Walmart Moon

You will doubtless have heard and/or seen the Super Moon recently.

With my little Olympus TG-2 camera, there is a sort of telephoto lens, but not of the same power the bigger cameras have.  So I got around this by taking a photo of the near stuff and getting the moon as an added benefit.  

This photo was at the Walmart parking lot here in Lihue.  I was there buying Finding Dory and when I got out of the car, looked for the moon.  Here it is!

As you know, Finding Dory has an octopus, so of course, I have to have as many people as possible see the movie.  Not that it's true to life, but it is comical and entertaining.  And be sure to watch the credits: the octopus gets up to some amazing disguises.

And before we go underwater, look at this partial cone shell:

I found it while snorkeling the other day.  See how thick that shell is?!  I was working to imagine what animal bit into that shell.  WOW.  I'm thinking eel, but I wasn't there for the shell's demise, so am uninformed about who ate it.  I guess it could have been dashed against a rock, but I'm thinking predator..




The light played some tricks yesterday:

Well, the clouds did, I guess.  But you can still see the palm trees and the light.  I really enjoy what God does with lighting and wind.  What was a glassy pond the other day was turned into a wavy, current-filled ocean yesterday.  I got into the big pond and was immediately swept down the line in the current.  Thankfully, I had watched the water before getting in and knew what it would do.  So I swam at an angle to the current and was able to get to the place near the rocks, where I often see cool stuff.  

But that was only after praying for safety and reading the sign:

If in doubt, don't go out!

I did await more people on the beach, instead of getting out at 7, it was 8ish before I ventured in for my 3 hour swim.

I am hopeful to be working before long, so I am taking advantage of the option to swim.  Since my sweetie didn't have to work down south, I grabbed the car for some R&R.

I spotted some Pinktail Durgon:

They are often seen following groups of other fish, perhaps hoping for some prey.  I really must check out more about food....I have no idea what these pretty fish eat.  Note the Sergeant fish accompanying the Convict Tangs...stripes on both, but so different!

I did find several shells, one of which was a Hairy Triton, I think:

I would love to find an empty one of these shells, but didn't. I am pretty sure there was someone inside this one.  It is disguised by sea gunk, so it looks a lot like the bottom.  And speaking of looking like the bottom....







I disturbed this Lizard Fish by picking up an operculum: it zipped a foot over and buried itself immediately in the sand.  See it?

Just its head is showing.  It's definitely easier to see these guys when you witness them moving, too.  They do have quite good camouflage.  And speaking of that, I'm thankful to have spotted 2 octopuses:

Its eye has the radiating white lines coming out from it.  This one sat quite still.  I even twinkled my fingers at it, hoping it would be interested.  









And octopus #2 was in the kiddie pond:

I was never able to get very close to this one...it was in stealth mode and slid down when I tried.

Finally remembered to look this fish up: It's an Indo-Pacific Sergeant! Very pretty and nice colors.  These are the fish that rub themselves against a rock.  I'm thinking it's egg-related, perhaps.  Mostly because they do charge other fish when they try to get into the area. So it appears they are being protective.

Saw two scorpion fish too: the Devil Scorpion Fish was hiding inside a coral rock:

It was pure whimsy that I found this one.  It was, as I said, hiding inside a rock, perhaps awaiting darkness or a prey item.  It came out a few minutes later:

Love the hidden bright colored fins...When it is just sitting, those colors are disguised.  Supposedly, the bright colors are a warning to stay away.








The other Scorp was a Spotfin Scorpion Fish.  It too was at first hiding inside a hole in a rock:

You can see the fringe on its head, near its eyes.  It, too, came out later:

You can see the spots where it gets its name.  As with the other one, a face only a mother could love!

I forget what these are, but I surely do enjoy finding them.  As you can see, compared to my fingers in the dive glove, they are tiny.  I have seen them much larger, and broken by predators.

In the center of the shot, there's a Turban Shell.  I think that this shell most often encounters predators...they have the white operculum that I collect.  So that either means someone ate the animal or the shell outgrew the operculum and made another.  Of course, I prefer the latter answer.

A nice snorkel....and I wasn't swept away! Thanks, God!

Spanish Dancer!

OK, I'll admit it: I was rather hoping that the nudibranch that was new to me was also unidentified.  I'm dying to name something after us!  Nudibranch Hazlettii or something like that.  HA.  It was not to be; at least not this time.  It was a Spanish Dancer nudibranch.  Very beautiful.  Here's proof:

 Very nice, very nice! Thanks, God!

