Lovely place to work

Well, kids, I started my new job at National Tropical Botanical Garden! What a lovely place to work.  Literally!

These are called powder puffs.  Wonderful, right?
And the sky toward the ocean is different each day.  Yesterday was a bit foggy.  I actually couldn't really see the ocean until lunchtime.
Clouds, too:

It's very nice to have trees and plants, instead of telephone poles...

There is even a pot bellied pig, eating in the yard, on the way to work. I smile each time I see it.  I must stop and take its photo for you...








Moon:

Pretty yellow flowers with water:

I will do my best to learn what these flowers are called...but hey! It's my first week.
And I took this one on Valentine's day.  My first day on the new job:

They look just like hearts, and I thought the water droplets looked pretty too.

Misty view before the sun really came up. This is about 12 steps from where I currently work. The lunch time views are incredible.  And there's birdsong, too.  We have red tailed tropic birds, cattle egrets, pretty sparrows, Japanese White Eyes, White Rumped Shama and even Francolin.
And we have pink:

What a great Creator God is, right?

There is quite a variety of flowers.  And NTBG works to have native flowers, not invasive species. 

We also have a seed collection and a Breadfruit Institute!

I'm going to get a tour next week....hope I have time for a few pictures.

I was starting to think I'd be skunked.....

Well, it was 115th photo of 148 before I saw an octopus!

There were TOO many people in the water, walking around, and getting in my way....oy vey.  I was careful not to run into them, but perhaps it was the constant bobbing up to make sure no one was coming onto my path that kept me from spotting an octopus earlier....But as you may know, any day with an octopus is a good day!

Awww, so cute.  TOTALLY not interested in my waggling fingers, either.  So darned independent! You can see its eye and just below, the white of the siphon.  He was pretty good at hiding.
I had planned to ignore the big pond today, as I'm still recovering from the allergies/cold or whatever it is...But the water looked nice (other than the sea of humanity that was in it) so I ventured in.
Saw plenty of shells, and some came with crabs, too.

It's very obvious to me where it is, but if you have any trouble, look above the white rock in the middle.  The shell is scrunched down into the hole...great hiding.  If the shell weren't so shiny, it would be harder to see.

This shell has an electric blue crab in it...click on the photo if you can't see its legs..

In this one, you can also see the blue eye stalks.  This shell was probably quite old, as its exterior was really mucked up.  But still useful for the crab.  Quite good protection.

This crab was a greenish one...look at the top of the shell...little tiny legs!
Urchins abounded.  This is one I caught with my camera:

You can see some of the other stuff that is on the urchin's surface. Also how prickly they are!  I always wonder how people avoid getting poked, when they walk around without fins on..or shoes for that matter.



And for my sweetheart, a lizard fish!  Quite a big specimen.  Not the largest I've ever seen, but bigger than the usual:

It didn't like me being there...it kept moving, hoping I would go away.  Non, non, mon frere!
And a very cute Sergeant Major.  Tiny and his brother..super tiny...

I guess you have to really look...just below the center of the photo is the littlest one and below that one, a bigger one.  They get a lot bigger, so these little ones hide where they have the least chance of getting caught...








I was able to catch a Brighteye Chromis today.

Look for the yellow or the shiny eyes...So quick and so cute.  Always darting for cover.
There were a couple of young Rock Mover Wrasses.  It still amazes me how tough these fish are!  They can pick up biggish rocks and throw them around.  

This one was acting weird...kept itself underneath the rock..hardly darted out at all.  Strange.
And I was blessed by seeing a black Leaf Fish:

I always see them leaning on surrounding rocks.

This gives you a big better idea of the size of the fish.  Maybe 3 inches long, all told. 
And they sway in the current, so they really do look like leaves!
And cannot have a post without a box fish for Alex:

I liked how this one was bending his tail to steer when I caught his picture.












