A post from October 22

My swim made me tired on Tuesday, so I forgot to post until today! But I did see two octopuses and a barracuda.

I almost missed this octopus, as it blended so well. At first, I thought it was a rock.

 And then it turned dark. You can just see the siphon at the bottom of the darkness.

This is what I first saw. I noted the rocks outside and thought: there should be an octopus there. And there was.

 He'e #2 hid really well. 

This barracuda's only interest was swimming away from me. Glad. It hangs out in somewhat cloudy water.

In the deeper side, there was a group of cornets, a pinktail durgon and a ringtail surgeon. If only the water had been clearer.

 Sometimes you can see entirely through the fish.

 This Saddle Wrasse swam right below me. I see these so often that I forget how pretty their colors are.

Female Trunk Fish, scooting along the bottom.

 One of the tiny Humu that are hiding near escape holes.

Kihikihi near a rock. So graceful.

 This Leaf Fish was stuck so close to its rock that I had a miserable time trying to take its photo.

 Yes, there's a small seal there, sleeping. On the left, just above that biggish rock.

Lizard fish, having buried itself in the sand.

And then it flipped around so it could see me better.

They run so quickly, it's sometimes hard to see where they go.

 The Saddle wrasse again. Until this picture, I hadn't noticed the pretty lines of purple on the tail and back. This is one of the more prevalent fish in the pond.

 Spotfin Scorpion Fish. 

The young seal again. I cropped out the people who were standing around looking at it.

Some of the immediacy gets lost when you write your post a few days later. I was tired but happy after this 2 hour swim. I told an Oahu friend that we were moving back; he said he would alert the octopuses. ha. Thank you for reading.

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.