EARTH DAY ......... WATER DAY TOO ?
raining again when i woke up, ... and it continued to rain, hard,,, several times during the morning .... i had actually thought about trying to dive again today .... but not in the rain.
it continued to rain after lunch as well ... lots of rain ...
Katie and i had talked about doing some more snorkeling, but she had some things to do first ... i told her i would wait for her ....
by 2pm it had stopped raining and the sun was out and i was ready to go .... at 3pm Katie said she still wasn't ready to go ... i was pretty 'antsy' by this time, and decided to go without her ... it's my last week, and i need to get in the water :(
i packed up and walked through town, not really knowing where i wanted to go ... it was getting kinda late; i didn't want to snorkel Half Moon Bay again; it looked kinda rough out there; it was kinda cloudy ... was it going to start raining again? :(
i decided to walk down to Tita's Pink SeaHorse bar/grill, get a ginger ale .. no Vernors here :( .... and see what the weather looked like then. after my Ginger Ale ... i decided to just do it .. what was i waiting for ??????????
sometimes i'm just weird ....
i blew up my Diver Down float and started swimming for the reef ... it's another long snorkel to get out there ... 10min or so ... and across the boat traffic; but it was fine.
when i got out to the reef, i tied my float to a mooring bouy and left it there .... it's a pain to have it floating around with me, gets tangled in my fins, around my waist, and i really only need it to get safely across the 'boat highway' ....
i noticed a cloud of sand in the distance ... that could be the sign of some fish rooting in the sand for food, but it was a lot of sand, it could be a StingRay too, so i snorkeled that way ... didn't see anything, but something caught my eye to the right ....
now,,, isn't this sweet, ... first thing i see is a Spotted Eagle Ray, looking for dinner ... not a very big one, maybe 3' wingspan ...
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| Spotted Eagle Ray search for food |
he swam around for awhile ... i admired him ... the EYES ... aren't they beautiful ?
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| the EYES .... WoW ... |
then he headed for the channel ...
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| Spotted Eagle Ray headed for the Channel |
this is the Blue Channel ... most channels look like this .... you can usually see the bottom .... that's why the Scary and Spooky Channels are so unusual ... and Spooky :)
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| Blue Channel |
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while i was out in the channel i looked over the coral .... this was a pretty sight ... Blue Tangs in the distance ... the surface of the water above them, and the coral below ...
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| Blue Tang, over the Reef |
i crossed over the Channel to the other side ... and noticed a large ScorpionFish at the bottom ...
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| ScorpionFish | |
i never used to be able to find these camouflaged fishes until this year, now i see them frequently ...but then when i look at the photos, i can't find them again :)
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| ScorpionFish | |
the coral was prettier on this side ....,
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| Healthy Coral |
or at least in this area ....
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| Sea Rod and Sea Fan Corals |
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i went back to the other side and saw a few more fishes ....
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| Queen AngelFish |
i guess i never knew these fish had that black spot with white dots on the top of it's head ....
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| Queen AngelFish |
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i was wandering around, thinking about going back in, when i saw this turtle in the grasses eating ...
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| Turtle Eating |
i followed him around for quite awhile ...
i don't think he likes to eat alone either, because he didn't mind my being there ... :)
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| Turtle Watching me, Watching it |
i left him behind me, snorkeled a short distance in the other direction, and saw another turtle ...
this one was eating too ...
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| Turtle | |
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| Turtle -weeeeeeeee, i can fly |
then i turned around and saw another Spotted Eagle Ray coming at me !!!! ... this one was larger, closer to 6' wingspan ....
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| incoming Spotted Eagle Ray |
i can't decide if i like Turtles or Spotted Eagle Rays better ....
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
as i was following him around i saw another turtle ... but passed it by, ... except for a quick photo ....
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| Another Turtle |
in favor of the Eagle Ray ... :)
these are such graceful creatures ... this one had a Ramora riding on top of it ...
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| Spotted Eagle Ray with Ramora |
so much like a bird flying ... this one stayed around for quite awhile ... :)
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
after he left, i found one of the turtles again ... :)
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| Turtle | |
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| Turtle | | |
this is the second time i've seen Spotted Eagle Rays late in the afternoon, and now turtles too ... i think this is a good time of he day to snorkel and see more marine life inside the reef ...
a snorkel boat full of kids showed up and moored right next to me ... it was time to go ... way too much splashing and thrashing to see anything else today ...
i untied my Dive float and headed for shore ... on the way in, over the grass, i spotted one of my favorite fishes, that never want to be photographed .. :(
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| TrunkFish |
when i got over a sand patch close to shore i noticed something moving in the sand .... it's a Flounder !!!!!! ...it's the first Flounder i've seen since i left Utila ...
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| can you find the Flounder |
this Flounder looked different to me ... the other Flounders that i've seen have been Peacock Flounders, ....there is a Channel Flounder that i found in the book ... maybe this is it ?
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Channel Flounder
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when i got to the Dock, i had to check and see if i could find my little SeaHorse couple ... sure enough ... they were there :)
i found out more 'fun facts' about SeaHorses:
--you already know that the Male carries and delivers the babies ...
--they mate for life, although not necessarily monogamous, the male carries the babies of only one female
--the female has a territory of 9 square feet
--the male has a territory of 3 square feet
--each morning and each evening, they leave their respective territories, and reinforce their pair bonding with an elaborate courtship display. the male circles around the female and the pair often spiral around an object
--this display can last for up to an hour
--then the female goes back to her territory
.... the little 'couple' ...
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| SeaHorses | |
it is evening, so this must be their 'meeting'
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| Sea Horses |
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awwww ... :)
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| SeaHorses |
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who wouldn't love a SeaHorse ?
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| SeaHorses |
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| SeaHorse |
what a snorkel ... and to think i almost didn't go !!!!!!!!!!
my last Taco Tues, and my neighbor, Lee, and i went ...it was nice to visit with her
amazing afternoon, after a rainy morning !
