Happily snapping photographs after photographs, our dives on Tuesday morning were calm, and comfortable. No exciting large animals came by, however. I was beginning to be more comfortable in the water than above, there was so much more to see besides. A large turtle came to Kenon and I as we got left behind by the rest of the dive group. The famous Hawaiian Green Turtle, or Honu, was a graceful creature that was evidently not shy as it swam between Kenon and I for a short distance before turning away. This Honu was quite small, its shell only about 1m in diammeter, but the sunlight playing out on its small mossy shell was magic enough. The other divers had already gone far ahead by the time it swam up to us, we quickly caught up with the group after the turtle swan away.
I saw many more Moray eels, the vicious Yellow Margin Moray, a red eel, a white spotted black eel, Hawaii is full of large Moral eels! Striped yellow and black, Moorish Idols swam gracefully with their long dorsal fin trailing behind like a ribbon decoration, abundant Yellow Tangs actually swam in groups of four or five, lone Unicornfish haltingly hunted for food amongst the corals and even an Orange-band Surgeonfish which looks amazingly like a Orange-banded Tang, except that the Tang is black while the Surgeonfish has a silver body.
Kenon spotted a Scorpionfish and a Trumpetfish. I noticed that he is very good at spotting Scorpionfish which masquerades as a live rock, looking exactly like one, but with a snout and 2 eyes. He must be looking at rocks a lot. It is poisonous, hence, the warning never to hold onto any part of the reef. [I learnt this lesson well when the world's most poisonous Blue Ring Octopus was spotted by a dive guide in Phillipines last year, blending into the background so well, that I would not have seen it otherwise.]
Amongst the hard corals, lots of Anthias in large schools reflected light like multi-angled mirrors with their irridescent blues, silvers and bright oranges, each school made of Anthias of the same colour. There were also large butterfly fishes, including the four-spotted Butterflyfish which has 2 white spots on the black top half of its body, while the bottom half is brilliantly yellow. Ornate Butterflyfishes and Reticulated Butterflyfishes were also abundant, and a white-spotted Pufferfish, which I'd never seen before.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the abundance of expensive aquarium fishes swimming free in a very large reef tank in the Pacific, with sunlight streaming through onto the expanse of hard corals scattered amongst rubble [apparently caused by hurricane storms during the winter] and white sand stretches. Beautiful. The paradise that nature has made dwarfs everything that man can ever make, and yet most people disrespectfully destroys everything in their wake. A wise man once said, that only a fool leaves his footsteps behind, and one who is wise comes like the wind and leaves like the wind.
After our two tank morning dives, we docked at the harbour and had lunch at Bite Me Fish Market again. This time Kenon ordered Maine Lobsters for 17.99 each! and I ate Blue Marlin, which is a very muscular fish and decidedly VERY tough to chew, and not very nice. We slept the rest of the afternoon away, being very tired after our late night dive yesterday and early morning dive today. A pleasant but unremarkable evening ensued and we strolled away into the sunset by the beach.
I saw many more Moray eels, the vicious Yellow Margin Moray, a red eel, a white spotted black eel, Hawaii is full of large Moral eels! Striped yellow and black, Moorish Idols swam gracefully with their long dorsal fin trailing behind like a ribbon decoration, abundant Yellow Tangs actually swam in groups of four or five, lone Unicornfish haltingly hunted for food amongst the corals and even an Orange-band Surgeonfish which looks amazingly like a Orange-banded Tang, except that the Tang is black while the Surgeonfish has a silver body.
No comments:
Post a Comment