Laie reader Vonn, who offered another explanation as to why rays leap. According to Vonn's father and grandfather, in traditional Hawaiian culture rays jump to announce a pregnancy.

"I was overjoyed when....

Albatross females raise chicks together

Fri, 30 May 2008 08:23:35 -1000

In the animal kingdom, when the sex ratio of a species gets skewed, queer things happen.

It is possible stingrays just jump for joy - Updated with Pictures

Sat, 24 May 2008 09:21:29 -1000

Pictures Added 5/24/08

'Why do stingrays throw themselves high in the air?" a friend asked by e-mail.

"Would this be because they are being chased, or perhaps to throw parasites off their bodies? I wonder what ideas you have."

I've read some theories about this, but we humans never...

Unique platypus once deemed a joker’s hoax

Fri, 16 May 2008 08:40:23 -1000

A biologist friend asked me if I'd ever written about platypuses. "Written about them?" I said. "I don't even know what they are."

That wasn't entirely true, but....

Triton's trumpet shell has new calling

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:25:31 -1000

Astrid from the Netherlands e-mailed me that she recently received a 20-inch-long triton's trumpet shell from a retired musician.

"I plan to use it in circle rituals," she writes, "and I will be treating the shell with the respect it deserves. Can you please tell me....

Support pours in to cut back on water bottles

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:36:13 -1000

My recent column about plastic water bottle pollution struck a nerve. Several readers e-mailed that they think it's ridiculous that people buy water ...

Frogfish amaze few who can spot them

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:53:32 -1000

While reading about frogfish this week, I found the following quote by Dutch artist Samuel Fallours, who visited Indonesia in the early 1700s: "I caught a frogfish on the sand and kept it alive in my house for...

Bottled water is damaging to environment

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:45:38 -1000

When we buy bottled water, we're wasting money, supporting big business and wrecking the planet.

We're also being conned. A Hawaii high school teacher recently...

Dolphins have saved humans from disaster

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:02:30 -1000

In Douglas Adams' book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," dolphins are brilliant and humans are dolts.

In that funny story, dolphins continually warn humans about the impending destruction of the planet, but people misread the animals' leaps, clicks and squeaks as mindless play.

Pygmy sperm whales, however....

No one knows why turtles dive all night

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:58:08 -1000

Hawaii's honu are full of surprises. Biologists recently discovered that during migrations from Oahu to their French Frigate Shoals breeding grounds, our green turtles go deep-sea diving.

I call it that because the turtles' dives aren't just...

New Photos and Videos Added

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:07:39 -1000

Ghost Crab photos have been added to last weeks column:
Last Week's Column

The video that sparked this week's column has been added to
This Week's Column

Video clip reveals varied marine life

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:59:18 -1000

Last week, Oregon reader Jason e-mailed: "While visiting Captain Cook monument (Kealakekua Bay) on the Big Island, my daughter spotted a snakelike eel. I captured some video of it in the shallows. Can you help me identify it? (And the black fish hiding in a crack.) Can I send you a short clip ....

Sand piles distinguish crab species

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:05:36 -1000

I've written in this column and two books that a person can tell male from female ghost crabs by the shape of the sand piles next to their holes.

This information came from a 1970s Ph.D. thesis I found years ago at the University of Hawaii's graduate library.

It was a good theory -- in its time. Researchers...

Ulua pursuing an eel beats any film chase

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:48:49 -1000

Last weekend during our calm, sunny weather, Hanauma Bay offered its finest entertainment. I snorkeled there two days in a row, and during those swims the breathtaking scenery and continual action made me feel I was watching a movie.

Parrotfish chomped on coral rock, goatfish...

Fish believe in variety when reproducing

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:27:34 -1000

The Internet search phrase "fish sex" generates more hits on my Web site than any other.

I don't know what people are looking for when they type those words, but I imagine they're wondering....

Mercury makes tuna sandwich less appetizing

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 05:20:15 -1000

Mercury is a hot topic in the news lately. This toxic metal is being found in large amounts in some food fish, and recently in dolphins eaten by the Japanese.

The question arises, Should we stop eating ...

Mangrove seeds bring back memories

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:33:38 -1000

Most Hawaii residents think of mangroves only as alien species that need to be exterminated. But last week when I found hundreds of mangrove seeds washed up on Kailua Beach, they brought back fond memories.

