Todd called me the day before and said the steering was all fix. A new Y-fork connector was installed and the boat was ready to go. So off we go at 5am to Keehi Harbour to fish HH buoy. We just got out the harbour when Todd noticed that the voltage was running rather high. “That’s not good”. He went to the engine hatch and sure enough, the alternator was not working…probably due to the saltwater flooding the engine hatch last time. We had a spare alternator and it took 30min to install. When we started the boat again, smoke started filling the engine hatch. Todd checked again to find the belt was smoking. Well, our spare was a dud since the spoke was somehow locked in place. Doh! Luckily, we were just 300 yards out of the harbour, so we motored back to port by battery power. It was still too early for any store to be opened…and to wait for one to open to purchase a new alternator meant waiting until 9am. By that time, the morning bite would be just about finish and there was little point heading out. So we called off the trip.
So…I was up at 7am ready to fish. I decided to go back to my grandma’s apartment to grab some gear, then took the bus to Kailua for a 4-hour kayak/fishing excursion.
I got there at 9:30am. After watching a 10min safety video, I got my rental kayak From the rental shop, it was a 100 yard distance to the beach. A relatively short “portage” really, especially since the kayak was placed on a cart.
There were enough straps to strapped down my backpack, rod case, and most importantly, my dry bag and camera/underwater housing.
I was kayaking alone in a fairly popular and lifeguard beach. Even though it was a very calm day of 2kt wind, 1 foot swell and little current inside the protected reef, I didn’t want to get out too far…so I stayed within the reef. I paddled about 300 yards out and rigged up my rod with a bottom fishing rig, consisting of two hooks attached by dropper loops and a 3oz weight. Initially, I had shrimp on the bottom hook and a 1.5” twister tail on the top hook, but nothing was hitting the twister tail and the shrimp had all the action…so I fished shrimp on both hooks after a while.
The current was blowing toward shore, so the drift carried me from deeper water to shallower water. Basically, I was fishing between from 12 feet of water to 8 feet of water.
I was getting lots of hits, but the smaller fish didn’t take the hook fully in. I was hoping to catch my first goatfish. On my second drift, I got a good hit and had a decent fish twisting and pulling. I pulled it up and it was a 10” saddled wrasse. I’ve never seen one this big before, so I took a picture.
I kept working the reef little by little, each drift slightly further east to cover a good 300 yards of shorelines. On my sixth drift, I caught a smaller saddled wrasse. Then on my seventh drift, I snagged bottom and lost my rig. I almost got carried back to shore during the 10 min that it took to re-rig.
It was about time for me to return the kayak. On my second last drift, I hooked into a 11” cigar wrasse! It was not a goatfish…but it was a new species!
On my last drift, I hooked into a 7” lizardfish. I’ve caught too many of them before, so I didn’t even bother taking a picture
Now, landing the kayak was a little interesting for a sea kayak noob
I picked the right wave to surf in, which surprisingly carried me all the way in. The problem was that my kayak hit bottom, and another wave came in, hit my kayak, turned my kayak broadside to the wave and almost flipping it over. Everything in the kayak was swamped. Luckily (or because I was prepared), all my valuables were kept dry in the dry bag and the camera was in the housing. However, my reel was filled with sand, my backpack was wet with saltwater and I was drenched head to toe Lesson learned 
Anyways, in the hot noon hour sun, everything actually dried pretty quickly. My face, arms and legs were left with a very nice layer of salt. I bet it is good for my skin
I got back to the rental store and had freshwater to rinse out all my gear…but that sandy, saltwater soaking proved to be the undoing for my reel…more on that later 
That afternoon, my cousin and I went snorkelling at Hanauma Bay. This is a Marine Reserve. The bay was formed when the ocean broke through the walls of a volcanic crater to form a shallow bay. I love snorkelling in this location due to the large number of fish species even in very shallow water. There was a protective reef about 150 yards from the beach. It was safe and calm enough for my cousin.
I took my camera as I snorkelled. However, the tide was filling in during our visit and the water was quite murky. I guess due to the cold water temperature (relatively for Hawaii), the quantity of fish, and the number of species of fish, was much reduced from what I had seen in May, June, or August. I did take some so-so pics of some of the fish that I saw. Something magical did happen. When I was searching around for the next photo subject, I saw a teenage green sea turtle. It was just an absolute thrill to share a few minutes with this magnificent creature. It did not appeared afraid of me as I trailed behind it. As it swam for deeper water, I had to bail and return to shallower waters. In the murky conditions, it is probably not wise swimming around a young turtle. They are prey items of big tiger sharks afterall
Bikini shot
Rooster on the beach
April 28, 2009 – Day 10: HH buoy reloaded
Todd called me up yesterday afternoon to say the new alternator was installed, he checked the boat over again and everything was running good. He asked me to join in for a shakedown run.
So off we went again at 6am toward HH buoy. It was a super calm day so the fishing might be very difficult.
Our friends the coast guard…not the Kittywake but a bigger boat
Fishing is much easier when the conditions are rough. When it is dead calm, boat noise easily spook the schooling tuna. Just as we thought, trolling for tuna was extremely difficult today. We spotted schools of busting tuna, in schools that were much smaller than the size we saw on our first trip. Not only was the quantity of fish reduced, the fish were also more aware of boats. We got lucky with 1 yellowfin tuna on the second pass, but that was it for the day. We tried running and gunning different school, but before we could even approach the school with our spread, the fish would stop feeding and they went deep. After a few hours without any action, and other boats in the area were equally empty-handed, Todd and I returned to port at 10am.
A whole lot of nothing…
In the afternoon, my uncle and aunts invited me on a cruise trip. The public transportation on Oahu, aptly named TheBus, also operated a daily ferry service aptly named TheBoat. This ferry shuttled people from Honolulu Harbour to Kapolei. For the whooping price of $2, the 1 hour boat ride allows you to see Honolulu and the southwestern corner of Oahu from sea. I’d say that’s a great deal! Before we board the boat, we took some pictures of Honolulu Harbour near the Aloha Tower.
That evening though, our family got together for dinner again. We had deep fried oysters, fresh stir fried abalone, spicy stir fried clams, sweet vinegar pork chop and a few other dishes. It was a feast!
