Quick before they get here!!!

Family's coming from the frozen north, so a quick photo post:

The only octopus I found today. Very happy! This is one I saw a few days ago, so glad it's still around.

And the frogfish had moved since the last time I saw it, but still around and growing.

I keep trying to count its "toes" but somehow not sure. Yes, I could research it, but as I said, family is in town!

From the front. Mouth closed, eyes hard to see.

Octopus 1 from another angle.

And for my beloved sis-in-law, an eel!

Box fish

Small honu swam by. It had some kind of growth or tumors on its shoulder.

Trevally irritating a snowflake eel.

Little blenny and bleached coral.

A busy scene with Convict Tang, Humu, Cornet and Lined wrasse

I have been told that this circular thing might be an egg mass.

Mr. Frogfish again. I think its mouth is a little bit open.

Siphon of the octopus. This is an adult sized-octopus.

And peeking at me!

Harder to see the following peeking. Bit of the head just below the . in the last sentence.

Yes, the octopus is in this shot too. Just above the pebbles, it is the same color as the sand.

Juvenile Yellow Tail Coris.

The wrasse again.

The male box fish

Needlefish

A t-intersection of cornet fishes

Another Trevally harassing an eel. 

Even though the swim was accompanied by some slight wheezing, I really enjoyed looking around!

Short swim but worth it!

I have had a respiratory issue for almost two weeks. I was told it was a "cold". Not sure I'm buying that, but when I went into the water for the first time in 11 days (but who's counting?!), the first thing I heard was wheezing. I thought: Oh no! I don't want to listen to that for 2 or 3 hours. No lie.

So I swam back across from the deep side into the Keiki Pond, thinking I would try to see an octopus and maybe the frogfish, then get out. I guess wheezing is exacerbated by the snorkel. That is, your breathing is really loud!

So God gifted me with an octopus, almost right away:

 Yes, the trevally helped me see the octopus. Can you spot it?

Here it is again. There's a bit of sun on the octopus...just to the left of the pebbles, in that den.

The trevally senses something interesting, but didn't investigate too closely. The octopus will blow rocks and pebbles out of any hole that it's interested in occupying, so that's sometimes how you can spot them. In other areas, they throw off the shells of the animals that they have had for lunch. Or in this case, perhaps breakfast.

Needless to say, I was very excited to see this octopus. It almost gave me permission to get out and sit upright, where there's less wheezing! But I wanted to see if the frogfish was there. Which it wasn't. I should say, I didn't see it! Just because it evaded my gaze is no reason to say it wasn't there. Even though it's bright yellow, it can hide in a gap in the reef and become almost invisible. Also, it has been 11 days, so it perhaps moved around. Here's hoping to see it next time.

 I was able to spot the Leaf Fish. Can't prove it's the same one I saw last time, but it was in the same area. I do think they are fascinating fish.

Needle fish. The water wasn't clear.

 And a nice snoozing seal on the beach.

And a shell still in use. 










A nice swim, even if I wasn't in tip-top shape. Hoping and praying that I'll soon be back to my normal health.

Great start to the weekend

Now that I have retired, I don't worry so much about cramming a bunch of good stuff into the weekend. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy good stuff when it arrives.

Today the waves behaved and I was able to spot the frogfish:
You can see its eyes and fins (I think of them as feet with a lot of toes!)

 And the mouth agape:

They are rare and very cool, but they don't react to me as the octopus does. So the octopus is still #1. (Not that it cares. In fact, it would probably prefer that I leave it totally alone. At least I just take pix and don't touch.)

And 3 octopuses:

Here is #1. Which was in the deep side. It didn't move at all, so apparently didn't care that I was there.

Octopus #2:

 This one is the same one I saw the last time I swam. Glad that none of the walkers-on-the-bottom have made it mad yet!

I know where to look for it now. And I stayed over it while the lady and her kid were getting used to their equipment. Didn't want accidental treading upon the octopus.

And #3: 
I also saw this one last time:

 See the nice aqua color? 

I'm not sure how they color just part of their siphon. Wicked clever they are!

 Same octopus, different colors

Sometimes you just don't want to stop taking pictures. But I did eventually leave it alone. Wasn't easy.







Two Brighteye Chromis and a friend

 A big Cornet fish. Probably bigger around than my wrist.

 Christmas Wrasse

Cleaning station duo

Clouds after the rain

 Fishing with your friend, goatfish and trevally And below, the honu

Indopacific damsel

 Sleeping honu KA8

 Leaf fish

 Male box fish

A lone needlefish. Unusual

 Nice shell

 This was probably an octo-den, but the octopus was not at home as far as I could see. Drat! It would have been a big one.

 Palms and clouds

Pencil Urchin

 Purple goat fish

OK, now that I've reported, time for reading and/or nap!