While visiting....

Coming back to Oahu always a treat

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:32:38 -1000

I'm home from Midway now, and even though I enjoyed every day of my month there, it's good to be back on Oahu.

I missed our bustling city, towering mountains and miles of beaches. And I can still enjoy Hawaii's native animals. I just have to work...

Midway crowd is into goony matchmaking

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:26:37 -1000

MIDWAY ATOLL » On remote atolls where biologists, volunteers and wildlife live in close quarters, it's common for romance to bloom. Here at Midway it's encouraged.

People have been introducing singles, throwing parties and then

Pygmy sperm whale is lesson in rare breed

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:28:26 -1000

MIDWAY ATOLL » Last week here at Midway, a volunteer found a dead animal he called a cetacean (the scientific name for whales and dolphins) lying on a nearby beach.

"Is it a dolphin?" I asked Craig.

He shrugged. "He just said a cetacean."

We walked down the beach to....

More Pictures Added - Laysan ducks are doing well on Midway

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:09:29 -1000

New pictures added to this article.

Hawaii has a few native animals so small in number, and so isolated, I resigned myself to never seeing them. Some deep-water fish are in that category, along with several forest birds, a couple of whale species and the Laysan duck.

Then came this trip to Midway, where federal biologists...

Laysan ducks are doing well on Midway

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:26:04 -1000

Then came this trip to Midway, where federal biologists...

Counting albatrosses a flight of fancy

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:07:35 -1000

MIDWAY ATOLL » Each evening here at Midway, we albatross counters share our experiences of the day over dinner.

The stories vary widely because even though albatrosses look alike and have common behaviors, each has a personality all its own.

Some differences between the birds are...

Counters squirt their way to an albatross total

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 08:08:42 -1000

MIDWAY ATOLL » When I said I was going to Midway Atoll to help count albatrosses, the most common question people asked me was, "How do you count a million birds?"

I didn't know. I'd heard previous....

UPDATED with Pictures: Bird count too enticing to pass up

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 08:39:35 -1000

MIDWAY ATOLL » When I returned from my sailing trip in November, all I wanted to do was to stay home, work on my book and make wall hangings from beach junk.

I enjoyed being on my home island in my quiet house, and I loved being with family and friends. It would take dynamite, I felt, to move me.

Kaboom.

The blast came....

Bird count too enticing to pass up

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 08:39:35 -1000

MIDWAY ATOLL » When I returned from my sailing trip in November, all I wanted to do was to stay home, work on my book and make wall hangings from beach junk.

I enjoyed being on my home island in my quiet house, and I loved being with family and friends. It would take dynamite, I felt, to move me.

Kaboom.

The blast came....

Gulls do have functional salt glands

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:41:13 -1000

In my Nov. 23 column, I wrote that one of the reasons gulls don't live in Hawaii is they don't have salt glands to excrete excess salt, and therefore, the birds can't live in our marine environment.

That's wrong. So wrong I asked....

‘Little red ship’ sails on in fond memories

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:34:44 -1000

When I heard on my car radio last week that the 250-foot-long Antarctic expedition ship, Explorer, had hit an iceberg and was going down, I pulled over and shed a tear.

Not for the people aboard -- all were safely evacuated.

No, my sorrow was for the loss of the ship itself. The little red ship...

Gulls visit isles but do not breed here

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:37:10 -0800

While I lived at anchor off Lizard Island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef National Park, two silver gulls often perched on my sailboat railings and dinghy motor.

From these elevated posts, the smallish birds could watch the bay's...

Several pages updated with pictures.

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:52:12 -1000

The following columns have been updated with pictures.

October 12, 2007 - There's no time for writing on Lizard Island

October 19, 2007 - Lizard Island marine talks are educational

September 28, 2007 - Crinoids add beauty to Great Barrier Reef

September 14, 2007 - Australian isle is 3-year dream come true

Boat plows through mud to Cooktown

Sand fleas, likely, haven't found paradise

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:33:31 -1000

Virginia, a reader from New Mexico, recently sent me this e-mail: "I've been enjoying Hawaii's beaches since 1968 and have never experienced a sand flea.

