MAY 23, 2009: GROTTO AND WING
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Bill's FIRST Grotto dive! Here we have just exited the Grotto and are along a wall to the west of Hole #1.
A green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) swam gracefully by. She did not get close enough for any worthwhile still shots, but here you can experience her through the magic of video.
Care to play a little basketball with a Cushion star? Actually, if I tried that, I'm afraid that the Cushion star would win.
Back inside the Grotto. Starting with Hole #3, then to #2 / #1 (which are actually just two expansions of the same hole. Final segment back on Hole #3, which tends to be the most photogenic of the Grotto exits.
Looking up at the water surface from about 15 feet down during a safety stop.
Since the last photo, we've climbed all 100+ Grotto steps (with full gear on, of course), headed into town, filled our tanks, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed back up to Wing Beach. You can see the look of determination on his face as Bill enters through the entrance channel.
We did this dive out on the western "flat," as opposed to heading north to the Canyon. Here you see Bill studying some crinoids (also called "feather stars," Comantheria briareus).
I often think back to my childhood days when I just HAD to have an aquarium. Now, who needs an aquarium when you can dive right into the ocean? You probably recognize Dory from FINDING NEMO. The blue, black, and yellow fish in the background are Palette surgeonfish (Paracanthurus hepatus). The three round ones are butterflyfish, with the two alike being Reticulated butterflyfish (Chaetodon reticulatus), and the one facing away from us in the lower middle being Ornate butterflyfish (Chaetodon ornitassimus). The two resting in the coral are Whitespot hawkfish (Paracirrhites hemistictis).
Here is one just waiting for the huge, bubbling fish with the funny metal thing on his back to move on.
Nice to have such an aquarium in one's back yard!
I turned over a large Sea cucumber to find these tiny Periclemines shrimp. They are very small, probably about as thick as a nickel. You can see the suction-cup feet of the bottom (turned up) of the sea cucumber. If you hold the sea cucumber in this position, the shrimp eventually wander around to the lower surface.
I couldn't help but catch a shot of these Coral hermit crabs (Paguritta harmsi), another tiny critter. These guys are true hermit crabs, but they find tubes of long-gone tube worms to live in instead of shells. They don't need to forage for food, since they eat detritus which settles on their feathery antennae. I believe that this is the best shot I have gotten of these guys. This is the last Saturday shot. The NEXT video starts our early morning (yawn) Lau Lau dive.
I lead Mary and Rose right out to where this Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) was enjoying an early morning snack.
Where else can you live and frolic with critically endangered species?
Please take about a minute and a half to swim along with our friend, the Hawksbill sea turtle.
Hey, Mary: Love that dive posture! Looks quite relaxing, actually.
A nice colony of Dusky anemonefish (Amphiprion melanopus).
Time to start our Sunday Wing Beach dive. Rose, Mary, and I have met Judy at Wing Beach for this late morning dive. The uncommonly calm conditions allow us to spend time in the shallows.
Strange bedfellows: Lemonpeel angelfish (Centropyge flavissima) are very timid, spending very little time exposed in such a way that one can get a worthwhile photo at all. Whitemouth morays (Gymnothorax meleagris), on the other hand, tend to spend most of their time in tunnels, or with most of their bodies in tunnels and their snouts sticking out, as you see this one doing here. I'm sure I have no other photo of these two species together.
Whitemouth moray. No, he did not just enjoy a Lemonpeel angelfish meal prior to this photo.
We explored parts of Wing which we have not seen before, again, made possible by the calm conditions. Here is a nice crevasse with a white shell / coral bottom. At the beginning of the clip, you see Judy's tank through a hole in the rock above, then you will see Rose, Mary, and Judy along the bottom.
Here you get a better idea of how nice and white the crevasse bottom is.
After spending some pretty cool time in the shallows, we headed for the Canyon (what Judy calls the Crevice, and some other folks call the crack), descended, and headed back south. Here, you see Judy through this nice stand of Whip coral (Stichopathes sp.).
We have proceeded south, and are now on the "flats" to the east of Wing Beach. Mary found a nice blenny. I'm not sure, but I think it is a Leopard blenny (Exalias brevis).
As I got closer to take a photo, the blenny darted into a hole. His mouth is to your left in this photo (not visible due to being blocked by the coral, but just keep in mind that he is looking to your left).
OK: Time to head back. This is it for the weekend of diving. Hope y'all enjoyed it!