I was so excited when I spotted this one, moving slowly along the reef. I have seen video of them in the water column, twisting along to move.  The head is on the left...you can see the 2 protuberances (not sure if they are feelers, or ears, or what!)



I had to pull off the road while driving down to catch some of God's rays:

What a great show.  I just now wandered outside to see if I could catch the almost full moon...but at 3:55, it was too dark.  With my camera, I have to have enough ambient light to catch a tree of something with the celestial brightness.  I'll try again after writing the post.
OK, you talked me into it: one more nudibranch photo:

Not to make too much of the little guy, but s/he is more brightly colored than the octopuses...Mind you, I'm not replacing octopuses with nudibranchs...they are both very much God's wonderful creations.  (And in case you're unfamiliar: you pronounce it New-dee-brank. It means naked lung.  At the back of the animal, what you see that is waving in the breeze is the animal's lungs.  Too cool, right?!)

If you peek into the hole in this coral head, you'll see the snout of an eel. It was resting in the former home of my regular octopus.  Bad, bad eel!!  But just a few minutes later, I saw an octopus nearby, so I'm hoping that the octopus was just made homeless by the eel and not made into a meal...

He's out, on top of the rocks.  Didn't appear frightened by me, so that's all good.










There was also a gathering of Cornet Fish: 8 of them. 

 They appear like

long cigars.  I was happy to be able to catch them all in one shot.  They do move around very stealthily, so this was kind of good timing.

And maybe this was a Valentine's day thing: hadn't seen it before.

 Don't know when it was put there, but keep in mind that it's in about 8 feet of water, and probably was pretty hard to do!  Those rocks aren't light and whoever did it would have had to hold their breath while depositing the rocks.

Cute little male Trunk Fish.

There was also a Scribbled File Fish....all alone.  I am accustomed to seeing them in pairs, so not sure what happened in this case:

I was tortured a couple 3 times during this swim: kept finding shells that were pretty and I thought they were empty, but didn't want to take the chance of killing the animal IF there was one inside, so I put them back down. 

These shells are super thin.  So perhaps that's another reason not put harvest it: it may have broken in my little dive pocket.

This Cowry was def alive..it was hiding under some coral.  The possibly empty ones are upside down on the bottom.

Octopus #2:

See it?  Hiding near rocky background.  It did pop back under when it saw me.  That's one of the many things I love about octopuses: they are interactive.  You move, they move.  There have been a couple who "peeked" out at me too. Always makes me smile.

Octopus #3 had so many shots that I have 8 photos noted down to include.  I won't bore you with that many, so here's one:

You'll no doubt see the fish first (Adult Rock Mover Wrasse), but look above its mid-section on the coral head and you'll see the octopus.  He sat pretty still.  It intrigues me that here in the water near Poipu, I see octopuses more in association with Rock Movers...on Oahu, it was usually a Trevally that is following the octopus around.

The "seaweed" is a Juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse.  It moves around very much like unattached seaweed, so camouflage isn't only the behavior of octopuses.

Trying to hide...

Octopus #4 is becoming a "regular"...I hope!

This octopus was in the Kiddie Pond...I would tell you the location, but s/he's pretty smart and slides down into its hole if someone approaches.  The orange rock is an indicator...Mostly I don't want to give away the location in case any reader is an octo-hunter.  I hope not.
Did see another flounder, on top of the rock:

The rainbow effect was kinda nice.   Every now and then, the sun cooperates with me.  You can see the two eyes.  Little round balls.  If you look above that, you can see its mouth.  I still think it's way cool that the eyes start out on opposite sides of its head, then migrate to both on one side.  

Awwww.  Pretty.  I'll have to look up this shell...maybe a basket shell, but I'm not sure. Don't quote me!
And my friend and I walked from Lawai Beach resort all the way to Spouting Horn and back.  We were treated to a Frigate Bird:

They are pretty, but I'm told they steal prey from other birds.  Also, supposedly, they only come near shore when there's a storm off shore.  We'll see!

Job interview followed by a swim

Had what I hope was a good job interview yesterday.  I was so keyed up afterward that I wanted to swim.  And saw 3 octopuses! A hopeful sign?  When I arrived back at home, received a phone call about another interview.  The days are packed!

I didn't snag any cloud or palm tree pictures...but I was able to celebrate the Marine Corps birthday with my sweetheart, who is a former Marine. Ooo rah!

I finally worked with the Olympus software and discovered how to crop photos...duh! So easy, wish I'd done that long ago.  Life is a learning process...

