Snorkeler heaven

Well, six octopuses is indeed my idea of snorkeler heaven! What wasn't heavenly was the power outage we experienced yesterday. We are still possibly going to have rolling blackouts (power line problem), so I'll type fast.
Here are the little darlings, 4 of which were on the deeper side, quite a surprise!

 He'e 1 with brighteye damsel watching it.

The Rock Mover Wrasse was circling around He'e 1.

 I'm sure the octopus was over it (see the octopus just off the middle of the fish's back)

Sometimes I can find the octopus again by noting geographical clues, like the hole in this rock above the octopus. 

 And this one, he'e 2, was about 6 feet away from #1. Perhaps there was love in the air. Or would that be love in the water?!

Siphon more open. 

And it changed to some white on its skin.

The blue Parrot fish swam by, not knowing about the octopus below. 

 This was a smaller octopus. You can see the siphon is smaller.

 I was scanning for frogfish on the yellow coral, and spotted this octopus.

Awww so cute. 

This was the smallest of those octopuses that I found. 

 You can just see he'e 5 and its suckers and some skin, to the left of center below the red rock.

They are such smart creatures! Of course, those that live there know by now that tourists do walk on the bottom, so they move into their dens quickly if need be.

 Definitely easier to see than the octopuses! Juvenile coloration, which I would assume, since the real animal is maybe 3 or 4 inches long. 

 It hardly moves at all under my camera's eye, so there are different angles you can take, but no movement to catch. Thankfully, the rolling waves didn't pester me while I was out there.

Following, a nice leaf fish. You can see its "paw" on the rocks. The head is pointing downward.

 Following is the way I first saw it. I always wonder: "Is that a leaf or a leaf fish?"

 A fish definitely. This is a member of the Scorpion Fish family, but not sure what venom, if any, it has. Like the Frogfish, it barely moves, unless the water moves it around.

A pair of lovely lemon yellow Teardrop Butterfly fish.

And the Barred Filefish

 Christmas Wrasse saw me and ran. What did I do?!

And the juvenile of the Yellow Tail Coris. It still amazes me how different they are from the adult.

 Male Box fish

Moorish Idol

Needlefish. There must be a way to capture their image, but it's tough, at least for me, since they hover near the surface.

 The moon and a palm tree.

Pink Coral

And Pinktail! Note the divot taken out of its dorsal fin.

 And the reliably feisty Rock Mover Wrasse.

 Whitebar Surgeon Fish. They are always out where the surge is greatest.

 And the Teardrop Butterfly couple again. Note that the eye is mostly on the black line, so it's not easily discerned.

Had a really nice swim, helped out by God's wonderful creatures. The water was really nice and clear, surprising since there were waves, albeit not as high surf as previously. I'm thankful! 

And also thankful that my friend's cat apparently has been reliably eating. The reason for my trip down on a Sunday was to ensure that the food was being eaten. Oh what we do for our pets!

I asked God for a dancing octopus...and he showed me one!

You may know that I always pray for safety and sightings before I get in the water. Today I asked God for a dancing octopus and He gave me 40 minutes of fun!

 The octopus first showed itself in the cleft of a rock...yes, it IS hard to see. Just in the middle of the photo to the right of the damsel fish.

 And the Rock Mover Wrasse kept bothering it! (Octopus in right hand corner)

The octopus had had enough and fled.

 And landed on the same rock as earlier for a brief rest.

 I wonder if these fish knew the octopus was nearby?

Octopus in its place, marked by rocks. There was a den nearby, not sure if it was this octopus' den. In other locations, one can often find an octopus by looking for shells outside its den. But if you're going to fish and catch and eat one of God's wonderful creatures, forget you heard that!

 Note the curled up legs and the white spot in the middle. I think something took a bite out of this octopus.... It is hard to tell when they are going to blast off, so I was lucky to catch this photo.

Trying to escape the bodyguards... And it's always a toss-up...video or photo? One can't do both at the same time. Oy vey, the decisions I have to make!

 At first glance, I totally missed the octopus in the photo below! (upper left corner) There were so many distracting fish.

Showing off its legs and ready to hunt:

Showing off its siphon.

 Gathering to take off. Note the color change.

And it swam away. Unfortunately, the Rock Mover Wrasse came right along with it.

 Showing the skirt, which helps trap prey under rocks. The octo mouth is underneath, so I have never caught a photo of it...so far...

 Having escaped, if only for a moment, the onslaught of the rock mover wrasse, now a goat fish butted into the scene. For a solitary animal, the octopus had lots of company.

Fleeing

 On top of the rock, a peacock grouper swam by. I was a bit concerned that it would find the octopus and eat it.

 Rock mover wrasse and the octopus, back on its rock.

If you'd like to see the videos (seven or so, I think), of the octopus dancing, hunting and fleeing, go to youtube and search for octopigirl7. Enjoy!

 Two peacock grouper. I assume (totally without foundation) that the larger one was a male. Perhaps.

 Bird wrasse. I don't very often see these in the adult size, so this also was a treat.

 Black Leaf Fish! In the photo below, look at its "paws" resting on the rock on either side. They do get blown about by the water and waves, so its cool to see them rocking back and forth.

 Male trunk fish. I usually see it from the tail side, as it's swimming away.

 Peacock Grouper again. If I had more time, I'd count the dots on Peacock grouper and the box fish, just for fun.

 Clouds and palms

 That ornery rock mover wrasse.

Some kind of shrimp hiding...

 Ah, zee Spanish Dancer nudibranch!

A stripey.

Whitebar Surgeon fish. I don't often see these. Of course, a Rock Mover wrasse was in hot pursuit.

Yellow tail coris. I think one of the prettier fishes on the reef.

So a fantastic day on the reef! Please do visit youtube and ask for octopigirl7 to see the videos. What an amazing example of God's creativity! He does answer prayers...