Since I went swimming after church, there are no cool cloud photos and no palm trees.  Oh, the crowds that were there!  Definitely put me off scenic shots.  I didn't even take a photo of the one seal that was snoozing on the beach. Well roped off and protected, though.
So I'll end with another Juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse shot:

You can see the rust colored "antlers" to the left, above his eye.  Cool, non?
And have a great week.  I will be starting a new job, so please pray for continued blessings!

The operculum that I didn't take home

You know that if I didn't collect an operculum when I saw it, there was a darned good reason.

In this case, it was because it was still in use.

Yes, kids, this is what an operculum looks like when it is helping to close the hole in the shell. Cool, right?!

And I saw 4 octopuses....and boy, were those waves kicking!  The wind had picked up. When I got in at 11:45 a.m., no one else was in the big pond.  That tells you that it wasn't the best time for swimming. It also tells you it's SuperBowl Sunday, but like I would care about that...But the waves didn't deter me.  I went in, thinking that I would look for some octopuses in the place I saw one yesterday and then if the water was mean, I'd get out.

Yes, the octopus is really in there.  You can just barely see the siphon.  It was hiding really well.  The only reason I saw it was that I had noted the den yesterday when I saw the octopus for the 1st time.  So knew where to look today. The other good thing was that I saw it pretty quickly after getting in.

Octopus #2

The octopus is the brown bit....you can see its eye if you look closely. 

There was a really nice white shell too:

And some urchins

I warn people not to touch these, but I've been quite fortunate in not having ever pressed against them.  As you can see, quite spikey!

I had hoped this photo would show you more of the design...They are actually quite pretty, especially in the area where their spikes have broken off.  

Octopus #3:

Mind you, I never said it would be easy to see them! If it were easy, that'd take away some of the fun.  That's the octopus in the center to lower left of the photo.  Just his arms showing.

And what I thought was just a cowry shell hiding, turned out to be two cowries and a pencil urchin!

Yes, as I've said, one never knows what's on the camera until one gets it home.

I think the pencil urchins are very cute...red, too.

Today's Leaf Fish was brown...looked very like brown seaweed:

His/her nose is on the rock in the middle.  

The rest of the fish is above the nose.  One leg is leaning on a rock on each side.  I guess it keeps them stable, to lean like that.  

A small but pretty Drupe shell:

Might be one of those cranberry ones.  But the purple inside is indicative of this type of shell.  I shall have to find one of mine from when I collected shells, so I can show you better.  It's really one of God's lovely creations.

I saw another nudibranch.  I'm certainly no expert in this type of invertebrate, but it seemed different than the Spanish Dancer that I saw not too long ago.  I will look it up after I eat.  2 and a half hours of swimming really takes it outa you!

And even though I looked, I didn't see those green Scorpion Fish that I saw yesterday. (Apparently, their disguise was really working today.)  But I did see a Spotfin Scorpion:

The fish's eye is visible, as is its "eyebrow", a bit floating up over the eye, kinda like seaweed.  It wasn't too happy that I was intruding, especially since it was on the bottom surrounded by a bunch of rocks.  I'll bet it thought it was invisible. HAH.

And octopus #4:

Its eye and part of its body is showing.  I was lucky to get that much as it was really hiding well.  This was a pretty small one that disappeared into its den immediately upon seeing me.  Really, I can be fun ... but not, apparently, to an octopus.  I am so thankful to have seen 4 of these guys today.  And I collected 94 opercula...ones that weren't being used, of course.

So the odd thing about today was that at church, a different one than is my usual, I met a lot of nice people.  And during the service, an older gentleman had some sort of fainting spell.  So people gathered around and prayed for him, while someone else called the EMTs.  Seemed like no time at all when they got to the church and took care of him. That was a first for me!  Just glad we were a praying group...

And that God listens. Have a great week!

A visiting gentleman helped me

A visiting gentleman helped me put the signs up today, when I noticed another seal on the beach.

