Waves calmed down, octopus now visible

I was relieved today to be able to get back into the deep part and find an octopus. It was, I think, the same one I've been seeing for a little while. If you look at the lower left part of the brown and white octo-mass, you'll see its eye: with white lines going out from it. I have read that they are color-blind, which if true, amazes me, since they can make such fast color changes. I guess they don't have to look to know what colors they are changing to.

Nice wrasse. This Belted Wrasse male darted up to my camera, so I took the shot.

 There are beaucoup little fishes these days: the Blue Spined Unicorn fish seen above, as well as the tiny Humu (find it a little further on).

 Nice Bubble Shell. Intact and nobody home, so it is home with me now. The odd pink-ness is my finger tips...Yes, they do get a bit pruney!

 Nice probably live Cone Shell. This one was about 2.5 inches long (I briefly put my finger alongside it and noted its size.)

Another pretty shell was the Cowry. This one was hiding inside the rocks. That's where I mostly see them.

 This crab had been someone's breakfast....I am not sure how they got the meat out (perhaps an octopus devoured it through the tiny hole they make), but I thought the crab was pretty.

 As was the one to the right, also hiding.

 Curvy Snowflake Moray eel. 

I do wish I were better with all these eels! I do not know this one's name. It could be a Stout Moray.

 Horn shell and operculum. Unfortunately, there was a small crab in the shell, so I took the operculum, but not the shell.

 One of the pretty Humu fish. Scadzillions of the little ones around now.

 I can only guess what this is: perhaps poo? It was about 3 inches long and appears to be packed sand. And I wonder: if it is poo, who would have excreted it?!

Moorish Idol. I was going to report that this is the loveliest of the fishes, but there are so many choices. Notably, the Ambon Puffer.

 Lots of rocks had been moved around by the recent big waves, so the bottom looked really different. I was surprised and perplexed by the white rocks: if it's a volcanic island, where did the white rocks come from?!

 One of the tiny Humu, ready to dart into that hole for protection.

 Brilliantly colored Yellow Tail Coris adult.

I at first wanted to call this a Zebra Moray, but I think, upon consulting books, that it is a barred moray. Your mileage may differ.

As always, I'm thankful to God for creating all these cool animals. What an imagination.

Thank God for Clouds, Waves and Leaf Fish!

I had been warned by the news and my pal on the south shore that there would be waves.....they were not wrong!

 The shot below shows where I usually snorkel: just this side of that sign. It would have been a thrashing opportunity, which I decided not to take..

The waves were not super huge, but they were enough to mess with the water quality....there was a lot of sand and other plant materials blown into the water so the visibility was not good. Let's put it another way: what is normally a 2 to 3 hour swim was 1/2 hour today. That said, there were no visible octopuses, no big surprise. But there was a Leaf Fish, which, poor thing, was being blown about by the waves/water:

 I was glad to see it, though, as I had resigned myself to not being able to see anything of major interest. One never knows what God has planned.

When I first arrived at the beach, I did stand near the entry point for about 15 minutes looking at the water, deciding whether I should go into the deep part. I decided against it, after seeing this:

 I always have a talk with God before entering the water. I do feel He protects me and today, this blue dividing line convinced me: go to the Kiddie pond, where the water was more manageable and leave the deep side for others.

I did look at the sign again, too: Rip Currents. You could be swept out and drown. If in doubt, don't go out! So I halted my occasional stubbornness and just went into the shallower side. After doing so, I did realize that the waves would have messed with the visibility on the deep side, too, so I probably didn't miss anything. 

The clouds and palms did allow me to see the sun...I think it's pretty. So I enjoyed the brief swim and hope that Hurricane Walaka's remainders disappear by Saturday! 

One octopus...it's all good

Octopus #1:

 I fear #1 octopus has had somebody bite a bit off...see the white patches. I guess that means the predator also got the chromatophores that do the color....but not sure exactly how that works. Just glad to see this one was still around. Also note the siphon.

The water was wavy and not clear, but glad to have the chance to get wet. Thursday, my normal next snorkel day, is supposed to be high surf so we'll see how that goes.







This I call Eel in a Snowstorm:

Of course, it wasn't a real snowstorm, but the sand in the water makes it sort of appear so...

Christmas Wrasse with light. It still amazes me how much different an animal looks with light and shadows on it.

 The Hebrew Cone, buried here near the red rock, looks good anyway, light or no.

 The male trunk fish could have used a rainbow of light on it, but I take what is there.

 I found a lot more pencil urchins today. Perhaps due to the lack of multiple octopuses.

 Mr. Rock Mover Wrasse rubbed against many things, but as far as I could see, none of them was an octopus.

Seal snoozing on the island.

It's hard to see, but there is a partial moon visible to the left of the big cloud.

I just thought these clouds were nice. So clean and white.

I must admit to a bit of stubbornness today...tried and tried and tried to clap my eyes on the little octopus from yesterday, without success. When you look for a rock with a small hole in it, it's rather surprising how many there are! But I'm happy with one sighting. We'll see about Thursday....
And thanks for reading!

Amazing octopus

 I was very happy to discover octopus #2, a very small and quite well hidden octopus. I'll bet many people just blew by this hole in the bottom, not knowing what was hiding inside. Woo-hoo!

 And light was good too. Rainbow colors from above. The octo-eye is above and to the left of the siphon tube.

Thanked God right away, too. I was so happy to find this little one. And hope I can see it for a long, long time. Shhh! Don't tell anyone who eats octopuses! (Yes, some people really do that.)

This was octopus #1 and the same one I've seen a few times lately. I told a friend that I don't like to use the name "regular" anymore, as that sometimes makes them disappear...perhaps they simply get tired of me bobbing up and down to take their photo.

 Shrimp. in its hole.

Christmas Wrasse. Some have the turquoise fins and some are electric blue. Just another mystery!

 Rainbow in the cloud. Taken from the water.

 Palms and clouds. 

 This was a super huge cornet fish. I do think the orange-spined unicorn fish near it was not a full sized adult, but the cornet was still pretty big...

 This is where I go in. To the left is the kiddie pond and to the right, what I call the deep side. I had a nice talk with a man and his wife. Once they told me their skills were beginner, I advised them to swim on the left side. I told them about the rip current that might take them down to the hotel nearby. We decided that's not a good way to find a hotel. Just sayin'.

 Turtle sleeping when I went in. When I came out, two hours later, the turtle had awakened and decided to re-enter the water, which thrilled all the visitors on the beach.

 Male Trunk Fish. Of course, I took this photo just after it had twirled upside down to snag a bit of food! Sometimes I just miss cool photo.

 Moon and clouds.

 This is my favorite of octopus #2 with rainbow light. Such amazing creatures!

 Pencil urchin.

Pinktail Durgons and friends, having breakfast. The Pinktails are in the upper right and also upper left. As you can see, this was out near the breakwater, so the visibility was not the best.

And this is the seal that surprised me when I was about to get out. I was going in the opposite direction and flipped around to snap off a shot. The waves were bouncing me around, so I just got out, instead of trying for more photos....

A great swim. Nice sightings and nobody bothered me.