Back from New Orleans

I'm back from work in New Orleans. While it's a very nice city and the people are wonderful, I am happy to be back with my sweetheart and in the 808 area code.
I am home from work today, as my digestive system wasn't happy with some of what I ate apparently. I'm blaming too much hummus and not the Gumbo file I ate! :) And I KNOW it wasn't those 2 beignets.  (Never did make it to Cafe du Monde...they have cool t-shirts: Peace, Love and beignets! :)) Here's my photo of the 2 beignets they brought me at the hotel restaurant. Thankfully, the waiter allowed me to have a half order. Four of these babies probably would have killed me! I also asked him please to let me have some without the mounds of powdered sugar.  I'm told in some places, they put so much powdered sugar, it clogs up your lungs!

And Mr. Louis Armstrong greeted me at the New Orleans airport. I told the lady I really wished I had met him while he was alive! What a joyful person he seemed to be. This statue in his honor was probably 9 feet tall...I can certainly think of him being that big!

Because of time constraints, I had breakfast at the hotel, delivered by the wonderful room service folks. These were eggs benedict and yes, they, and the coffee were great! At another event, we had the choice of Eggs Bennie with crab; I was glad I had had eggs the previous day, as crab is not my go-to food.

At the New Orleans airport coming home, there was a majorly cool dog: A German short-haired pointer!  SUCH a cool dog! We had one when I was a kid; this one, however had black spots, not brown as in my childhood dog. What a brilliant plan to have a hunting dog as a drug search dog. 

Here it is, pointing. Not the same dog, of course, but one very like it. 

The hotel, which is wonderful, The Windsor Court Hotel, had a few snacks, wines, etc. available but at a horrible price.  So they were allowed to give me a Keurig machine, as well as a refrigerator for my morning yogurt. I can't eat eggs bennie every day! (Well, I can, but it's not a good idea...)

And the "room" wasn't really a room, but a very nice suite: I had a separate room with shower, and separate alcove for the toilet. and a living room. and the bedroom. and the room with the minibar and set-up as above.

And just so you can learn from my dumb moves: check that your laptop charger is actually the correct one! I didn't, so the correct one was at home.  I discovered this and the very cool Concierge at the hotel had a plan: I would take a cab to the best buy store, buy a universal charger and then cab it back to the hotel! Sadly, this turned out to be an expensive plan: the cab was probably $25/each way and they didn't have the correct charger. Turns out the work laptop is old. So I ended up getting a new laptop for $150.  I told sweetheart that I didn't expect Christmas presents this year. That is the definition of a bonehead move! But I do like the new laptop and will enjoy it for many years.

I did also meet several nice Christian folks. One was a cab driver who had opinions of everything. Very nice lady.  The takeaway? VOTE! She was very gung-ho on the importance of voting and I agreed completely with her.

So back safely and there will be more pix.  Now, jetlag is getting me, so must go for a nap!

Traffic jam

After a very nice morning of snorkeling, I was headed home, after sitting for a while with my Poipu friend.  As I was driving, enjoying a bit of nice clouds and shadows and sun on the green hills, I noted that people going the other way were stopped. 

This was pretty odd, so I slowed down from my 35 mph, wondering what was going on.

That's when I saw the little piggy. It was running, now in my lane, directly toward my car. Then it veered off into the surrounding brush.

No, not the cute pink piggy. A cute dark gray piggy, running for all its worth, its ears flapping as it ran. 

Piggies are a problem at the garden where I work, as they eat the seeds, flowers and whatever else they can get their jaws on. But this one was cute, and I wish it no ill will. C'est la vie!

I got home and told hubby. His comment? "What, no pig-ture?!" ha

I might need a new glove!

You can't tell from this photo, but I may need a new dive glove! In one of the pix, you can see my finger has worn through the glove. I showed a shell picture like this to a friend from work and he said: I know it's a shell, but what's that ugly purple thing?! HA.

Just to tell you, I did my due diligence on both of these shells, and wasn't sure I could tell you which kind either one was! They are somewhat similar, but one is smooth and rounded in its steps and I don't think all the color and the bumps could wear off. I left both of them in the water, as I wasn't sure there was no animal inside. (I would not take 'em, even if it were just a crab!)  But note in the photo one down from the one below: see that hole? That's a possible octopus-drill hole.  So maybe the animal wasn't in there. But it's hard to tell and I'd rather err on the side of caution..

No seals today! I was surprised and now that I think about it, no turtles either. I have heard there are whales this early, but I haven't seen one.  Maybe I was too focused on the octopuses. Of which I saw 3!

Below and to the right of the photo is Octopus #2.  #1 was in a hole and while I knew he was there and could see some brown and some of his siphon, couldn't get a good shot. So I won't bore you with a brown blob in a hole photo.

 Octopus #3 below..

 You can see its eye to the left, with red around it. 

I don't know for sure the size of the #1 octopus, since it stayed in its hole, but it is definitely larger than the other two. These octopuses were kids. Awwwww.  And they only live a year or so, so I have a plan to enjoy them as much as possible. And just to be nice, Octopus #2 was afraid of me, so I left it alone after just a few snaps. This one above didn't seem to care that I was photographing it, as it didn't turn that dark brown and hide.

