Acrid glimpse of spent match smell

There was a time when I thought I wanted to write poetry. Never got much beyond the title of this post....and no big loss, I can tell you.

Four octopuses today. And a frogfish. And a dead crab carcass, too. (You are excited about that last part, no doubt. But I thought it made an interesting picture. You'll see!)

He'e 1 hiding between 2 rocks.

 I think the one below is #2. 

Oh, the heck with numbering them! I think I'll start naming them: above is Herbert. Below Satchmo. (He's bigger, and thus has more air for the trumpet.) I will still count though; I guess I'm at least somewhat competitive.

 And Satchmo is withdrawing from my camera. Note the color change.

 And here's Ophelia.

 She is a camera hog.

They all, for the most part, stayed still and let me take pix. I would love to see some hunting action, but for that, I might have to go at night. Since I'm usually unaccompanied, except by tourists, I'm not so excited about swimming in the dark.

Before I forget, I better put in the big old turtle I saw. Yay Honu!

And the frog fish was again visible. The waves didn't bash too badly during this photo session.

It is amazing that they think they can hide when they are bright yellow! 

I saw something dark up near the water line out of the corner of my eye.

 It was the remains of somebody's crab meal. Rather interesting in the one below, as most of the upper half of the photo is the reflection of the body on the water above it.

Sorry, Crab! I didn't do it.

 Nice shot of the Abudefduf. They, like the Christmas Wrasse, are so quick and camera shy, that I hardly ever get a good photo.

Here's the adult Yellow Tail Coris and following, the juvenile. Same shape, but that's about it.

Cute blenny

Looked like rain would be arriving.

 Commensal fishing with the big parrot fish and Christmas Wrasse

A Cowry shell hiding

And a different (and empty) Cowry shell opening and the outside of the shell.

 Harassing an eel by Bluefin Trevally and Christmas Wrasse.

Lizard fish and saddle wrasse

 Lizard and a bit of sun

I am not sure if this is also a Spanish Dancer, since it's so light colored. At any rate, it's a nudibranch as long as my hand. I mention this because I'm told most of the nudibranchs are small..like only a few inches.

 Peacock Grouper.

Pencil Urchins

More shells, inside and out.

And to date, the smallest operculum ever! I put it near the cross, which measures less than an inch, so you could get an idea of its tiny size. A gift from my archaeologist hubby! Thanks, babe!

 And part of a turban shell with opercula stuck in it.

A nice 2-1/2 hour swim. I didn't lecture anyone. But I did mention to the lady standing on the bottom out near the Do Not Swim Beyond This Sign sign, that she might step on a frogfish! 

A nice day swimming

Our morning news had predicted jelly fish swimming in, but I was very happy not to see any! YAY.

And also 4 octopuses and 1 Frogfish. I had thought maybe i wouldn't be able to go far enough out to see the Frogfish, but the waves held off a bit for a few minutes, so I was able:

 You can see a bit of its eye in the top photo. And in the following one, both eyes and a bit of mouth.

Who knew that a little yellow fish could make my day?!
Well, the octopuses helped, too:

 The preceding one is really hard to spot, because it is the same color as the bottom and rocks. It is in the middle of the photo. 

 Easier to see, this one was showing some of its underneath skin.

 I kept the fish in the picture, so you could compare size. The octopus is near that red rock.

 It is rather astounding that I see them at all! Just below center in the one below.

See the tiny siphon? And the eye just to the left. 

 No one said they are bad hiders. #4 below. You can see its eye.

A pair of Saddleback Butterfly

 And the Electric Blue Crab showing more of its orange than its blue.

 I call this the false cleaner wrasse. It tries to clean fish, but actually bites them, I think!

 Hebrew Cone shell

 Indo Pacific damsels

 Juvenile Yellow Tail Coris

 Cloud and moon

 Plumeria. I had another photo, but I also caught the huge fly in it.

 Nice white shell

 I was surprised by this little honu today. When I got the pix home, realized that it seems something happened to his right fin! Bad bad shark! Or whatever messed with it.

Just glad it was still alive. And very cute. And really, quite calm as it swam by me.