Yes, he was snoozing.  And yes, in this case, I know it was a male because when the volunteer showed up (the REAL volunteer), she told me the number of the seal and that it was a male.  Oy, so cute. And it had at least a 3 hour nap.  I know because that's how long the swim took me today.  Two hours in the Big Pond and one in the Kiddie Pond.  Two octopuses in the Big Pond and one in the Kiddie...coincidence?!
A really wonderful snorkel today, too.  After praying, I got in and immediately found a floundah..

I like this shot because since the flounder was bent over the top of a rock, you can see its eyes.  Pretty amazing.  And sorry if you already know this, but they are apparently born with one eye on each side and then as they grow, one eye migrates.  That is SO cool and a great plan.  Thanks, God! He has great ideas...
There were many cool fish.  And 3 cool octofishes! Sadly, they once again were experts at hiding.  One more than the others, but....

Normally, I try to mash some words in between octopuses, but really: why?  They are so cool, they speak for themselves.  Well, kinda.

The octopus on top of the trio did turn a darker brown when I swooped down to take its photo.  Guess it was kinda shy.  Or perhaps it was just upset because it didn't know I was there, until I got closer.  When the water is deep, I can be Ninja snorkeler...no one sees me.

Very thankful for the octopuses.  It makes my day. (YAY, GOD!)

These fish are so plentiful that I rarely note them.  But this one showed all its nice colors and fins, so I am including it, for its beauty and well, just the dang coolness!  After all, how often does one see a unicorn?!

There was also a cleaning station:

This is the little fish that helps so many fish out; it eats the parasites and bacteria.  I even saw it nibbling on the inside of the gills of a Rock Mover.

And speaking of the Rock Mover: I didn't see ANY until about an hour and a half into the swim.  I thought it very odd.  Usually, I like to see them because octopuses are often associated with them.  But once I saw one, it was like a hole was unplugged and there were many more.

I also saw octopus ink! Not something I see very often, but once you've seen it, you definitely recognize it. I didn't touch this time, but when I did, years ago, it feels quite viscous, kinda like oil...

It just floats by you in the water, so once I saw the first string, I looked for the octopus.  I'm not sure if octopus #3 was the inker, but I was sure it wasn't me who caused it!  Once I was in the stream, it was coming from ahead of me.  Someone else had scared it.  It was kinda timid, and young, so perhaps that's why it freaked out.
I saw 3 types of Scorpion fish:
Spotfin: look left!

Yes, they are really ugly fish!  And the poison is quite a deterrent.  I wouldn't think of touching one! Thankfully, they normally hide under rocky outcrops, so it's not usually an issue for swimmers...or walkers.  Not to get on a soap box, but why would you come to the beach and just walk in the water?  ALL the fun stuff is underneath in the water...

There were also two green scorpion fish.  Quite a surprise.  I don't believe I'd seen any quite this color.

And its cousin, the Leaf Fish.  This one was black.  Quite unusual, at least in my experience.

You might have to really look, but it puts its side fins on each side of the rock.  They really do look like leaves...it's kinda freaky, but an excellent camouflage.  Unless, of course, you are expecting to see them...I do not know if they also have poison.  Something to investigate...

The 2nd green scorp, yes there were suddenly two!, looked like this:

The 2nd one was a different shade of green. I thought it was so odd to see two in one day, especially since I had never seen this coloration in a Scorp before, so I looked for more, but didn't see a third.

And lest you think I don't see shells, well...

Lovely, right?!  But note the little hole...i don't know if someone was attempting to eat this shell (e.g., octopus), but I hope it wasn't successful.  I'm not sure what an octo-hole looks like in a shell....

I will end with sunrise and palms:

And later, in addition to this pretty, there were dolphins swimming just offshore.  Dolphins, seal and turtle.  What more could a girl want?  Well, perhaps a whale, which didn't show itself to me..

And I almost forgot the cute little box fish for Alex:

What a cutie!  Probably two inches all told, including tail.  It was terrified of me!  Kept trying to escape.  So I left it alone.  After all, I do make a big shadow.

Thank you for reading!  and thanks also to the gentleman who helped put up the signs....

God bless you!