Sore elbow, but two octopuses

Since I am aging, I'm getting accustomed to having little aches and pains, but today was more than usual. I don't know what I did to tweak my elbow, but of course, it's on the right side which is my most often used side, since I'm right handed. But not complaining: saw two octopuses. And 3 seals. And some eels. I mean, the swim was chock full of fun.

And the water was nice too. I did lose about 20 minutes waiting for the seals to decide where they wanted to haul out:

 The one above shows one of our wonderful volunteers, awaiting the decision. This seal is kind of bark-y, so you know when he is around.

This was one that couldn't decide which pond he wanted to be in. Or whether frolicking would be more fun than lounging on the beach. Eventually, when I left the water, there were no seals on the beach, so they must have chosen frolicking somewhere else. I do try not to enter the water when they are there, as I don't want to encourage them to play! We need to keep our distance. Not just because they are wild animals, but also endangered and protected.

 Once I did get in the water on the deeper side, I was extremely excited to discover that, after a couple of months of searching in this area, an octopus had decided to hang out in the top hole of a coral head! I check this hole each time I swim, as there used to be an octopus that lived in that hole. But haven't seen one for quite a while, so I was really great to see it in use again.

 I was also a little concerned, as this octopus wasn't colored the same as most are; that is, it was a pale color, which I take to mean it is either scared, or ill. But I can't really know that....they do NOT speak to me, other than sometimes to blow sand and water in my direction to get me to go away. ha.

 Preceding and following is he'e #2 out near the wave break.

 By this time, I had graduated over to the shallower side, having seen just the one octopus in the deep side. There was also a spear fisherman, so I tend to disappear when they are around, not wanting to be in the area in case they catch something and blood appears in the water. I was also praying he wouldn't find the one octopus I saw. 

Peeking at me. I love it when they do that. They do bring rocks into their dens, I think to camouflage and block the entry.

 Two four-spot butterfly and a bluestripe butterfly. It's amazing how they almost disappear if you look at them head-on, as they are so slender.

 Bright eye Chromis. I'm unsure why some have that faint striping.

 Here's the Catseye of the Operculum! I do not often see these, as they have been in the water long enough to get bleached out, I guess.

 And Mr. Electric Blue Crab had appropriated a Turban Shell.

 As this one did.

 I don't normally post food pix, but I have been enjoying some good Rosemary/Parmesan bread with butter and radishes and parsley. Reminds me of our trips to Paris! Our radishes are not as sweet as the French ones, however.

 And today's trash: a stretchy bracelet, some fishing line and a hook and more fishing line with leader. It irritates me to see these things because some people aren't aware to be on the lookout for fishing line and hooks.

 A seal going over the rocks. Not sure why it did that, as there's a less rocky place nearby, but he had his reasons, I guess.

 Speaking of reasons, not at all sure why this Hawaiian Hogfish wanted to hang out near this eel. Doesn't seem like a good survival strategy to me. But neither animal was hurt, so I guess it all turned out ok.

 Following is the juvenile Yellow Tail Coris, along with pals the Brighteye Chromis on top and saddle wrasse juveniles below. The red really stands out against the pale sand and rocks.

 A male Trunk fish butt.

 Nudibranch. This one was perhaps 3 inches long. In the photo following you can see a bit more of the "naked lungs" that give them their name.

 Operculum on paper towel. I love the swirly line. That part is the part inside the "door" when attached to the Turban shell.

 And Pencil Urchins. A man from Minnesota asked me if I get rock fever. I said, No, since the ocean is big and I am blessed to get in often!

 The Pencils would have a good reason to have rock fever, all scrunched in between those rocks.

 Pinktail Durgon: I recently discovered that they will eat octopuses. I must admit, even though I know it's nature for them to eat, it did move them down in my Fave Fish list.

 Scorpion Fish. They are really amazing at hiding. The nose and eyes are near the top right of the photo.

 From further away, this is how I first saw the fish. Find the red rock, then the pale rock to its left and then further left is the fish. No really, I wouldn't lie.

 And its cousin, the Spotfin Scorpion Fish. I saw both of these pretty soon after entering the water on the shallow side.

 Today's good treasures.

 More spotfin scorp.

 The coral head that now houses the octopus. 

 Urchin. Yes, it's under the protection of all the rocks it picked up.

 This Urchin apparently has enough spiky goodness not to need to put rocks on itself.

Isn't God amazing? So many incredible creations, just waiting for us to discover.

I should be nicer....

It came to my attention today that questions which appear stupid to me are not actually stupid: if one asks where I saw the octopus, I think they may be thinking there is a regular place that the octopuses congregate. Which of course they don't, but when you don't look for octopuses on a regular basis, you might think to be able to find them where you last saw them! Am I making any sense?

And there is a regular octopus, which I saw today, so I guess I could have said: Down there near where all those goofy people are standing in the water!

