All the Fishies!

It's time for another fabulous fishie foray!

But first... What on earth has been going on this past week and a half?

Work, of course.  That sort of stuff happens in paradise.  I think Stephen was subbing.  I know I was doing a lot of gigs, and I ended up working a very long day last Friday and had an evening gig last Saturday.  I only had Sunday off before we hit this week with nothing but rehearsals leading up to our 30th Combined Services Military Appreciation Concert, which was on Saturday night.  Basically, we didn't have time to do anything, so there was nothing to talk about.


I did have some camera fun while Stephen was on Maui, though, so I suppose I can share the fruits of my goofing off.  I guess my theme was "What Hawaii looks like through a mermaid's perspective."  Yeah.  I said it.

Sunset from the water

Proof that I was there

A view of clouds from just under water

Got really lucky when I snapped this one under water

Moon rising over the Mokes

So there you have it.  A view of my home beach, but from in the water.

The day Stephen got back from AT, I also decided to go snorkeling at Shark's Cove and then spend my afternoon in Hale'iwa trying on some new swimsuits (I seem to always need new swimsuits here... IMHO) and eating shrimp tacos.  Yum!  So I took some more pictures while I was there.

Two pictures of needlefish swimming around.  They're not really interesting fish, per se, but seeing so many on such a clear day was awesome!

I am pretty sure this is an Ambon Toby

Christmas Wrasse

There is a big old ugly Hawkfish in there.  Classic Stocky Hawkfish.

Beautiful teardrop butterflyfish

Pearl Wrasse.  As indicated by the white dots.

Pretty sure this Saddle Wrasse was almost tame, given how much he kept trying to bite my hand instead of letting me take his picture.  It looks unreal, but it really happened.

Yellowtail Coris.  OMG it took me forever to figure that out!

So as you can see, I had my fun with the fishies, even if I was alone.

We finally got a three-day weekend to make up for the lack of weekend the previous week, so Stephen and I got together with a friend of mine from work and her husband to go snorkeling.  We went to Hanauma.  Only a few weeks ago, we were bemoaning that we were getting kind of used to snorkeling (OMG, the horrors!) and after being spoiled on the Big Island, the stuff here was kind of meh.  Today proved us completely wrong.  Today was sunny, clear, and gorgeous, and the tide was low enough that we swam out pretty far past the buoys (yes, the current is a little rough), and that's where we found some of real beauty of Hanauma Bay.  We saw so many fishies.  So.  Many.  Fishies.

It was probably one of the best snorkeling days I've had since we moved here.  I guess even your favorite activities can have their good days and bad days.

Big old eel, just swimming around.  I haven't seen one swimming so openly... ever.

I had to throw this in there with the parrotfish photo bomb.

Turtle just hanging out in some rough surf.  We couldn't get close.

Teardrop Butterflyfish out past the rocks

 We went far to the left, near the walkway, and saw some cool fishies, but it was really rough and rocky, and with the tide so low, it was difficult to get past the break.  This turtle was hanging out too close to the breakers, so we couldn't really get a good shot of him.

We ended up swimming back into shore and walking down to the far right side of the beach to go out the big channel that was blown out to make room for the telephone wires that I don't think are in use any more.  You can see them in the background of this picture to the right.  The current was rough, but the views were worth it.

An amazing view of black triggerfish

Needlenose butterflyfish

Teardrop butterflyfish

Stephen's favorite, the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse

The cleaning station set up by the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.  If you look carefully, you'll see him.

A better view of the cleaning station.  Even fishies want to feel fresh and clean.

So, we caught a turtle in the middle of nap time.  Wedged into rocks, sharks can't get them.

Awesome photo of an oval butterflyfish

Close-up of oval butterflyfish

For some of these pictures, we went REALLY far out.  I was amazed at how much more picturesque and "reef-y" the reef was out there compared to the kind of reef that lives in the shallow areas of the bay.  For the picture of the turtle, we had to dive down about 15 feet, and even then we weren't that close.  And, even though the bay was super-crowded, there was almost nobody out where we were.  I could have stayed out there for hours and can't wait to get the chance to go again!  Now that surf season is dying down, I may have to convince Stephen to do more snorkeling in the calm waters.  Lesson learned: there are actually two seasons in Hawai'i.  Surf season and snorkel season.

So there you have it.  I hope you've enjoyed this photo dump of all the fishies we've seen in the last two weeks!  Aloha!