time to get in the water again !!!!!!!! ... and i got there about 10am ...
it looked calm from my balcony, but around that peninsula is a different story ... it was pretty rough-looking out there today ...
this is the 3rd time i've snorkeled at this spot, and i've come to realize that these creatures live here in their little community .... :) ... i'm betting this really is the same Smooth Trunkfish that that i saw the other 2 times ...
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| Smooth TrunkFish |
and probably the same Flounder too ... this is his home ...
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| Peacock Flounder |
i followed him around for a little while ...
and when he rested on this rock, i let him think i couldn't see him, and i moved on ...
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| love the eyes ... |
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| Indigo Hamlet |
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| Spanish HogFish |
the ButterFly Fish family mate for life, so you usually see them in pairs ...
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| SpotFin ButterFly Fish |
this photo shows why it is called a "SpotFin" ButterFly Fish ... they are showing off their 'spot' ...
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| SpotFin ButterFly Fish |
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| Banded ButterFly Fish |
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| Bi-Colored DamselFish and Blue Chromis |
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| 2 TrumpetFish ... one very large one ! |
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| Queen AngelFish |
...Party time on the Reef ... and everyone's invited ...
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| Blue Tang, 3 different ParrotFish (RedBand, YellowTail, StopLight), and Blue Striped Grunt |
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| Carribean Reef Squid |
this Queen ParrotFish is just about to take a bite of the algae that is growing on that Coral ... ParrotFish serve 2 purposes ... besides providing beautiful color :)
--they eat the algae, without the ParrotFish, the Reef would be overgrown with algae,
and
-- also, because they end up taking a bite of the coral, (you can actually hear them scrape it with their powerful teeth) ....their poop is the nice white sand that we all love so much, and you can see in this photo.
that is why they are a very important part of the Reef System ...
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| Queen ParrotFish |
i have my own 'rule of snorkeling' .... one of 3 things has to happen before i quit snorkeling for the day ...
--first, and preferably, i see something i consider 'special' :)
--or, my camera battery goes dead :(
--or, the least preferred, i get cold :(
i'd been in the water for awhile and i hadn't seen anything 'special', .....the camera battery was still strong ... i was beginning to think i'd have to settle for 'i'm cold', and i was heading in :(
i was only about 20yds from shore when i looked under a large piece of coral ... what is that?????? .....was it another Octopus ? ....no, not an Octopus ...
a ScorpionFish ? ....they typically just lay and don't move ... they usually have 'stuff' all over their bodies, so they look like a rock with algae on it ....
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| Mushroom ScorpionFish ? |
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| Mushroom ScorpionFish ? |
someone said it kind of looked like a FrogFish ?
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| Kind of looks like a FrogFish here ? |
just as i was getting out, i saw this fish, it is a Night Sergeant ... i've posted photos of the Sergeant Major before (they have yellow and black stripes) .. this is his night counterpart ....
i remembered it was Ash Wednesday so at about 3pm i walked 20min to the church to see if/when they were having a service ... 7pm ... i guess it wouldn't be quite right to go to The Driftwood and have a few drinks until 7, so i walked back home.
i started thawing and cooking the chicken and shrimp that were in my freezer .... need to eat that before i leave on Sat ...
at 6:30 i headed for church .... of course i was early ... it was hot in there, so i sat outside on the steps ... finally families started arriving ... i was the only non-hispanic person there ... and the entire service was in Spanish ... and it went on and on and on. i'd said all the 'prayers' i could think of, and was getting nothing out of this ... so i got up and walked out ... without getting my 'ashes' .... probably not the right thing to do, ... but ... it's the thought that counts ... :(
i walked down to Driftwood, they were pretty much closed, but i sat at the bar with my friends and had a drink ... as i was leaving i saw Valentine and i visited with her awhile :) ....then walked to Skid Row, a bar on the way home that was having 'open mic' night ... finally, almost at the end of my stay on Utila, and i heard some live music! it was several of the guys that used to be in the band i knew from before. it was good to listen to live music, good 'old' music! i saw another guy i knew, had 2 more drinks, then headed home.
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