Evening Session - 7/19/2020

Marlon, Noe and I headed over to PTs yesterday evening to catch some waves.  The wind was up, but it had a little more North to it so the trees were able to block some of it.  There was still some texture, but it wasn't blown out.  The swell had a little size to it - chest to shoulder on some of them, with the background mostly in the waist high range.  The tide was way up - +2.3' and it was over topping the sand berm.  Noe came to take pictures - when Marlon and I weren't moving, she likes to take pictures of the ghost crabs, waves, sailboats, planes and birds that pass by.

I brought out the same setup as Saturday - wide 4'10" and the Armstrong CF1600/Uni tail.  Marlon brought his longboard and was catching everything.

After a session, I got my footing back on this setup and catching waves was more automatic than Saturday.  I got some long ones, but there were more fishermen out (as there normally are on weekends), and they were kinda in the surf break (I'm not complaining for me - there were tons of kids out and they were in the zone more than I was).  Well - on one run I had to do the limbo to avoid getting caught up in a line.  Actually I think the fisherman was using a grappling rig because the line didn't give while I was riding through it.

Other than that, I had a bunch of fun rides and great takeoffs.

Another great day at PTs!

In Between Sets

Noe was manning the camera for a bit.  When Marlon and I weren't riding waves, she was taking note of the other beachgoers.

Fun at Shelltopia

We took an early morning ride out to one of our shelling spots. Unfortunately the wind and swell overpowered the low tide. We did manage to have fun, just minus the normal shelling jackpots and plethora of fishing hits. We were able to catch our first Hawaiian Mole (or Sand) Crab!!! When I caught it, I thought it was one of these Ghost Crabs that we see all over the place. La finally got to use her "new" tool (which we got a while back) - a stainless steel hand rake! It proved very useful and would have harvested tons of cowrie shells (if there were cowrie shells on the beach). Noe and I tried to catch a baby fish trapped in a small tidepool (but my skunk transferred to catching fish by hand - arggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!) What was present in copious amounts were Man 'O War jellies. Here are some pictures La took (she likes the purple ;)

Chee Ohhhhh!!!! Hanapaa!!!

Oh yeah!!! I was catching today - I'll let the pictures do the talking ;) I ended up with five papio, two wrasse, a huge sergeant major, one goatfish and a hawkfish - super fun day (all of the fish were C&R - so they had fun too). Oh - and Charlie caught a Popeye'd Ghost Crab

Crabs, Barnacles, and Snails/Man o' War Oh My

While we were waiting to snorkel, we caught two species of crabs (acropora crab and a ghost crab). We also noticed a bunch of man o' war jellyfish on the beach. Upon closer examination, we saw purple bubble blower snails on the beach also (last time I saw these shells was back in Diego Garcia). La and I were discussing the presence of the jellyfish and the mollusk and the relationship they have - and I actually can't remember. I think I ended up saying the snail eats the jellyfish. I do know the snail blows bubbles to stay near the surface and ride the same winds that the jellyfish use. I look these up in more detail later. And last but certainly not least, Marley - the buoy head pirate!!! Complete with barnacle hair.

Anastasia Island

Since we were in the area, we decided to check out Anastasia Island. Really nice place!

What we did catch

One Ghost Crab. Pretty interesting camouflage on these guys when they are young (the older ones are more or less pale yellow or off-white) Tons of Mole (Sand) Crabs. Most had eggs (as this is the season...)