Who knew a rainy day would turn out great?

I was certainly surprised myself! I saw an octopus, a Hawaiian Green Lion Fish, a Leaf fish and all the usual suspects....even rain from underneath the waves.  And rainbows galore.  
But the best part, and nothing against the other people who love to swim, but I adore really having the pond to myself.  Which I did for the most part today.  Wow.

Apparently, rain kept some people back in their condos.  Or perhaps it was the wind.  Neither of which kept me from the water.  Well, it WAS Saturday!  and now that I'm working, Sat and Sun are the only days where swimming is readily available.  And was I ready.

Seeing the octopus was funny too: I had more or less decided that if it was cloudy, there would be less light, so the odds of seeing my 8 legged friends declined today, in my mind.  But I just thought that and then looked around and there was an octopus, hiding in its hole:

You can see his siphon open, just to the right of the urchin.  
There were many Drupe shells out and about today.  Some came with crab:

You have to look really close....it's under the lip of the drupe shell.

You can see the orange legs and blue eye stalks of the crab just to the right of the red rock.  He was making a home in the shell.  You can see the orange legs on the right, too.

Leaf Fish:

I think these fish are so cool! See it?! in the upper left of the photo, just below the crack in the rock.  They really are just like leaves: they move in the current, too.

Rainbow, obviously, but with the water in front me in in the photo too.  There was a seal on the beach and one in the water when I walked down to get in...

Taking a little snooze...well, perhaps a l-o-n-g snooze, since it was still snoozing when i got out, two and a half hours later.....they can sleep as long as they want.  let 'em have whatever peace they can find.

and this little dogey was swimming around outside in the big pond, which is why i didn't go there.  oh yeah, also the fact that no one was watching, so if I drowned, no one would care...or report it....or take a photo... one never knows.

It's the long blob in the water.  And yes, I did check for a back fin.  No sense in being stupid, even if God does give me protection when I swim.  (And octopuses, but I digress..)

Nice colors inside.  Very smooth shell inside too. Outside, not so much.

Coral:

This cowry shell was nestled in with some blue coral.  I thought it was a pretty image.
Box fish for Alex:

Nice little male.  They have amazing colors, but they are both shy, male and female..











A tiny humu looked at me with fear:

Or may be it was just telling me to go away. So many do...

Another wonderful rainbow, swallowed up by the clouds..

And a pair of Moorish Idols.  Nose to tail:

One hardly ever sees them like this. 

OK, you can see waves, rainbow and the seal, sleeping peacefully amidst the Keep Away signs.

Life is good.

Wow! Saw so much cool stuff, I'm tired!

Turtle:

This was a big guy!  But smoothly glided past me. (Check youtube octopigirl7 to see the swim.)
And a Spanish Dancer nudibranch and a file fish looking interested. Thankfully, the fish left it alone

I was conflicted when taking this shot: follow the file fish or follow the nudibranch? Decisions, decisions. There's some video of the Spanish Dancer on my youtube site, too..

I spotted three octopuses.  yay. 

 Definitely peeking at me.  Well hidden, too.

And a really tiny flounder...maybe 2 inches, all told.

Can you believe?!  Looks a lot like the sand.  But it has a pattern.
Scorpion fish:

Oh yes, with a face only a mother could love.. Didn't move at all in the 5 minutes I was taking photos.  Ambush indeed!











Juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse:

The move around like seaweed.

I think I see these scorpion fish and their family members because I swim so slowly, searching for octopuses, that I see them along the bottom.  This Hawaiian Green Lion Fish moved, but I wasn't prepared for video...drat.

Fortunately, shells move more slowly...that is, unless they are inhabited by a Hermit Crab....
Since I'm in the shell category...

I only take broken shells...and operculum!  Today, I was having trouble with my left hand's pointer finger...and I realized it was because the darn glove was filled with opercula! HAHA.
Octopus #2:

He was quite bumpy and had moved from under the rock to the right of the rock.  A wrasse was pestering him, swimming all around.  Of course, it wasn't ME pestering him.  I hope.

Lizard fish apparently standing at attention.

Box  or trunk feesh!

Bubble shell:

These shells are so small and fragile.  Even if I did harvest shells, I'd be afraid to break it on the way home.

And I nearly put a hand down on the flounder

So cool and so patterned like the sea floor. 

Ambon puffer:

Finally! I caught a shot where you can see the beautiful blue fin on its underside.  Love all those patterns, too.

See how sneaky they can be?  Another scorpion fish, just sitting under the rock, waiting to make a move..

And speaking of sneaky...would you see that octopus? 

I do not know what was on this Ambon Puffer's mind, but it was hiding within the rocks...I don't normally see them do that...

Just a great day to be in the water.  And had a wonderful walk with my friend, so I got even more exercise.  Life is good! Thanks for reading.

Just darned glad to be back in the water! and to see an octopus

Well, you know there will be some ocean pix.  So let's surprise you with both scenery and a candle!

Oh yeah!  My beautiful talented wonderful niece, Lauren, gave me this fine candle for Christmas..  And next to Jesus, how can you go wrong?!

The octopus of course went into protection mode when it saw me, but you can see it on the upper left....looking all bumpy.  The light didn't support me filming the work it did on his home, moving rocks all around.  But I enjoyed watching.

Clouds and palms

Clouds for guess who.  Well, actually the palms are for guess who...the clouds are for me!

As is the moon...full only a couple of days ago.  And for you possible landlubbers, did you know that the moon impacts the tides?  that is, the tides are larger when the full moon is happening.

Nice, eh?

And a sunrise for my pal, Perry, in California:

All this just for walking by.  God is good, eh?

And there was a seal, snoozing.  I'm thankful it was roped off, so able to snooze along without being bothered:

So cute.  You can't even see them breathing.

Nice colors!  The Hawaiian cleaner wrasse on the left, helping out an Ambon puffer.  Both really lovely fish.

Rock mover and yellow tail coris.  energetic fishes!

Abudefduf and the incoming wave/air bubbles.  This was in a shallow part, near the rocks that are more prominent since the path from the beach to the island disappeared...

Spotfin Scorpion Fish and its eye, below

Nice drupe

Two nice shells

Coral blowing in the current

A humu trying to hide...so cute, but didn't work!

Another drupe with sea gunk on it...

A snowflake eel, curlicuing around. And  below, a cowry I thought about bringing home, but couldn't be sure it was empty.

A little fish on a rock.  I see these a lot, but don't know what kind they are.  I had a good chance to catch it on film.  Normally, they zip by and i'm too slow.

An urchin

Cowry with rainbow colors... and another shell on the right side, too.

A leaf fish.
Very happy with this swim.  Of course, once i see the octopus, I'm content.

Thanks, God!