Aloha to all the he'e!

I believe I said goodbye to the octopuses previously, but today I had a break in the moving plans and was able to swim again! YAY! But today is probably the final swim until we unpack on Oahu. I hope those octopuses are ready for me...

I saw 4 of the little darlings today:

 Yes, it really was in there. Before I was ready to snap a photo, I saw it slink down into its den...The lines in the water are bits of sand, moving with the current.

#2, I think.  

 Showing a bit of siphon.

The color changes are so amazingly quick. 

 Another hider.

 And #3, the smallest and most well hidden. I had to look very carefully to tell what it was.

This was in the deeper part, so it was harder to get close. I think the octopus probably liked it that way.

I think this is #4. It is surprising how hard it is to keep track. My personal record in octo-sightings is 24 at Hanauma Bay in one swim. The Ranger said: Are you sure you aren't just seeing the same one over and over again?!!! Oh those of little faith! 

 Farewell for a while, you 8 legged astounding creatures!

And of course, I had to say goodbye to other of my frequent "pals":

The 3rd seal was looking up. I believe these were all males...

 Banded snake eel surprised me! If you like, look up zebra moray, to compare and contrast.

Brighteye Chromis. Love these tiny, fast fish.

 A Cornet and some Needlefish. Interesting how they are so similar, yet different in physical appearance and behavior.

Awwww. A cute juvenile tang.

More Needlefish 

 Pencil Urchin. Taken with the microscope feature on my Olympus TG4 camera. Yay, Olympus!

When it's this deep, you can see the pinktail cavorting and trying to avoid my camera activities.

 This one kept scratching his belly. I would too, if I were lying in sand. That stuff can be very itchy.

Younger Pinktail. 

 One of the many reasons not to walk on the bottom: Wana. Anal sac is visible.

The reason this eel is called the Whitemouth Moray!

A very enjoyable swim. At least until the Bottom Walkers arrived. Can't give them all a lecture. I did have nice chats with two visitors, one of whom was from Vermont. She noted they were very happy to be here. No doubt!

I must say I am very grateful to God for His marvelous ocean creations. It has  been a good run on Kauai again. I hope and pray to see many more marvelous creatures in our new locale. 

OOPS! Almost forgot today's mystery sighting: It's a Cone Shell, covered in sea gunk (a technical term.) But are those eyes? And if so, are they the eyes of the shell?!

Sometimes, things remain a mystery. That's what makes it interesting.

Pelting Rain

I think few people are as determined as I am to see octopuses as often as possible. Especially since we are moving soon to Oahu and the viewing will be different!

The weather, however, was not cooperating at first: it dumped on me! So I sat in the car, hoping for clearing. Which I did get. And I saw 3 octopuses!!!

 If you look closely, you can see just the head of octopus #1. Hurray! This is the octopus that has been hiding down in its den. It came up to see if I would go away.

 And here's the siphon of #2.

 And #3 posed for me. Unfortunately, this was when the rain was starting to PELT DOWN and the wind picked up quite a bit. It was actually blowing the rain sideways.

 I decided that as cute as the octopuses are, there's no reason to get blown about in the water, so I got out soon thereafter.

But not before I caught a photo of some of the usual suspects:

A nice 4 spot butterfly

 Abudefduf

Cornet

 And an adorable tiny Humu. I'm not sure why the juveniles of the various species make me smile, but I'll enjoy it without knowing the reason.

The juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse. This one, unlike the one the other day, was brown and white, instead of green. Maybe a sex difference?!

 Male Box Fish. I'm not sure if the difference in the blue color was due to different lighting or just different shades of blue.

 Pencil Urchins

And some raindrops on the surface of the water.

 Saddle Wrasse. I see these so often, that I sometimes forget to take their photo.

Saddleback Butterfly

And of course, no rain post would be complete without rainbows:

 The cloud rainbow might be my fave.

But a double rainbow is a close second.

Clouds in French are NUAGES. Sounds nice, right?

 Rain out at sea. I think that's the sun peeking through.

 Two turtles and a seal were snoozing on the island. 

 And you can see why it's called a Threadfin Butterfly fish.

This is what it looked like when I got out. Everything got wet. 

But it was a nice swim. I'm trying not to call it my last swim; perhaps the last for a while....here in Poipu....on Kauai.