Saturday, October 13, 2018

It's the REAL Ocean

I named this post It's the REAL Ocean, because, unlike Nat Geo underwater videos or pictures, not everything is crystal clear and perfect. For example, the octopus above, #3 for the day, is showing its siphon and eye, BUT there's also sand in the picture. I don't mess with my photos, other than usually cropping them. I don't photoshop them. I don't try to improve on what God gave me in the moment.

So sometimes my photos have sand or algae in them. Not ideal, but it's the way it is!

I also thought of the very nice lady who helped me get the shoulder down on my diveskin. I wear a diveskin, which is really like a 2nd skin, so if I accidentally bump into a rock or something, the skin will hopefully absorb any of the damage. Rather than my real skin. It is usually wet when I take it off, so today I was having an even harder time getting it off, as my arm had been punctured with two shots yesterday. Those hurt! So putting pressure on that area was not my fave thing.

But the very nice lady, after mentioning she saw lots of fish in the shallow side, added that she got out because she saw a sea snake. So of course I told her we don't have these here and what she saw was probably an eel. Further, it was probably a Snowflake Moray eel, which are fairly harmless eels. Let's put it this way: I have never had one come toward me to attack or take a bite! (Thank God!) It did cause me, as I walked away after thanking her for her help with the dive skin, to wonder: why DON'T we have sea snakes? I know they have 'em in Indonesia, Palau, Australia. Why not here?

Mind you, I am not complaining!  I have enough things that I back away from, I don't need to add to that list.

So on to the octo-count: a total of 3!
This first octopus totally surprised me! Because I have been checking this crack for a few weeks and never saw another octopus in it where there used to be one. Until today. I was almost on top of it before I saw it! My bad. I re-check areas where I have seen an octopus in the past, so it shouldn't have so shocked me that there was one there. A learning experience. (and of course, the octopuses never write to tell me their forwarding address, so...I'm in the dark.)


This one was sitting out on the edge of a rock. The Rock Mover helped me spot it. Those fish love to harass the octopuses. In fact, before I got my camera turned on, this octopus had put out an arm to thwap the rock mover wrasse. That'll teach those wrasses!



I forgot to add the snoozing seal. I've heard there's a pregnant one at one of the other beaches. Quite exciting! (they are still endangered, so please don't touch, follow or harass 'em. There's a law!)
 I really don't know if Trunk (or box) fishes are monogamous, but these two seemed to cruise together for a bit.
 This crab was a complete surprise! Of course, I saw the white claw first. I actually had to look at it for a few minutes to decide what it was. I was deciding that it was dead, when a wave smacked me. And when I looked again, it was gone. So it was either alive or swept away. If you look really closely, you can see its white eyes. Maybe. I have never seen a crab like this one before. 
 Here's one of the "sea snakes" the nice lady might have seen. 
















And below, another crab, definitely alive, that precluded me from taking this nice white shell home. I shake the sand out when I pick them up, so I am pretty sure this poor crab was dizzy. Look at how hairy its legs are. And the two eyes, sticking out on stalks....probably trying to see if it could bite or grab my fingers. NO. (Although it is the real ocean, so it could have happened.)
 And this is the fishing lead and line that snagged the lobster.



I have no way of knowing if the lobster was alive when it got snagged. But that monofilament line is so ugly, and it catches everything as it flows through the water. This line and the lead and the hook are now in the trash at our house. Take that, fisher people!
 OK, obviously not an underwater show, but the sliver of moon was rather neat above the pink clouds.














And another Snowflake eel, with the bluefin trevally harassing it.
So my ending point about it being the real ocean is that you'll find all of God's cool sea creatures in the water. In the shallow side, they will be smaller, but still there. And the caution is that one should be careful. Try to avoid walking on the bottom. Not only does it help you not step on urchins and scorpion fish and glass, but it helps the water stay clear.
And thanks!

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