Frogfish OMG!

Imagine my surprise today when I saw the little frogfish!!!

 It had been years (at least 3 or 4) since I last saw a frogfish in the wild. And boy did it make me happy! (The older blog that I could find showed it was May 27, 2015. And on Oahu at Hanauma Bay.)

 Yes, God was hearing all about how thankful I was. Even though I had a snorkel in my mouth.

 Here it is with the small toby to show you the size.

 And yes, I am very glad this was a yellow one...had it been a darker green kind as in my Frogfish eats Puffer video, I might not have seen it.

 It was nice of the Orange Shoulder surgeon fish to stop by, as a size comparison.

 It wasn't upside down...I was. You can see its two little legs and the bumps where the eyes are.

 God was definitely not asleep when He created these guys....what an odd creature, right?!

I am wondering if any of the other swimmers heard me verbally thanking God for this little guy's appearance...

I am also grateful that this one didn't move around while I was filming. They can, but there was no reason to: it was in the deep side of the pond, so it probably didn't even know I was there. 

I am still so surprised and thankful that it's hard to move on to the other good things of this 3 hour dive. But I will.

One octopus:

 This is the "regular" octopus that I have seen quite a few times now. I can usually find it because of the bigger rock that is near it. And the red rocks it keeps near its den.

 Showing a bit of eye and siphon in the following photo. With sand in the water.

 From above it

Two cute Four Spot Butterfly fish

 The cats eye operculum (one of the few I have collected that show the spot) and two small Snakeshead Cowry shells.

 Abudefduf group near the divide between deep and shallow ponds

 The Ambon puffer that is actually showing the blue fin underneath.

 And the big cone. Because of all the ocean gunk on its shell, couldn't tell what kind of cone it was, but I could tell there was an animal in it.

 Bluefin Butterfly

 Christmas Wrasse scooting through the scene.

 This is a bunch of coral near the buoy that I see often.

I had to enlarge the following photo to discover why I took the photo: the frogfish is in there. Really! It was in the deep side, so it is hard to spot. it's in the center of the photo. As I said, I was glad it was yellow.

 An urchin with plant material on its back and the eel hiding underneath.

 Fleabite Cone shell

 Hawaiian Hog Fish

 This is an urchin with a heavy burden of rocks on its back.

 Hebrew Cone shell. I think these are pretty cones.

 Big old Honu. Again, in the deeper side, so since I don't swim up to them, not a great photo. But you can see its "hands" and "feet".

Small Horn shell hiding in a coral head 

 Juvenile Yellow Tail Coris

 A Lizard fish for my sweetheart.

 And a male Trunk or Box fish

 Moorish Idol

 The photographer with her new blue shades...and the hair style created by using God's own hair dryer on the drive home. Pretty, isn't it?

 If you need an Easter Venue, we will be singing at Koloa Missionary Church on Sunday. This ceramic octopus is on my desk, next to the operculum that was sitting at one point in the water near a real octopus.

 I love the twirly part of the operculum.

 Pencils and fish. How often does one get to combine those two subjects in a sentence?

 Pinktail Durgon showing its tail and spike on its head.

 There were at least 3 Pinktails in this photo on the deep side, where I often see them out near the wave break.

 The clown face of the Rock Mover wrasse

 And the not so funny face and body of the Devil Scorpion Fish. Look at youtube for octopigirl7 to see the video. It obligingly swam and showed more of its orange and yellow fins. In this photo, note its mouth open a bit, on the left.

 Shells from my collection

 Snowflake Moray eel

 A Spotfin Scorpion Fish, hiding behind a rock.

 And showing more of its spots:

 Bluefin Trevally circling the eel under the rock...you can just see its head.

 Urchin with rocks again.

I am happy to announce that the vertigo is gone. I was a bit leery about swimming again, because waves could only make that spinning feeling worse. So glad to see the back of that affliction. No lie. And very happy for the frogfish and octopus and scorpion fishes. All good sightings and I am most appreciative! Thanks, God!

Sorry, crab! MY BAD

I don't know if you know Angela Johnson, the comic. She's a hoot!

Anyway, she has a bit where her aunty accidentally runs over a dog. (Yes, I know it is hard to think of this as funny, but...) The aunty says "Soddy dog!" 

I say all this because I accidentally brought a tiny hermit crab home today. I only found it when I put the shells and operculum in bleach and it ran up the side of the little cup! EEK. I immediately put it into fresh water, thinking that was at least better than water. Then it went outside. MY BAD! And here's how one knows I'm a photographer: I thought: I should have taken a photo of it! I do try not to kill the wildlife.

I am currently listening to an album while I'm writing this post: Buffy Sainte-Marie!!! I listened to her (and sang along) when I was growing up. So powerful. Anyway, she's still singing and recording. Such an amazing artist. If you don't already know her music, check her out on youtube.

So the octopus was back today: YAY. 

Skybox view 

 Peeking at me

 It popped up when I went away; sneaked back and took this photo. The eye has small white lines radiating out from it....just below the red rock.

Very happy to spot this one. It is now a regular, but didn't appear to be home last time I looked.

And there was a snoozing seal on the beach.

I took the one to the right from the water; below, from the beach

This Cornet was about 3 feet long (guessing.) They are super impressive and move really fluidly through the water. Great hunters.

3 Moorish Idols

 Abudefduf bending.

Ambon Puffer showing its lovely colors and dots.

This urchin picked up a shell to put on its back (purple at bottom)

 I have been ignoring this fish, but noticed today how pretty it is. So many patterns and colors.

 This is a bluelined butterfly...NOT a stripey! I have been misrepresenting it. Hate it when that happens!

 Find the eel. Yes, there is one. It's with with spots. Well hidden.

 Female Trunk or box fish

 Male box fish

Years ago (30+), this was the most fabulous fish I would routinely see. Hawaiian name is Palani. The other name is surgeon fish. Really pretty; it has nice color patterns on its skin, which aren't evident here.

 Pencils. Long story short: urchin in the deep side. I wasn't going to go to the deep side, but my vertigo had gone away, so I did. Without any problems. Thank you, God!

Nice bubble shell. It's still there.

 Find the eel. Apparently, octopus are not the only ones that peek at swimmers.

 Another nice tang. And again, it has lovely patterns on its hide.

 I call this one Toupee Urchin. HA.

 The trash, glass, scrunchies, bracelets and shells I brought back home.

 Bluefin Trevally and Christmas Wrasse female. I always enjoy seeing this type of wrasse...it reminds me of the time I cut fishing line off of one. Hope it's still swimming.

 I see these all the time. My bad memory forgets what they are, but they look like a tan tube and the white fronds go out to find food. I think!

Very glad my brief foray into vertigo has gone away. Going without swimming would be bad.....