The octopuses were back!

Nothing like starting off the day with a sleeping seal.  This one was on his back, just soaking up the sun.  About 3 yards away was the other one.  Yesterday, they had both been pretty cozy.  The seal volunteer said there's no explaining what will upset a seal...cozy one day, totally separated the next. We just let 'em sleep..

this little guy was in a group of his kind, just sliding along

The female Christmas Wrasse looks as if she doesn't belong.  She didn't seem to mind. 

And a pretty rare find: a goby:

I like these little guys, because they are fast and just dart out for a bite, then back into their holes.  Cute.  And plaid.

I do love the Pinktail Durgon.  They are very shy and will swim away if they see me.  But this one was just a little bit late.  This is a cropped photo, so I wasn't as close as it appears....
The first of two octopuses.  At first, I doubted that it was another one: one has to be careful.  They can move and make me think it's another one.  This is the first one:

Hiding at the bottom of the rock.

And #2:

I agree, very hard to see.  The brown part, below and to the left of the red rock.  I am hopeful that one day I'll be able to see one out and about again.  Perhaps hunting.  I want to see that, but don't want to swim at night!  For me, too scary.

Trunk fish:

There were several Cowry shells.  I picked this one up, as it was upside down on the bottom, something that never happens when it's alive.  But I wasn't sure enough that it was empty, so I left it back on the ocean floor.

They are such pretty shells.  Shiny and smooth and well patterned.  I have one at home that's bigger than my fist.  










Also saw several Drupe shells, including this Raspberry Drupe

Plenty of urchins around, too.  Sometimes it seems they are the most prevalent thing...

This pair of Bluefin Trevally strolled by.  I enjoyed the sunlight on their skins.

Nice pattern on the Ambon puffer, too.  The pretty blue fin on its underside has still eluded my camera, but someday I'll catch it.

Moorish idols swam by too.  I do love the long white thread that swirls behind them. And it seems as if they have eyelashes, too.  Look!









Another green juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse:

Pretty, quick and bendy enough to hide among the seaweed.
This tiny humu tried to escape my camera

Maybe two inches long.  Awwww.
And speaking of awwww, the final seal photo:

This is the other one, a distance away from seal #1.  Glad I got a chance to get back into the water. Don't want to start the week without an octo-viewing.

Turtle, seal, shrimp, eels and ahem, no octopus!

I do try to avoid it, but whenever I swim and do not see octopuses, I am a bit disappointed.  I should be overjoyed, mind you, because I did see a lot of cool animals! Turtle swam right by me:

A big one, too!  I shot the photos as I swam away from him.  He did the same.
And there were seals:

Pardon the legs, but seals always attract people.  And to preserve their privacy, no faces are allowed....Of course, I missed the photo op on our walk when the seals both woke up and moved their heads..and flippers.  I think the sand was itchy to the seal on the left.








And a Banded Coral Shrimp sat still for my camera.  I am amazed!  Normally I think such an animal would hightail it for safety within the rocky coral.

I love that the rainbow colors were on its antennae.

There were plenty of eels: snowflake, white mouth and a possible stout moray.  I'm not good at guess which ones they are, unless I see them all the time...

which is def the case with the snowflake eels..I do see them quite often.  They always look up at me longingly...longing for me to move along!











And the whitemouth moray is called that for obvious reasons:

Gee, not sure which kind this one is.  I do know he was not a fan of my visit....

There were plenty of Rock Mover Wrasses.  These two caught my eye as they whirled around, looking for food:

 I am a big fan of this cropping photos.  When they're smaller, they def upload more quickly. It's a plus to write and upload before snorkel fatigue sets in...

Urchin:

There were plenty of trunk fish, but no pix that really stood out.  So here's a lizard fish for Alex:

Of course, I just got the camera turned on AFTER he yawned.  Oy vey.

I will finish with clouds and God's rays:

This cloud really snagged my attention.  It was just such an odd shape.  It's a very busy cloud, too...lots going on.  And if you need something else to search for on the i-net, look for lenticular clouds.  VERY cool!

Ah yes, the sun did try to come through.  The clouds stayed around, but the sun came through often enough that there was good light.  Enough so I saw the others who were snorkeling and paddle surfing.  I even saw (and swam away from), the man who had a spear.  I don't like swimming near hunters.... call me crazy.  He also didn't look local, so since I thought he just might not know what he was doing, I def swam in the other direction...Also, perhaps I can blame him for the no-octo-sightings: I didn't want to see one and have him spear it!



Oops I almost for got the cool red flowers on the tree near the church we got married in...almost 19 years ago.

And a final look at God's rays:

I do have an incredible good fortune, to live in Hawaii.

I'll give you an update tomorrow, should I snorkel again after church.  Today I got cold, even with a wetsuit on, after 2.5 hours in the water....go figure.

The octopuses allowed me to see them

 Pretty happy to have my octo-sighting skills back.  I did ask God for that viewing..He provides! I do think that it's kinda weird to ask God for something so seemingly insignificant, but He does grant the desires of our hearts, so I ask Him.