 Above, a whitish Cone shell, stuck in the sand. 

A hairy triton shell without its hair. The pale greenish shell, between the two white rocks. It was empty and is now sitting in its bath of bleach and water on my counter. Killing any possible bugs, don't cha know..

Nice big Cornet fish which was hunting. All they seem to do, really.

Rock Mover Wrasse showing clown face and maybe a tooth or two. These are the ones that pick up huge rocks, compared to their size, and just throw them around to look for food underneath. I once followed them, as sometimes they led me to octopuses, but not so much anymore. I still think they are cool. And tough fish.

A Humu.  Tiny. That's why I left the rocks in the photo, so you could get a size comparison.

 One of several Hawk fish I saw today. I liked the color on this one's tail....

Urchin in what once was the octopus den, on top of a coral head. I don't know that they wouldn't share, but this urchin did seem to be taking up a lot of room!

 Male Trunk Fish.

Above, another cone shell. When they are in good condition like this and with the opening down in the sand, I leave them alone. Not just because of their poisonous barb, but because I don't collect shells if they are in use.

Christmas Wrasse.  I can see a nice set of sheets with this color pattern....hmmmm. Business op!

I was taking photos of the Leaf fish above and saw Leaf Fish #2, below! They were about 2 feet apart. The one below needs to do something with its hair...

I think generally the same basic size, so perhaps siblings. Who knows? It surprised me to see two ambush predators so close together.

 Below, Urchin, awaiting the opportunity to poke someone. And I know you are probably tired of hearing this, but just another reason not to walk around on the sea floor....

This eel, was trying to scare me off.

 Not just an urchin, but also a cowry shell in the upper left of the photo.

Spotfin Scorpion Fish, below. It looks upside down but it was me, trying to get a good shot. (For every good one, there are usually 5 to 10 bad ones. That's why I come home with 320 photos and only maybe 20 get into the blog...)

The eel below was abut 2 feet away from octopus #3. EEK! I was afraid the eel would find the octopus, so I swam away. I've seen a video of an octopus taking on a shark and winning, but it can also go the other way. I have a soft spot for octopuses (you may have noticed..) so I don't want to see them eaten. Not even after they are dead. And certainly not while alive! Shame on those people who eat live octopuses.  Bad, bad people!!!

Cucumber. I thought it was pretty.

A nice little wrasse of unknown origin. I call it Plaid.

And a halfway decent photo of the needlefish. Yeeha! They are hard to capture with my camera. I know it couldn't be my fault. 

Speaking of fault, I took some pictures of cool clouds, but had the camera on the wrong button, so they turned out wack. Oh well. I'm thankful for all God gave me! And don't look for a post next week...I gotta travel on business, so no octopus sightings.  And I'll be sure not to visit any fish markets, so that will stay true....

Demise of a crab or Death by Octopus!

So, on the off chance you'll be swimming, when you see a Hermit crab in a shell, normally the legs are on the coral, or the bottom, so they can move.

So when I saw this, it immediately drew my attention: why would the crab be legs up?! And then it dawned on me: look in the hole above the shell and to the right...octo-tentacles! The octopus had probably already stunned the crab and was just waiting to get its "just desserts". 

And this is what I found outside in the same area later...aha. Octopuses blow out the shells when they have had their way with their prey. 

But let's rewind to the beginning of the swim, before Octopus #1 (of 3. yay)

Awwwww... I mean, really. Is there anything else to say? 

They even have eyelashes.

Cute little Humu.  It darted into a hole just seconds later.

 Trunk Fish. There's a male in your future...in a few snaps.

Lovely rainbow from the sea.

The Trevally often follow the goat fish. Hoping for leftovers.

I call 'em Cloud Rainbows.

 Leaf Fish. Ostrich-like, trying to hide its head.

Male box (or trunk) fish..

Further cloud rainbow.

Years ago, I wrote a blog about a frog fish: I had originally picked it up, thinking it was yellow trash! I was wrong. And in the photo above, out of the corner of my eye, this looked like a trash/label. I often see them floating around. But this was a Snowflake eel tail! Glad I didn't pick it up.. "It might not be trash #2". (and if you want to see the original blog on wordpress, look for It Might Not be Trash!)

 Saddle back butterfly fishes.  They usually travel in pairs: it's so crazy. You see one and you immediately look behind for the other one.

Brighteye Chromis

 Pop Top Urchin. When you think about it, I guess a piece of metal would be a good protecting bit of debris.

 God's Glory!

Octopus #2. Yeah, good camouflage, I agree.

 Juvenile Rock Mover. I love these fish...clown faces and all.

A pair of Ambon Puffer fish. The top one has the blue tail showing.

 And showing the face. Really, could a painter think up a better color pattern?!

The Abudefduf. They are perky and cool with their stripes. Hanging out near the border between kiddie pond and big pond (which was closed today...I'm rolling my eyes. But really, if I were a lifeguard, I would maybe have done the same thing. Because of the rip current.)

Really not a great photo of octopus #3, but for continuity's sake, here you are..

So thankful for a great dive! and i'm leaving town for a few days for work, so this may be the final look for a week.  Gee, thanks, God! I enjoyed the views.