I flew out to go see some family on the Big Island with hopes of landing some big fish and relaxing after a stressfull semester at school. On the first dive my brother and I went out and I tested my Pathos 130 open pro for the first time. We went out to a spot that has been good to us in the past and we managed three tako and I almost had a 4th but I needed more air. When I got back to the surface I could no longer find the octopus as the current was pushing us around.
I tried a few recipes but the kimchi tako poke seems to be the winner everytime. My brother taught me to boil the tako 20 -30 minutes in a light beer then peel off skin. chop into fine slices add kimchi, lemon, sesame oil, salt, and siracha to taste. YUM!
We then went to another spot the next day before the massive swell hit and got 5 Uhu for the family to feast on. (forgot to take pictures but here is one that I fried up)
At the same spot we had a cool encounter with a 5 to 6 foot black tip reef shark. He swam up from the reef in about 50 feet of water and checked us out and then looked at the fish on the float but wasn't interested and swam off into the deeper water. Such beautiful creatures. We also had a couple 15 pound Omilu's come in to check us out while I was reloading. My brother took a shot but missed. Oh well next time.
We then got invited on a friends boat to troll for some larger pelagics and had a nice swordfish come unbuttoned but we managed a nice family meal after this Mahimahi hit the lures while trolling back to the harbor.
After the swells died down my brother and my great buddy and I head back out to see if we could get into some more fish and managed a few more tako, uhu, yellow eyed kole and a nenue between the three of us.
While we where cleaning the fish a couple puhi (eels) came sniffing in the tide pools. We fed them Uhu heads and whatever guts we had on hand. It was cool to watch these eels slither over the rocks and hide just to grab the left overs. You always have to be on the look out cause many have been bitten by eels when cleaning fish in tide pools and not paying attention.
A few days later my brother, buddy, his girlfriend, and I went diving at a new spot. The water was a little choppy and before I knew it I could no longer see my brothers bouy. I started to head in hoping he had done the same but couldn't find him. Had a chance on a nice moana kali and omilu but passed it up to fnd my brother. Fortunately when we got up on the rocks I found him in the other direction. He had gone looking for me in the opposite way. I jumped back after seeing he was OK to catch up to him but I didn't get any fish. He managed a nice nenue.
Then on my last dive I had some chances on a massive Mu and a small Kahala but they didn't pan out. However I did manage a scallop and an another Uhu.
On a side note while cleaning the three takos we had caught they started to do a weird light show and we managed to get it on camera. I thought this was pretty cool.
Well I hope you all had a great New Year and an amazing Christmas. Hope to go out diving again real soon now that I am back in So Cal.