Of course, all things being crazy, the photos of the 2nd octopus miraculously disappeared from the camera.  And there were other technical difficulties, so I'm just glad I got some shots and was able to upload them to the computer...if there are no photos, it didn't happen.

In the first photo, the octopus was fully out and below the Rock Mover Wrasse, adhered to the rock. In the 2nd, the Rock Mover had moved around and the octopus, still fully out, is near the bottom right hand corner of the shot.  You'll get so you can see them more easily. But, please! Do not eat them. They are waaaay too cool to eat.  And sadly, on our walk after the swim, my friend saw a dead octopus in a ziplock bag, left on the rock.  What a travesty!  Not just to kill such a cool animal, but to leave it on a rock.  Insult to injury. Good thing the person who did that wasn't around still.  I would have had at least one comment.
And this just in...

My nephew has mad skills!  He totally erased the telephone pole that was marring the photo...he and Photoshop rock..thanks, Luke!  God's rays showing out from the clouds...
There were Pencil Urchins again:

I like the ones with white bases, too. I guess it's a different variety.  Ah, the things I don't know...

Some Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse were working hard on a wrasse. I think they are quite lovely, with the stripes and yellow, black, purple colors.  They are quick, too, darting about and eating parasites off the fishes to keep them clean.

There were two Spanish Dancer nudibranchs inching along the rocks:

I have seen videos of them swimming through the water, flapping their bodies to move.

There was also a seal, sleeping happily on the beach

It mightn't be easy to sleep with everyone vying to take the perfect photo.  Thankfully, most of mine are from the water, which can be less crowded.  In fact, when I got in around 8 a.m., I was the only one in the big pond. Heaven! 

There was also a bird which I couldn't see well enough to identify:

Maybe a booby?  Or an albatross?  Gee, and once I was a bird watcher.

Trunk fish for Alex:

I do enjoy these little guys, too.

And there were two fish in the Scorpion family:

I was happy to see the Devil Scorp with at least one side showing its underlying colors

And the Leaf Fish, holding on to the rocks by its side.

The Scorp didn't like me....it moved and tried to escape my gaze.  

There were a flock of goat fish near the spot where the Kiddie pond joins the Big Pond:

 Christmas Wrasse

Cowry shell, hidden in a little hole in the coral.

So a great start to the New Year. I'm thankful that swimming here is one of my benefits.

Hope you have a healthy and happy New Year.

Ending 2016 with a snorkel

It was appropriate that I end the year with a swim! But before I wax on about that, my brother, sis-in-law and nephew took a stroll by Kauai Marriott.  And because of my vast abilities with geography, of course, we got a bit lost.  But it all turned out well enough. LOL.

And as you might guess from the photo near the golf course, it did dump rain on us during the walk.  But we were prepared with umbrellas and a foul weather raincoat.  Which was waaay too big, since it belongs to my husband, who is about 6 inches taller than I.  Works for me.

If you look really hard, you can see the lighthouse on the left.  Quite nice scenery, with the rain out at sea.  And the light. Ah.

And the Marriott does a great job with their landscaping (even though signage is a bit lacking...but I blame only myself, really, for getting misplaced.)

And since my family is in better shape than I am, they became the adventurous trio who actually went down the muddy, slippery slope to get closer to the ocean. The good news is that allowed me to take their picture from above..

Upon returning home, they noted that it's cold there...haha. I invited them to live in Hawaii.  It does get cold here too, but cold here means you have to put on a sweater and swim with a wetsuit instead of just a dive skin.  Ah, the trials of paradise!








I'm calling this The Thinker:

So, on to the swim:

This was a male Trunk Fish.  Blue coloration. Showing off for the female, I guess.












I was surprised by a Scorpion Fish, fully out!  Normally, they try to hide a bit more:

Nice specimen, looking upside down here....probably about 6 inches long, all told.  But who can tell underwater measurements?  And you sure wouldn't find me with a ruler and getting close to this one. NAH!

I do admire them for being smart enough to hide: those shells would surely get picked.  Very shiny and pretty.

The Cowry family of shells can get quite large.  The one near my Keurig at home is larger than my closed fist. Quite impressive and the shell is thick and strong.







I spotted two young rock mover wrasse.  Not easy to get them in the same shot.

They were flipping and flying just to the left and below center of the photo. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

It intrigues me that they lose those two "antlers" when they get older.

And here's the brown version:

Maybe it's a male/female thing.  I shall have to look it up.  But who has the time?  This work is really cutting into my snorkel/reading/photographing time.  HA.

I think they're called Basket shells, but not sure.  OK, I'll admit, I'm here for the photography, not the info on the animals.  But I will work to find out for certain what this shell is.  After all, quite pretty.

And speaking of pretty, five Moorish Idols in one photo.  Yeah, God is good!
Not a bad end of 2016...but you may have noted the lack of octopus.  I was skunked!  But thankful for the beauty and safety anyway.  Perhaps the octopuses knew there were fireworks coming and they wanted no part of that.  If only they would talk with me! (And if you want to read a good book, Mark Batterson IF is a great choice.)
Have a wonderful safe healthy happy 2017! And thanks for reading.