A fully packed day at the beach! YAY GOD!

I had a very nice swim today and I'm calling it fully packed because I saw 3 octopuses, a leaf fish, a scorpion fish, a biggish live cone shell, horn shell with hermit crab and the biggest surprise, a small Spotted Eagle Ray! (look also on youtube.com for octopigirl7 for the video.)

Starting with the most unusual sighting:

 Spotted Eagle Ray:The photo above makes it look larger than it was; the 2nd photo is more like the real size.

It just calmly swept under me, not caring that I was there. Unlike the octopuses!

This octopus I have seen before: it just curls around itself and pretty much does nothing. No hunting, no running, no color changes. Mind you, I'm not saying it's boring, but there wasn't a lot to photograph!

This octopus also stayed in its den: you can see the brown just inside, below the rocks.

#3 was more visible: And visibly brown, so it saw me and didn't appreciate the intrusion.

 Initially, it was the usual light brown and white-ish coloration.

You can see the siphon just above its eye. And the sand that blew in on it.

 Please do me and yourself a favor if you see one of these Cone shells: don't touch. They have venom.

The side near the bottom on the photos was the part I saw first; you can always tell a cone shell, as they have a rather triangular silhouette.

Mostly this photo shows you the tail and back of the Leaf. The eye is the dark part to the right in the photo, behind the snout. And note also the little "foot" at the bottom of the animal.

 A bit of rainbow from above that landed on its back.

Again, you can see the foot, in this case, above the animal. What you normally see first is the back fins and tail. It waves in the breeze from the water movement.

If you look carefully, you can see the claws of the green hermit crab. Also, a small round hole in the shell near the smaller end: I'm told that octopuses drill holes like that when they prey upon shells. That would explain why the crab was able to steal the shell for its own use.

Pink crab legs and below, you can spot the eyes. I never saw the whole crab.

Devil Scorpion Fish, showing its "I'm Poisonous!" warning fin.

Hard to see when the orange isn't showing, right?

 This shows the fins, tail and eyes and slightly open mouth. 

 I tell you: I had a heck of a time getting these shots, because it definitely blends into the bottom.

 Now it's looking at me: note the eyes and mouth.

 Trying to pretend I wasn't there...ha

Four Spot Butterfly. (The other 2 spots are on the other side.) And note how its eye is camouflaged by being in the dark line on its face. 

A mess of Trevally flew through.

Abudefduf. (Say it 3 times...much fun. Your mileage may vary.) 

 Christmas Wrasse male

Big Cornet Fish. Too big to get in one frame, so I chose the business end and eye.

Female Trunk or Box fish

 The male

We always have great clouds; this shows God's rays shining through. And palm trees for my sweetheart!

Sleeping Honu. You can see the tracks where it came around and nosed again toward the water.

 Needlefish

A pair of Saddleback Butterfly

 Lots of Snowflake Moray eels. Well, one in the photo, that is. But lots out and about that I didn't photograph.

 This tiny Humu was perhaps 2 inches long. Quite adorable. Their coloration is muted in the juvenile version. Almost as if they have to grow into their colors.

 A very small Raccoon Butterfly fish and the Abudefduf.

Urchin, heavily loaded with rocks, shells, plant material. For protection, I think.

So see what I mean about fully packed?! Very enjoyable. And there were plenty of people walking on the bottom, but I delivered no lectures. If I told everyone not to walk, as in: this isn't a lake!, I would never get any swimming done!

3 Octopuses and a flounder

Yay! The octopuses had returned today and I saw 3 of the little dears:

This was #1. I had seen it before and it was very calm: didn't turn dark brown at all, even when I swooped down to take this picture. It was sitting on top of a rock.

 You can see both eyes and the siphon in octopus #2, although it is closed.

Later, it did turn a little brown. Sensitive, eh? 

All nestled in its den. 

And #3:

Yes, it's in there! Sharing with an urchin.
What a relief to see some octopuses today...yesterday's skunking had me nervous....

I thought this cloud was very awesome and busy. 

 And this one had rain out at sea underneath.

 And a bit of rainbow!

Brighteye Chromis paused just long enough for a photo op.

 And the Flounder was the first thing of note that I saw today!

Good camouflage, eh?

They burn themselves in sand to hide..

Young Orange Shoulder surgeon. The adults have no yellow at all.

 And the juvenile Rock Mover. This one darted about even more than they usually do, so I had a heck of a time catching even one good photo.

They do move about just like seaweed in the current.

 Male Trunk or Box fish

Needles

 Nice shell

Octopus #2 with a bit of rainbow on it.

 This tiny Humu definitely didn't want me around, but couldn't stop the nearby rainbow. It was about to dart into a hole.

 Even the Spotfin Scorpion Fish got some rainbow on it.

 As did the urchin

 Closer to the shell..

 Snowflake moray trying to hide.

The Spotfin again.

 And the Bluefin Trevally fishing with a goat fish.

 Wana.

I told a young lady today that she shouldn't step on the bottom because of urchins. This is one of them! Sadly, she had glasses and no mask, so there was little chance she could see underneath the surface.



Great swim. I feel fortunate to live here.