Funky viz, tough water and no tako!

 But there were seals, honu, yellow cigar wrasse, pencil urchins and a Spotfin Scorpion Fish! Take a look.

 A sandy nose....

Not surprised the he'e were hiding!

2 seals tete a tete

Of course, don't know what they were saying, but they were definitely frolicking in the water! Also don't know if they were male/female or male/male. But in any case, they were rolling and diving and occasionally snorting. I waited to get in the water, as they were at first in the deep part; then they easily rolled into the Kiddie pond. And eventually, rested up on the island:

I can easily picture them communicating with each other. The other part is how fluid they are in the water and how big a contrast it is when they are on land! They are definitely athletes. They just move and hump along when on the sand. In the water, they are like bullets.

I was able to spot one octopus...yay!

You can see a bit of the siphon, but also its eye...

The siphon again..and the bumpy brown and tan stuff around it is the octopus body. I'm still amazed how they can not only make their skin change color, but change texture: bumpy to smooth in an instant. This was a young octopus. It didn't seem too worried that I was there. 

I also was treated to a surprise flounder. (Well, I guess they are always a surprise, really.)

It seemed strange that it kept going to the top of the rocks, but then I realized that there wasn't any sand on the bottom nearby, so its preferred place for blending in wasn't available.

This one shows the eyes and the mouth. 
Forgive me if I've mentioned this before, but they are born (hatched?) with one eye on each side of their heads and one eye migrates to the other side. So amazing!

Look at youtube under octogirl7 to see the flounder video.

I took the movie, knowing that my usual experience is that animals only move when I'm NOT ready to videotape them. So this flounder sat still for a minute, then took off. I think I was annoying it with my filming.....

I also saw a small spotted Eagle Ray:

It apparently saw me right away, or was flying through anyway, as it didn't stop to find out what I was, but just flew through. They are quite pretty: nice white spots on their backs. Unfortunately, this was taken out where the waves break, so the visibility was not great, and filled with bubbles...

 You can see the eel's teeth and eyes in this one. They do a great job of looking menacing, don't they?

This is the juvenile Yellow Tail Coris, in the in-between stage. See the younger one below, with all the red and white coloration still going on...

Sometimes trash is something odd: in this case, a marble. I also found a penny and a ring. Not a great ring, so it's in the trash.

This seal was about to cross over to the shallower side..

 And a shrimp was pushing the purplish thing out of its way. I don't usually get to see their claws this well. They make circular tubes to hide in.

A nice swim. I'm waiting for winter, when the water should calm down some. But a nice snorkel anyway. After all, there was an octopus!

One octopus

I'm fond of saying that any day with an octopus is a good day. The pix weren't stellar, but I'll take what I can get!

Yeah, the octopus stayed hidden the entire swim. It will be interesting to see if it is still there next week. (It is in the hole to the left of the rocks.)

Didn't want to ignore the Abudefduf. (even though it pretty much ignored me...)

 Nice Basket shell, hiding underneath.

A large Honu swam past me. I had to get the attention of the lady who was following it, even though she tried to claim she wasn't, but just "floating." Yeah, floating in the wake of the turtle...A large no-no!

 Blenny. I am lazy and must look up which type it is!

 Nice Clouds and palms.

I was afraid to find out this Cowry shell was still in use, but luckily, upon picking it up, it was broken in half and no other animals were using it. I wonder what broke it: These are not fragile shells, so whatever did it, animal or rocks via waves, was strong.

Two Bluefin Trevally amongst the goat fish.

Had to smile at the Pencil Urchin with Brighteye Chromis.

I took the following photo because of all the little white shells...only when I got it home did I see the Shrimp at the top of the photo! You can see bits of the red and white legs.

 Snowflake Moray. These are the most plentiful on the reef. And the Bluefin Trevally love to harass them.

I have added up some of my octo-sightings from past years. I'm not done yet, but so far have over 4,000 sightings! Granted these could be some of the same octopuses on different days, but that was a nice number. God is good.

Sandy Bottom

Alex helped choose the name for this post....do you see the flounder?
That's why, I guess, they mostly stay on sandy bottoms: it's easier for their camouflage to work. 

This was a smallish flounder...it shows the tail better than some of the other photos. 













Had a very nice swim, with 3 octo-sightings:

 This octopus was a surprise: first of all, it was #1. But when I first saw it, I almost thought it was an eel. I saw just a small bit of white and brown, wedged into the slit in the rocks. I swept closer and discovered that it was in fact an octopus. Which is more obvious in the other photos. The funny part was that the little Brighteye Chromis was darting at the octopus, in an attempt to make it go away! It always amazes me when a small animal takes on a much larger one. Also incredible was the fact that when I came back later to see how the octopus was faring, it had disappeared. Apparently it was either waiting for me to go or the Chromis was successful in making it leave. 

He'e #2 did turn dark brown. You can see its eye in the photo.

 Below is the octopus as it was when I first saw it. A nice brown and white, hiding in the hole, with its rocks just outside the den.

Here it is in another shot of the darker color.

 And as I looked back, it was peeking to see if I had disappeared.

Octopus #3:

 This was a larger adult. The bad visibility is due to the placement: out near the rocks where the surf rolls in (and the waves smack me around..) Below is the way I keep track of how many octopuses I see: 3 fingers. I like this photo too because you can see the octopus in the background, along with its rocks denoting the den.

 Pix of the juvenile Yellow Tail Coris. Again with twins.

 White mouth moral eel. Look for the little Brighteye Chromis on the right side. If I were that fish, I wouldn't be hanging out near an eel.

Large Cone shell on top of a coral head. I didn't pick it up, so not sure what type of cone it was.

 The Brighteye Chromis outside, slowed down from its frantic darting about.

Below, a large Cornet fish with Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasses doing their jobs.

Cute little Lizard Fish. Surprisingly, this one didn't dart away when I appeared. Apparently, it was hoping its camouflage worked.

 I was all set to take this nice partial shell home, but noted the crab claws inside. Darn Hermit Crabs!

Not the prettiest Drupe shell ever, but it was clinging to the coral head. It's the whitish-pinkish-red topped object.

 A Hebrew Cone Shell, buried on the bottom.

Below is a closer photo of the juvenile Yellow Tail Coris. They really stand out on the reef, since most of the bottom is sand colored.

 Male Box Fish.

Pencil Urchins:

 Pinktail Durgon, out near the wave break.

 I am going to have to look this guy up: I think it might be the little fish that pretends to be a cleaner wrasse and instead bites the fishes.

Would you have seen the flounder? I usually rely on their movement to spot them. (It's in the center of the photo.)

My new neighbor gave me a rose. The lovely pink parts were secondary blooms that opened after the original one had faded.

Clouds and palms. 

 The pink rose, closer up. I have it blown up as my wallpaper at home: when you look at it larger, it seems to be a woman and a man embracing. In any case, a wonderful flower.

So, very nice swim. It was a good day: talks with 2 friends, a great dinner (Cuban sandwiches made by my sweetheart!) and 3 octopus sightings. Life is good!