Saturday, February 24, 2018

Choppy water, but still saw 3 octopuses

Well, hello! My neck has been cranky for a few days, so rather than blab a lot about what I saw, suffice to say I saw 3 octopuses, so it was worthwhile going. But the water was choppy, so the pix were not as good, as that made the water less than clear. But it's all good!

So here are the pix. Enjoy.












Monday, February 19, 2018

Successful octo-snooping once again

Once again, the octopus were not hiding. And I saw 8! Note I didn't say it was easy. But very rewarding. Now if only I could get them not to fear me....
 I'll have to admit, he'e #1 had me a bit nervous: I could see its siphon, but didn't see it breathing through it. It was a large adult octopus, so I'm not sure what was going on.
 #2 bold as brass out near the coral.
 Octopus on top of coral head, accompanied by the Rock Mover wrasse. It is unusual in what I've seen that they sit on top of coral. But later, I'm pretty sure the same octopus was hunting. See video at youtube.com look for octopigirl7.
 Hard to see #4..in between the big rock and the smaller one. It's the brown blob. ha.
 The hole behind the Christmas Wrasse is the octopus.
 This one was using the sun to hide itself. They are wicked smart!
 Peeking at me!
In a small hole out near the surf break. The siphon is on the left (white circular thing) and the eye is below and to the right.
 seals snoozing on the beach.
 abudefduf
 black leaf fish
 Cowry shell getting a suntan.
 Drupe shell with goop.
 eel trying to hide.
 green coral
 Hairy Triton shell with the original animal.
 Young Rock Mover Wrasse
 Lizard fish for my sweetheart, as well as the male trunk fish below.
 Nudibranch

 Octopus starting the hunt.
 Octopus at the bottom and rock mover doing its job above.

Pencil Urchin
 Don't see many of these: Porcupine Puffer hiding amongst rocks.
 Snowflake Moray
 Spanish Dancer above. Spotfin Scorp below

Sunday, February 18, 2018

A new record!

Yes, folks, a new record in octo-sightings today: 8!!!
And I should say new for Kauai. I had higher numbers on Oahu, but that was in Hanauma Bay, a protected spot. That is, no fishing allowed. 

 See that white part on the upper left of its body (Below)? I think something took a bite. 

 Not sure why this one stayed mostly white: I associate it normally with either fear or illness. But it's really hard to get them to talk to me.

 They often do this: get a hole and get in. Then they put rocks outside. Not sure if that's protective, or tells others the hole is occupied. Or maybe it helps them find the den again later.

 Can you see the brown in the lower hole? That's the octopus curled around itself.
The brown above is the octopus, in the den on the left. Apparently, I made it mad.

Same octopus, to the left and below! He/she got mad. Then calmed down again. I was thankful for the little pink rock/shell. It helped me locate the octopus, as it was pretty much the color of the surrounding rock and sea weeds..
Three Rock Mover Wrasses, kind of resting on their tails. Well, not really, but I like it when they do this. It looks different...














This lead and 4 "hooks" was so horrible, I bent the hooks straight to be able to put it into my trash dive pack....I didn't want to stab myself. When I got out, I threw it away in the trash so no one else would re-use it.
 Male Box Fish. You can tell the afternoon was cloudy: the water doesn't show as much light as usual.
 But it was ok for the seal to sleep, all alone on the beach. Well, no other seals, that is! There were plenty of people taking a photo.













Spotfin Scorpion fish hiding in a hole in the rocks. Look for the "eyebrows" in the middle of its head.
 Wrasse hassling a Snowflake Moray Eel.














Cowry shell hiding under a ledge of coral/rock.
 I think this was blue coral. 

Brighteye Chromis above.

 Yellow Phase Cigar Wrasse to the right.
 Another Cowry hiding. And below, this is the pretty color inside.
 And this Cowry was upside down, near a rock. I assumed that it was occupied...I have been sad about taking shells that were occupied, so unless it's broken, I kind of assume it is. And I don't take it home.














Nice Drupe Shell. This was about an inch long. And alive, because it has adhered to the rock.
 Eel.














Hairy Triton shell. It has the original animal..if you look closely at the channel to the left, you can see the various colors of the animal.
 This Snowflake was not only poking out from under the overhang, but its tail also shows on the left, coming up out of the hole. I wonder if it knew.













King of the Rock. (Freckled Hawkfish.)
 This urchin was so loaded down with rocks and shells, it was hard to see the animal. Of course, that was its intention, I think. A protection intention.













Another eel.
 I still do not know what these are. So perfectly round and apparently made out of sand.
 A nice speckled parrot fish and saddle wrasse following too close.













Nudibranch
 Pencil Urchin












Pinktail Durgon and its peeps.

 A very pretty parrot fish.

 Rain waiting to pounce.














Juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse. (See youtube for my octopigirl7 video of an older RM Wrasse.)
 Look for the tiny sea cucumber. Brown and spotted.

















Another Spotfin Scorpion Fish
 White Spotted Toby.

A pair of Yellow Tail Coris.

Before heading out to swim after church, I was afraid the swim would be bad, as it was raining. But sunny Poipu lived up to its name. And I wasn't rained on again until headed home. Great swim and glad to break my own octo-record! Thanks, God!