Sea Creatures of the Pacific By Photographer, Author & ContributorDon Hurzeler
Sea Creatures of the Pacific By Photographer and Contributor Don Hurzeler
I grew up in Palos Verdes and fell in love with the Pacific Ocean right away. My parents were both quite unreasonable and insisted that I learned to swim before I could take up surfing and snorkeling. So, off I went to those early morning, cold water swimming lessons at the Palos Verdes Pool, now known as the Palos Verdes Beach and Athletic Club. It did not take long and I was ready to hop in that beautiful ocean and see what I could see.
I now live in Hawaii and I am still putting those swim lessons to good use. My wife, Linda, and I snorkel several times a week, off the Big Island of Hawaii and all over the world. We’ve seen things…small and beautiful things…large and scary things…all of them wonderful.
So, before I get into some “show and tell” with photos of what we have found in our travels, I just want to mention that some of the most interesting snorkeling of my life has been just off of Palos Verdes…from Haggery’s to the Cove…from Lunada Bay to Abalone Cove…Palos Verdes has a great coast line…,clear, not so warm water, but interesting terrain and animal life. And Catalina…forget about it…off the chart gorgeous snorkeling. Point being, you need not look for exotic locations to get in the ocean and find fun stuff.
The animals I am going to show you are not rare nor hard to locate…these are normal creatures that we run across all the time. And here we go…
I felt this guy drop onto my shoulder as I was following a shark out of a shore cave near Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He quickly worked his way around to the dome of my camera housing and I got this shot. We love to play with the octopus here and elsewhere.
Some animals are not exotic at all, just plain colorful. This is a pencil urchin, found all over the Hawaiian chain of islands.
We get little fish in shallow water. This school was found at Kua Bay on Hawaii.
And we get huge bait balls of akule and other small fish. These were being attacked by predator fish and sharks of all kinds…and photographed by a couple of old photographers, enjoying the show.
When I say huge…I mean huge. Some of these schools probably are an acre across.
This one is in deeper water. I am free diving down quite a ways to get the shot and the diver next to it is a champion free diver from Japan.
You just about can’t get in the water in Hawaii with out seeing plenty of our yellow tang. Early air travelers to our island would look out the window of the plane on final approach and think they had spotted gold. To some of us, those fish are gold.
I was at the beach last week and a family from Oregon asked me about my underwater camera. One of the family was the 16 year old grand daughter…first time in Hawaii. I asked her what she wanted to see while she was in Hawaii. Her answer…and the answer I most often hear, was…”I have always dreamed about seeing turtles in the ocean.” I asked her to grab her face mask and to follow me. Within one minute, I had her surrounded by six turtles that I have known for years. Made the day for all of us.
There is no trick to finding turtles in Hawaii…and we respect them and treat them well, so we will always have them to enjoy.
Once you move off shore here, things get interesting…
You might be lucky enough to run into a whale shark. This one is not particularly large, maybe 30 feet long. I found him about a half mile off of Kona. But, the ones we swim with in Mexico, typically in July off of Isla Mujeras, can grow up to 65 feet…and here is what that looks like.
We have been in the water, snorkeling with hundreds of whale sharks at a time on many occasions. If you have a bucket list, put a whale shark adventure on that list and do it…totally amazing. We just did a whale shark adventure off of Tanzania…three miles off of a small island many miles from the Tanzania mainland. Pretty sketchy conditions…lots of whale sharks…thought we might have to swim back to shore as the boat seemed to be sinking. Very happy to make it back to shore in good condition.
This one is for those of you that enjoy the flying fish around Catalina…
We have lots of them here in Hawaii. Turns out they are kind of difficult to photograph, but I caught this one about right.
I remember all of the jelly fish in California waters. We have them here too, but not very many and usually out deep. This one lives down deep and creates its’ own light. It is a crown jelly, lingering near the surface early in the day before returning to the depths.
This little creature is a pyrosoma. Linda managed to have her nails painted the same color as the critter. I love it (and her).
will save the mantas, whales, sharks and dolphins for another article. You can find anything you want, just takes a little research and lots of exploring.
I used to spend hours snorkeling near, what was then, the remaining pieces of the Haggertys’ pier…looking for lobster, abalone, sea bass, sting rays and sharks. Found them all…enjoyed the kelp and clear water and became thankful for wetsuits. Hawaii is good…so is the area right below where you live. Palos Verdes has it all.
Aloha.
Don and Linda are “lucky to live Hawaii” for the past fourteen year and claims to have never experienced an unhappy day on the island.
However, he does admit that he thinks of PV often…as it stands today and as it was. And what he misses most from those early days on the hill are growing up with a great set of friends and neighbors and the unimaginable freedom enjoyed in those days. He claims that he was raised like a free range chicken, able to hitch hike to get around town, to go out in surf that would scare any parent and to carry around a bow and arrow or small caliber gun to protect himself from rattle snakes when he hiked the canyons…not as a highly trained, accredited, licensed gun owner…but as a 12 year old kid whose dad treated guns like tools…there for protection and to be treated with respect and care.
And the best part of his freedom, no cell phones. Don was basically on his own and no one could track him or reach him until he decided to come home. Don always knew when dinner was served and he made sure to sneak in the door a few minutes prior. And, get this, dinner always included beer for Don…from about age 9 on. Or a milkshake made using 31 Flavors Baskin and Robbins ice cream from the Hollywood Rivera store mixed with crème de menthe. His dad felt the alcohol would whet Don’s appetite and help him grow from the skinny kid he was in those days. That did not work, but it did make him (temporarily) unafraid of orcas.
You can catch up with Don Hurzeler on Facebook. He is also on Instagram @donhurzeler. His book writing website is donhurzeler.com and his photography website is lavalightgalleries.com.
For a kid who grew up on the mean streets of Palos Verdes Estates, parented in a way that would land everyone in jail today, but supported, coached and loved…Don came out alright. A PV boy who fully understands how lucky he was that his parents built their dream home on a hill with a million lights sparkling below…or a fog bank a thousand feet thick.