Got some shots of the needlefish too:

Well, obviously, I still have more to learn about editing.  In my cropped version, the fish in the center is much larger and going away from the viewer.  I do enjoy how they all swim around in a group and sometimes lower in the water, so easier to photograph.

Pencil urchin

 Well hidden octopus #1

When I first checked this area, the octopus wasn't home.  But then it was later.  This is the same octopus that was moving the rocks around on an earlier swim.

 Two kinds of wana

And a couple of the Moorish Idol fish...very beautiful

I took a picture of this rock, thinking: How busy!

Check for the Raspberry Drupe in the center...and a green dot of something, not sure what.  Just studying this rock alone would take me all day.

And a cone, covered up somewhat:

A nice swim after a good interview....here's hoping for a job!

Magic Carpet Ride....

OK, for those of you old enough to remember Steppenwolf (the music guy...), here's a picture for ya:

Doesn't it look as if this Peacock flounder is on a magic carpet ride?

He needed lifesaving too (I guess I am an animal lifeguard), because this was taken near the place where people get in and out of the kiddie pond in Poipu and a man was backing up without looking...while walking on the sandy bottom.  I told him he was about to walk on a flounder and his wife took in a breath as if she were horrified.  Well, I was too, but he did stop and apologize.  It's all good.


For those of you not old enough to remember that music, think of Aladdin and his magic carpet. Same thing...

Pretty clouds, too:

 

God does amazing things.  I don't know much about how clouds are actually formed, but I enjoy thinking that Jesus is up there, painting.  He has quite an imagination, too.

I am working on getting to know my new computer..without Photoshop! :(
I was going to print this with the Brighteye Chromis enlarged, but it's not to be.  (One place I don't want to add stress is in my blog.)
So look at the middle of the photo, perhaps click on it to enlarge, and you'll see the little fish, that's so quick, it is usually hidden by the time I get my camera turned on.  





Two octopuses! Our condo is being painted, and rather than sit around the house, listening to off-key whistling, I thought: Hey! Why not go swim?  Darlin' Darlin' had to go to Poipu to work, so I caught a ride.  Unfortunately, his work got canceled, so he got to stroll around as I swam, unbeknownst to me...I was happily enjoying all the animals:
Octopus #1:

I only saw this guy because it was moving around the pink rock that in this picture looks as if it's about to fall on its head!  But really, it was moving the rock with its tentacles, rearranging the furniture.  And people wonder if octopuses are tool users.  OF COURSE they are!!
Octopus #2:

In between two coral heads.  Just sitting there. This was in the deeper part, again, so I wasn't able to get too close.
I think this might be the same octopus that was around the Rock Mover Wrasse a few snorkels ago...Glad to see it's still around.







Speaking of Rock Movers, here's a juvenile, looking all seaweedy:

Isn't it amazing that later, they look like this?:

Cruising with the bluefin trevally.  Not sure why this Rock Mover wanted to rub against the bottom.  Seemed oddly unproductive, but there's a huge chance I just am not tuned into the fish way of things.









I was also treated to a glimpse of the Hawaiian Hog Fish, a fairly rare sighting.  OK, I haven't seen any since I've been back on Kauai:

Pretty yellow, stripes, and that black on its back.  There were 2 Pinktail Durgon following it, but it darted under a rock.  It had a piece of white-something in its mouth, so I'm guess they were trying to steal its prey.

A lovely fish.  Usually very shy, but I found several willing to be photographed.  Well, okay, they really didn't have much choice.
A Box and Rocks:

 And for my Marine Corps sweetheart, Happy Marine Corps Birthday, babe!

I know I started with the flounder, but this shows hiding in the sand....at one point, I really couldn't see it, because it blended in so well.
Blue Wana:

I haven't been able to capture the blue color before.  My fave color of all time.

If you see these, please don't touch.  Those spines will hurt you.  Just another reason I'm surprised people walk around on the bottom.  A self-preservation nightmare.

Another of my fave fish: The Ambon Puffer.  Also one of the very few that I remember the other name for it: Canthigaster Amboienensis! (OK, I did have to go online and look up the correct spelling of that last part...can't lie.)

 I know it's not a great photo, but I love the blue color on the ventral fin...electric blue.

What a treat!

I did catch a shot of the needle fish

 They do look at ya!

Told you that the Flounder camouflage is good.  

Must be off to cook breakfast for my Marine.  Happy Marine Corps birthday, men and women!  And thank you for your service!