Go that way if you want to see fish!

As I neared the end of the Sunday dive, a cute little boy swam up to me, tapped me and said "Go that way if you want to see fish!" How adorable. Of course, I'd been seeing fish all along, so it wasn't surprising. But he was so excited.  So I thanked him.  If I told him I was trying to see octopuses, he probably would have followed me, hoping.  Anyway, it was cute.  And I didn't see octopuses anyway.  Two days, no he'e! But as I told God, I enjoy the swim anyway.  I am always a bit disappointed when I don't see octopuses, but I am thankful for the swim.  I did see some cool stuff, so it wasn't like there were no neat things to spot.

Hiding eel.  He's the brown part, inside the hole, wrapped around the rock. No wonder I didn't see any octopuses!!!

Money Cowry. It is SO tempting to pick 'em up! I don't think I have any of these at home.  But I didn't.  I do try to be good.

This is why lots of folks don't see Leaf Fish.  The big rock, at the bottom. You can see it, kinda light green...leaning one "paw" on the rock. They are good at disguise.

Christmas Wrasse.  Just occurred to me that it is brightly colored, but as far as I know, not poisonous.  So I guess that "bright colors" means "leave me alone" isn't always the case.

A friend, in town from North Carolina, said these Rock Mover Wrasse fish look like they have makeup on. HAHAHA. 

I think this is a yellow phase of the Orange Shoulder Surgeon Fish. Correct me if I'm wrong!

This Spanish Dancer might be about to crawl off a cliff. I don't know how their eyesight is, but I hope it doesn't get poked.

 Trunk Fish. Alex and I really love these..

As we do the Lizard fish.

 This neat 4 spot butterfly was about 2 inches long. Awesomely cute!

Can you see the scorpion fish? It has its right fin on the red rock. They, like the Leaf Fish, are really good hiders.

As is this box crab! I would NEVER have spotted it if it hadn't moved.  It's the middle "rock"..you can see the slightly opened mouth. And 2 eyes just below the mouth in this photo.

Cowry near a drupe.  I don't think either would eat the other..i hope.

 This is the same Cowry that I found yesterday.  In the same general area.

This large Cone shell was in the rocks between the big pond and the little pond.  I spotted it just as I was pulled over into the big pond! So this is the best photo I got, as I couldn't find it again when I fought the current and went back over...nice big cone and definitely filled with the real animal. You can see it near the bottom of the shell, inside.

Today's trash and shell and operculum haul.  Thankfully, I didn't see any yucky trash (paper, old shoes, dental bridge...yes I have found one of those. No lie!)

So no octopuses were spotted, but I have heard that since we have so many seals, turtles and of course, that lifeguard that hunts 'em, I'm not surprised.  Perhaps God will show me some next week. Thanks for the safety, God!

And speaking of God, please pray for my friend with cancer, when you can take a moment. She is having hospice care at home now. 

No octopuses, but had a good swim anyway

For some reason, the octopuses are hiding from me....unless it's this guy:

Neither the turtle nor the seal look very energetic or hungry, for that matter, but I do know that seals eat octopuses.  I do hope this isn't a trend. I am jonesing for a glimpse of my fave cephalopods!
Perhaps next weekend.

 A crab was once again hiding in this little shell.

And this triangular shell, Flea Bite Cone, was upside down at first.  Then when I turned it over (carefully by the big bottom part), I discovered it was in fact occupied by the animal that should be in there.  This was by far the largest cone shell I've seen in quite a while. Larger than my hand stretched out..

And as I have announced before, these shells have a poison dart that can hurt animals and people, so best not to touch it.
This poor eel was being chased by a bluefin trevally.  I followed quite a few trevally yesterday, but they all led me to an eel, not an octopus. 

This poor eel had a chunk out of its hide, so not sure how long it will survive.  I also thought it might be cranky, so I swam away.

There were several small Cornet Fish....too cute! These were about as long as a pencil and more thin than one.

And we have the nice Trunk Fish. Scooting away from me..
Found two different types of Scorpion Fish:

Their eyes give them away.  Spotfin Scorpion.

And Devil Scorpion Fish. If you have any trouble spotting it, look for the bit of orange: that's its fin.  The rest is to the left.  The slit near the bottom of the shot is the mouth.

Wow. This disguise was so good, it took me a minute to spot this one in the photo! The mouth is on the right hand side and the eye, just up a bit and to the left.

And Mr. Ugly again...

This blenny was a good hider...look inside the hole, above the shells.  Two little eyes peeking out.

Cute little Hawkfish. Just a sprout! Probably 3 inches long including the tail. 
Christmas Wrasse:

Nice colors and good flexibility.











Money Cowry:

They are so delicate and pretty.

Two eels...I couldn't immediately find the top one's type...possibly a juvenile coloration. The bottom one is the Snowflake Moray. They are all over the reef in Poipu, hiding and sliding from one area to another, in search of food.
Here's hoping and praying for seeing an octopus next weekend! Perhaps they'll be in for the holiday.

Octopus Garden

Because I didn't find any "real" octopuses in my dive after church, here's the octopus that I did find: in my garden! I recently started growing some plants, and put this octopus that is designed to be in an aquarium in my garden. Most of the real octopuses aren't blue. ha.





I did see Trunk Fish:

Looks as if he's standing on his tail.  The water was not friendly... waves and rip currents.  I guess summer on the south shore has arrived.  But stay tuned: I'm hoping to visit beaches on the North shore next weekend, God willing.

Nice Hebrew Cone Shell. It's called that because the markings look like Hebrew writing.  I guess they do, somewhat!

This is the Money Cowry.  These shells were used as money in some countries.  Maybe still are. I think they are pretty and so different from their cousins:

Snakeshead Cowry:

These are the ones I see most often.  Same type that I accidentally picked up last weekend, only to find the animal still inside.  But all ends well: that boy helped me throw it back into the ocean in a lifesaving episode.

I don't have a photo of the wedding ring I found, as I forgot to snap one.  But it was a steel ring..the Lifeguard said they have a lot of these in a book in their guard shack.  Mostly men's...

Have a great week.  Here's hoping for more octo-snooping next weekend! And thanks to God for the water safety...yesterday the right side was closed to swimming as the water was still ripping right along.

P.S. I took only 56 photos! That tells you how the water was...

They weren't expecting me!

When I snorkeled recently and didn't see any octopuses (!!!), my friend said "Well, they weren't expecting you!" HA. It's true, it wasn't a weekend day, so they were probably going about their normal slithery lives and just didn't know I'd be searching for them.
But that doesn't mean I didn't see anything cool.  Just look:

wow. ok gotta go cook breakfast! Catch you later.