The Canadians were in town

Met some very nice folks from British Columbia today.  Their sons had quite the conversation with me before the parents showed up!

I discovered that one brother desperately wanted to win a $50 bet with me. His brother told me that his brother had $250 in his checking account. And then after the parents showed up, he volunteered the information that this was his older brother and his younger brother was over there...and that his parents weren't married when they had the 3 kids!

I said: Who told you that was bad?! (No answer.) I said: Do they love each other?  He replied Yeah, they kiss all the time!!!  I told Mom and Dad: good job!

It is amazing what kids will volunteer when they are helping to protect turtles at the beach. I asked the elder boy if he was married. He said NO! Then I asked if he had a job?  He said NO! I said well, where did you get all that money?  No response.  HAHA. 

The parents asked some good questions about the turtles. They seemed to understand that the turtles needed their space. And they were surprised to know that we have octopuses right out there in the water! Oh yes, they do. I gave her my fave line: It's the REAL ocean!

The octopuses weren't particularly visible today though:

Hiding in its den. The best shot would have been when I first swam up: I saw the octopus slide down into the den. So even though the photo isn't great, I am sure there was an octopus in there.

I did ask one gentleman to move back from the turtles: he said I just want to take a picture! DUH! I said we all do, but with respect we do it from further away. All these heavy duty cameras have a closeup feature anyway. Even a phone has that! I wanted to ask: how would you feel if you were having a nap and awoke to see someone right in your face with a camera?!

There was heavy duty rain offshore that eventually dumped on us:

In the one below, note the small sign on the island...that cloud and rain was huge!!!

 The orange flag announcing swift currents is about a foot long, so you can see how big the cloud and rain were.

 And then it dumped on us. I think at one point, I was the only one in the water. I always think: I'm wet anyway. What does rain matter? It does mess with the amount of light, however. And it was so loud in my ears!

 Earlier, when the rain was more offshore.

Droplets on the surface 

 And raindrops from underneath.

Exciting.

There was also a small honu. That's exciting too.

 And a lovely orange colored sunrise!  It took over about 1/3 of the sky.

 And this is an awful photo of the Ambon Puffer, but it does show its nice blue fin underneath.

 Bigger Cornet

Nice morning sky, before the rain, with 2 snoozing turtles.

 This Humu was about to dash into the hole to hide.

 Black Leaf Fish

 I love the mix of clouds, especially the row of puffy ones near the water.

Pencil Urchins mashed between two rocks on the deep side.

 More turtle action. About the most they do is raise their heads or blink.

Raindrops bouncing off the surface.

 Tiny Cornet. Smaller than a pencil. So adorable.

 Too close, lady! (And yes, I kindly asked her to move back.)

 I'm not sure why this white wisp appeared. I don't know if I've seen white rain....

Whitemouth Moray eel 

The little Canadian boy tried to tell me that he saw a sea snake. I doubt it! Probably a Moray...but hubby does tell me that we have sea snakes in some of the further out islands....wouldn't mind seeing one myself. 

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!