"I'm planning a trip to Panama and the resort area of Boca del Toros. The travel doctor and various guide books have warned about sand fleas. Are there no sand fleas in Hawaii? Hawaii is paradise, and maybe

Australia Updates

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:32:58 -1000

An article from the Cooktown Local News was published based on the Ocean Watch Column from August 31, 2007. Here it is. More pictures to come.

Sailors take a 'beating' but survive

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 08:19:34 -1000

NEAR BRISBANE, Australia » I'm sure readers of this column are tired of hearing about my Australia sailing adventures, because I'm tired of having them.

The boat is near Brisbane now, having recently arrived from the north end of the Great Barrier Reef to the south end, where I started more than a year ago. During my year of going north, I often thought I was covering that 1,000-some mile stretch of marine....

Booby birds still fascinate down under

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 06:41:35 -0400

About 20 years ago, before I knew anything about seabirds, I toured the Galapagos Islands on a live-aboard boat called Sulidae. The name meant nothing to me at the time, but by the end of the trip, I loved both the name and the birds it refers to. My infatuation with booby birds, family Sulidae, had begun.

The fascination.....

E-mails reach remote locale

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:37:46 -1000

CAIRNS, Australia » When I'm island hopping inside the Great Barrier Reef, as I have been lately, my e-mails pile up. Fortunately, most marinas these days offer wireless Internet service, and when I find one, I take the opportunity to do a giant download.

That happened this week in a Cairns marina, where...

Lizard Island marine talks are educational

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:00:40 -1000

LIZARD ISLAND, Australia » Each Monday, friendly workers at the Lizard Island marine biology research station give a tour and lecture to island visitors.

Though the talks were similar every week, I went to them anyway, and each time I learned something new.

One week I discovered I'd written something untrue. I once wrote ......

There's no time for writing on Lizard Island

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:28:41 -1000

Today ends my five weeks alone at anchor off the Great Barrier Reef's Lizard Island. I thought I'd get a lot of writing done in that time, but between communing with clams, hiking up hills, talking to lizards, stalking fruit bats and eating ants, I was too busy to write.

A lot of my time went to snorkeling. Coral reefs surround the island, and three lay right here in my bay. During low tides the colors and shapes of these reefs remind me of great panes of stained glass.

Who can sit at a computer with art like that in the back yard? Not this writer.

Sting fears increase while wading

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:57:48 +0000

Last week, I learned that during the lowest tides a person can walk between here, Lizard Island and Palfrey Island, about a half-mile away. "If you do it," the biologist said, "walk only in the sand. Everything else is fragile."

I checked the tide tables and made a plan: snorkel to Palfrey on the falling tide, wait there for low water and then walk back. Never once did I consider stinging animals, even here in Australia. Incidents are so rare and get so overblown, they aren't worth my worry.

On my chosen day, I hiked with mask and snorkel to my launch point and plunged in. The chest-deep water was as clear as water gets, and in this gap between the islands, nutrient-rich currents run strong. As a result, the corals there were like fields abloom, bursting with so much life and color, I could barely take it all in.

Crinoids add beauty to Great Barrier Reef

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:01:21 +0000

One of the most weird and wonderful creatures I'm enjoying on Australia's Great Barrier Reef are crinoids, also called feather stars.

These relatives of starfish and sea urchins aren't restricted to this area, but they sure like it here.

Fifty-six species alone are found here at Lizard Island.

Feather stars look like bundles of flexible feathers from 4 to 10 inches across, and come in breathtaking colors: black with iridescent green flecks, black-and-yellow banded, iridescent green or yellow, bright orange or white. And that's just one species. There are 55 more.

Australia has 4,000 species of reef fish

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:09:20 +0000

The problem snorkeling here at Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef is that the reefs have too many fish.

Of the approximately 13,500 species of marine fish in the world, 4,000 are here. Right here, it seems.

Some fish I see -- Moorish idols, cleaner wrasses, yellow tangs -- are common in Hawaii and feel like old friends. Countless species, however, are new to me. And to muddy the waters, different books have different names for the same fish.

One heartening fact about fish names came to me this week in the book "Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea," by Jack Randall, Gerald Allen and Roger Steene (UH Press). In the introduction Randall writes, "The common names of fishes used in this book are primarily the Australian names. These are often different from the fish names used in other parts of the English-speaking world."

