Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Who would eat who?!

I was surprised to see these two in such close proximity. The Spotfin Scorpion Fish cheek to jowl with the Snowflake Moray eel. They didn't seem to mind each other. If I were the eel, I would be a little leery.



Two juvenile Yellow Tail Coris. I don't usually see more than one at a time.
 Blenny.





Brighteye Chromis.
 I took a bag with me today, as I had seen a lot of fishing line wrapped around an underwater plant. It would have been yucky to put into my dive pouch. I didn't see it again today, but did find another mess of fishing line wrapped around a plant. I found it was quite hard to open a plastic bag while underwater! 
 Fishing lures that are now in the trash in Poipu. Note the huge hook in the one to the left. And I do not even want to think about the rusty one below.
Peacock Grouper
 The green and white striped thing is a juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse. They are quick!














And speaking of quick, this lizard fish blasted off after I snapped one picture!





Male Box Fish...front and back. 
 Pencil Urchins...I would be so claustrophobic! It is hiding between two rocks of a coral head.









This group of Rock Mover wrasses were very interested in something underneath this rock, as were the two Bluefin Trevally. Never did see what they were so interested in.
 I think this is a sand dollar.














OK, see the Scorpion Fish? Look for the fin and the head is above it. You can see the eye too.




Spotfin Scorpion Fish. This is a different one than the one above.
Remains of a urchin. Pretty shell. But very breakable, so I didn't pick it up.
It was a nice swim, but as usual when I don't see an octopus, I was rather disappointed. But I have to remember that it's a joy to swim; just an extra joy when there are octopuses.

Monday, May 28, 2018

Roma

Well, we knew it would happen: we got to Rome, the third city on our Rick Steves' tour. 

I had visited in 1975 and wasn't thrilled with it then: too big, too old and the Romans were mean to Jesus!  (Well, not IN Rome, but you know what I mean..)

 If you click on this yellow flower picture, you'll see all the pollen on the strands in the middle. Quite amazing, really.




Every darn thing in Rome had steps! This is part of the stairway up to St. Peter in Chains Church. Well worth a visit. More on that later.
 Cobblestone walkway for Lisa.



Domo shared Alex's pork dish.
 Jesus is no longer on the cross.  I kept thinking that when visiting all the churches. I know why they depict Him this way, but there should also be ones where He isn't on the cross!




The Rick Steves tour people are so great, we rarely had to stand even in a short line...and certainly not one like this one to the left!
 We had special permission that day to actually stand on the stage in the Coliseum. 





This statue of Moses is in the St. Peter in Chains church.
 My dish was cream cheese, prosciutto and nuts. It was actually an appetizer, but was enough for me that day. We kinda overate in Italy. Needless to say, that didn't change in Paris, either.













The ceiling in St. Peter in Chains.


















The relic of St Peter's chains, purportedly. We heard about many relics, and it was apparently a very important thing for a church to have some part of Christ in their churches. I heard that if all the pieces of the Cross that were supposedly found and put together, the Cross would be much larger than it actually was.
 This was quite an awesome visit. We learned a lot about those days of "entertainment". Most notably that often there was no one killed on a particular day, as they would have run out of enough people before long...
So, Rome not my fave and by this Roma visit, we had walked and walked and walked in Venice and Florence, so my knee was pooped! But our very kind guide helped me find the elevator up and stayed with me until we could re-join the group. He was great. Thanks to him and Rick Steves for a great tour of Italy.

A sad day for this eel

This poor eel had its tail bitten clean off! And sadly, it was still gasping for breath. I couldn't do anything, as I had no clue about what to do. And since the business end was still working, I didn't want to freak it out and have it bite me.  I'm sure some fish or other eel will finish the job. It was sad though. 


I wondered, too, what this photo was about, when i looked at it at home. If you look closely to the right of the coral head, you'll see a tiny 3 spot damsel fish...one spot is turquoise. So cute.
 This Brighteye Chromis hid in a hole after it saw me. I guess if you're that tiny, you are naturally afraid of something as big and black (dive skin) as I am.
 Pretty clouds and palm trees.
 God was up to something very pretty.



Bluefin Trevally hunting with goat fish.
 I guessed that this small Cone Shell was still alive, so I didn't touch it. Pretty patterns. Bad venom.



Cowry shell, hiding in a hole on top of some rocks.
 This eel was alive and well and apparently, rather cranky.
 I took this photo because I love the Abudefduf fish. But I noticed too how similar it is to the convict tang: they both have stripes; both have a dot near their tail (probably a false eye to distract predators). They obviously also hang out in the surge-y zone near the rocky partition between Kiddie Pond and the deep end..
 I had to make this photo super big so you could see the goby....cute. And not afraid of me, either.
 Yay, an octopus. It didn't do much but just sat there, letting me take its photo. I was very glad and thankful to have seen it, however, as I was skunked last time I was in the water.



This Hermit Crab had appropriated a shell. They often do that.
 Juveniles: barred file fish above and bird wrasse below. I do not often see the bird wrasses here, so it was a nice surprise.
 As was this juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse! I love the green version. I enjoy the patterns and the "I'm just a bit of seaweed, pay no attention to me" attitude.













Nice Leaf Fish.

 Male box fish. 
 Pencil urchin














Pinktail Durgon.
 Snowflake Moray. Those yellow nostrils are just too cute.
 You can just see the rainbow in the clouds and the surfer beneath.













Apparently, today was eel day. This was a nice white mouth moray.
It felt great to get in the water. And when I first arrived, there were 3 seals cavorting and barking in the deep side, so I wondered if I should go in. But they moved on down the beach, so I didn't hesitate.