 I included the photo above because it shows the eye, siphon, skin colors and even a bit of tentacle. And of course, sand blowing through the water. Not only was it later in the day than my usual swims, but the waves were choppy and people were walking around on the bottom. A big no-no for me.

And the one to the left shows the bumpy skin and also a bit of tentacle. This is an octopus that has been hiding in this rock for a while...hope it stays! It was the only octopus that I was able to spot today, in my one hour swim after church.




I also saw two scorpion fishes:

 This one moved to get away from me, so you can see the warning colors on his side fins.

And here's the same fish without the warning, as I first saw it. Really good camouflage, non?











And as I was swimming over near where you can go over to the deep side, I saw a man, his wife and son swimming near me. The man was actually "walking" with his hands, grabbing rocks to pull himself along. When they popped up, I gently tapped him and warned him about scorpion fish in the area and how they were venomous. The lady shrieked a little bit, but the man wasn't phased....I swam on. And then about a minute later, I saw the 2nd Scorpion Fish:

 See it? (Near the top of the photo...look for side fins.)

I took these pix, and actually just now saw the one immediately to the left and thought: why did I take a photo of a juvenile Saddle Wrasse?! Of course, the answer is I took the photo because the Scorpion Fish is just above the little fish, with its tail just above the little fish, and its head leaning on a rock. The side fins have a little serration on them. I thought it was cute that I saw this immediately after I warned the guy. Hope he gets along ok...

This Electric Blue Crab was hanging out in a used shell. 

And here is Honu #2. 












Below is a big one that swam by me: it had been tagged by NOAA recently, I think. I hope that doesn't hurt!

I was about to warn a couple standing near that there was a turtle, but then it swam away. I think a bit confused about which way to go to escape people. Not easy on a Sunday in Poipu! There was a roped off seal on the beach too, but he was faced toward the ocean, so his pix weren't very interesting..

This little Snowflake Moray was trying to escape too. Its head is in the middle of the shot.

 This Urchin had placed only soft stuff on its back...I don't know how protective that would be. 

And this one was really small...maybe 2 inches from stem to stern? That's my pointer finger in my glove, as an attempt to demonstrate the tiny size. 

So to sum up, I will try to be nicer when people ask questions. That said, I do remember the time someone asked: "Did you see any fish out there?" There's just no good response to that! 

4 octopuses and 2 scorpion fish

Cautionary tale: today I almost put my hand down where a Devil Scorpion fish was resting comfortably. Just a reminder to look before grabbing stuff off the bottom. In this case, I was going nearby for an operculum, when I spotted this guy:

Yes, the same color as that rock it's near... I was surprised to spot it, as I usually need to have them move in order to catch on. 

This larger one (the first one I spotted) did in fact move so I could see it:

Yes, the colors are a definite giveaway...The bigger ones are usually in the deeper side, although I see the Devils on both sides, size being the difference.








So on to the star of the show: octopus and its ink!
Look for it on youtube at https://youtu.be/bdmgQBOnsvc

The octopus, I think, had had enough of the Rock Mover Wrasse irritating it, so it inked and then flew away. But the Rock Mover is made of stern stuff....later it found the poor octopus again. 

 Just trying to have a quiet moment, this fish consistently bothered the octopus, now hiding under a rock to the left...

 Above, Rock Mover and the brown blob octopus near the top of the photo.

Octopus standing alone for a minute.

 This is what the ink looks like...rather like oil in the water.

This is #2 octopus. You can spot the siphon and the eye just above it.

 Peeking at me

Peeking again from closer in..

Octopus #3 hiding in the den

 Octopus #4 also hiding

Sometimes I can only tell it's a different octopus by comparing the rocks outside the den.

Most excited about the ink.  Haven't seen an octopus ink in quite a while.

Brighteye Chromis

 Pretty clouds

Cone shell dug into the sand

 The crab hiding in a Turban Shell (this is the type of shell that usually has operculum (trap doors) to keep out intruders, like crabs. So this crab either got into the shell by digging out the operculum, or it found the shell already empty.) Hairy, eh?

 Another shell, this time with an Electric Blue crab in it.

Juvenile Yellow Tail Coris. Really different coloration than the adult!

 After the brown octopuses, the Pencil urchins seem really bright!

 Pinktail Durgon. This one is a young one and is swimming around in the deep side, but in shallower water near the rocks.

This Threadfin Butterfly fish is really pretty and really curious. Note how the eye is part of a long black strip so as to conceal it. The really dumb predators think the black spot near the tail is an eye...maybe.

And the Turban shell before I shook the sand out and discovered the crab.

 And in case you're wondering, yes, I put the shell back down so the crab could stay alive. It probably would have fought me for it! It did stay in, even when I shook the shell. Tenacious little blighter.