Australian isle is 3-year dream come true

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:59:23 +0000

Nearly three years ago I left Honolulu in my 37-foot sailboat, Honu, with the primary goal of seeing South Pacific marine life.

I imagined long lazy months of sailing with seabirds, swimming with fishes and drifting with plankton.

But as I traveled my focus changed. I concentrated on keeping Honu's systems working, navigating around reefs and dropping anchor, or tying up, in secure places. I went for safety, and if the marine animals showed up during those undertakings, fine. If not, oh well. The boat was my life raft and got priority.

Now I've sailed Honu as far north on Australia's Great Barrier Reef as I will go, to Lizard Island. I arrived intact, all the boat's systems are working and the anchorage is excellent. Finally, here, I can let go.

Barramundi switch genders midstream

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:47:20 +0000

"What's Australian seafood like?" a friend asked last week as we prepared to sail north along the Great Barrier Reef.

"It's good," I said. "My favorite is barramundi. It's an estuary fish found around here."

"What does it look like?"

"It's silver with a pointy snout."

That's all I knew, and we moved on to other subjects. But I've been short-changing my guests -- and myself -- with this bland description. These fish, I've learned, live remarkable lives.

Barramundi is a member of the perch family, a large and varied order containing more species than any other vertebrate group. Because this fish grows to 4 feet long, it was once called the giant perch or the giant sea perch.

Boat plows through mud to Cooktown

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:45:53 +0000

This week, I did my part in dredging Australia's Endeavour River. It was no fun plowing my boat's keel through the river's thick mud, but the pain was worth it. I'd made it to Cooktown, a place where Capt. James Cook's spirit walks the streets and the ghost of his ship Endeavour sails forever.

Cooktown lies on the banks of the Endeavour River, both so named because this is the place Cook repaired Endeavour after hitting a coral reef.

It was a hard hit. With the ship fast taking on water, every man aboard, including naturalist Joseph Banks and Cook, took 15-minute turns at the pumps.

Glass sponges build big reef full of lodgers

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:16:19 +0000

Last month, University of Washington researchers discovered an entire reef made of glass sponges, 650 feet below the surface.

This ancient sponge reef, 2,000 feet long and 10 feet tall, is so full of starfish, crabs, shrimp, fish, worms and snails that scientists there are calling it a living hotel.

It's the Hotel California for some species. Small crabs sometimes swim into the opening, molt there and are then too big to get out. These creatures spend the rest of their lives inside the sponge.

Golf course fairways are kolea heaven

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:11:09 +0000

My friend Scott e-mailed me last week that he'd found a public-domain picture of a koloa for my Web site and posted it there.

I wasn't sure why he wanted to put up a picture of a plover, but it was fine with me. The shorebirds have been returning to Oahu like crazy the last two weeks.

The first plover-return e-mail I received this year came from Heidi Hughes in Olomana, whose kolea arrived Aug. 8. This was a happy occasion for Heidi since the bird has shared her yard with her two dogs and other bird species for 12 years now.

Unlike man, ducks weren't out for blood

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 01:05:29 +0000

WHILE crossing the bridge over Kaelepulu Stream (the one that runs through Kailua Beach Park), I stopped to watch two pairs of ducks swimming there.

The water was so clear in this much-maligned stream, I could see the ducks' orange feet fan and fold as they paddled toward thousands of finger-size tilapia.

The fish recognized the waterfowl as nonthreats and, like a team of escorts, formed a ring of space around each duck as they all moved silently through the water. Seeing this interspecies ballet over the white, algae-pocked sand was one of those fine moments in life. I inhaled the summer morning air. A good day just got better.

Sea horses enjoy eating native shrimp

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 01:04:42 +0000

While visiting a sea horse farm on the Big Island recently, I discovered a homemade pond on the premises. Bending to peer into the 5-foot-deep hollow blasted from lava rock, I found what I expected: thousands of red, half-inch-long opae ula, Hawaii's native anchialine shrimp.

When the aqua-farmers dug this hole, a mixture of fresh and salt water seeped up through lava cracks, creating a pond. As expected, the shrimp then rose from their natural underground home, feasted on algae and multiplied like mad.

Welcome

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 01:01:45 +0000

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