Five days of great shore and boat diving with Fathom Five, including a night dive at Koloa Landing where I had two divemasters all to myself.
1 Hawaiian Monk Seal snoozing and sunning itself at Tunnels
2 Hawaiian Monk Seal
3 Lots of lobsters hiding out at Tunnels Reef Tuesday morning
4 Turtle cleaning station on top of the outer reef at Tunnels
5
6 My first time spotting, let alone grabbing a photo of, the aptly named Fuchsia Flatworm, maybe only an inch long
7
8 Eels galore, a Stout Moray at Tunnels
9 Honu at Icebox, a South Shore dive site off of Poipu Beach
10 Crown of Thorns at the Tortogas (aka Nukumoi Pt) dive site on the South Shore
11 This snaggle-toothed Whitemouth Moray shows how it gets its name at Tortugas
12 Another Whitemouth Moray, this time at Koloa Landing
13
14 Not the best photo, but pretty cool spotting this Harlequin Shrimp feeding on a sea star
15 Slightly better head shot of the Harlequin Shrimp resting its claws on dinner
16 Devil Scorpionfish (aka Mr. Grumpy) at Koloa Landing
17 It was a turtle fest Friday afternoon at Koloa Landing
18 Turtle being cleaned
19
20 Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle
21 Bluestripe Snapper are plentiful, but are actually an invasive species in Hawaii
22 It's not hard to see why they're called Convict Tangs. They're probably grazing on egg mats left by other fish and totally oblivious to the paparazzi.
23 The Dascyllus, a member of the Damselfish category, is endemic and found only in Hawaii
24 Fried Egg Nudibranch out and about on the rubble-strewn bottom
25 Honu
26 First dive of the evening was just as the sun was starting to set. So still plenty of ambient light, but dusky enough that the morays were starting to come out of their lairs. This Whitemouth was within the first minute of descending.
27 His brother (or sister) was only yards away
28 Undulated Moray
29 Zebra Urchin
30 Another fish with an obvious name, the Raccoon Butterflyfish
31 Having never seen a Fuchsia Flatworm before, this trip was making up for lost time. One of two that we spotted last night, this one was moving rapidly out in the open across the dead coral.
32 Accelerating out of turn #3 into the back straight
33 Fuchsia Flatworm
34 Yet another Whitemouth
35 They all seem interested in the strange creature with the bright lights
36 Lots of turtles at night, but most of them are tucked under ledges snoozing. However, they can only go for about 2-3 hours before needing to surface to breathe, so occasionally you get lucky and encounter one doing just that.
37 Best picture I could get of this underwater beast that looks like an alien movie monster, the Lions Paw Sea Cucumber
38 Banded Coral Shrimp
39 Free-swimming Snowflake Moray at night
40 "Woe is me" says Eeyore the Devil Scorpionfish. If I just sit here and blend in, maybe dinner will come to me.
41 Slipper Lobster caught in the act of trying to slip away
42 There were a number of these Convex Crabs scurrying around at night
43 Hawaiian Yellow-Tip Sea Cucumber
44 Dragon Moray
45 Red Velvet Star
46 This Pimpled Basket, a type of whelk, was scavenging for dinner
47 The Orange Gumdrop sea slug
48 An Undulated Moray out at night
49 Another Slipper Lobster
50 See if you can find the Lizardfish buried in the sand. Hint- head lower left and tail upper right.
51 My final day of diving for this trip was back North at Tunnels where there were lots of lobsters about
52 The rose-shaped egg sac of the Spanish Dancer nudibranch
53 I was trailing the dive group because every crevice I shone my light into revealed Banded Coral Shrimp
54
55 And what would my final dive be without yet more Whitemouth Moray