24 Jun 2021
One last day of diving- all shallow reef dives. Yesterday, the visibility got progressively worse as the day went on and today started off about the same. I’m still trying to figure out wide-angle lighting, so these pictures also have a lot of debris in them.
Dive #7 – Hole in the Wall
I spotted so many cool fish on this dive, like this juvenile Yellowtail damselfish was darting in and out of the coral- this was the best shot I could get of him:
(bonus Christmastree worm in the bottom right corner there)
This is an adult Yellowtail damselfish:
Lettuce sea slug:
Stoplight parrotfish with a Honeycomb cowfish photobomb (the cowfish took off, unfortunately, as I hadn’t seen this variety before):
Bicolor damselfish:
Fourspot butterflyfish:
Orangespotted filefish!
Spanish grunt:
Pederson cleaner shrimp:
This Sergeant major wasn’t blue like the other guardians…
but he was still protecting a nest:
All those little purple dots are eggs!!!
My nudibranch laying eggs!
Bluestripe grunt:
Ocean surgeonfish:
Lane snapper:
Doctorfish:
Fourspot butterflyfish:
Bluestriped grunt (top) and Schoolmaster (bottom):
Smooth trunkfish:
Redband parrotfish:
Ocean surgeonfish:
Stoplight parrotfish (terminal phase):
Spotfish butterflyfish:
Blue tang:
Trumpetfish, trying to hide:
another Trumpetfish trying to hide:
Grumpy Blue chromis:
Scrawled cowfish!!!
Spanish hogfish:
Orangespotted filefish:
Gray angelfish:
Most of the dives down here are only 45-50 minutes, with a short (~15 minute) surface interval. As most dives are pretty shallow, it’s not a problem (and there is more of an interval after a deep wreck dive), so when we were 40-45 minutes into this dive and I didn’t see the boat, I thought it was a bit strange, but wasn’t going to argue with more time to take pictures. Then our guide started high-tailing it across the reef so I signaled to one of the people in my group “where’s the boat?” only to be met with a shrug. I spotted our guide at the surface so I ascended as well. Turns out, he took us back to the wrong boat! So we had to do the swim of shame back to our boat 🙁 This was the only dive where I used up more than half my tank.
Dive #8 – North Star
First thing I saw when we dropped drop was this pack of Midnight parrotfish going after whatever was under this rock:
Even a grouper got in on the action!
These were some large parrotfish- almost 2′ long!
Oo, barracuda!
Spiny lobster:
Tiny nudibranch with tiny eggs!
This little guy wasn’t on a purple fan like the rest I had seen:
Smooth trunkfish:
Look at the cool texture on his side!
A pair of Spotfin butterflyfish:
Green moray:
(all those specks behind him are baby fish!)
Juvenile Threespot Damselfish:
Sharpnose puffer:
A couple more little nudibranchs!
Nurse shark resting under a ledge:
Lane snappers:
I don’t know if Florida has pipefish, but there was a bigger Trumpetfish nearby, so I’m going to call this guy a juvenile Trumpetfish:
Guardian Sergeant major:
Blue parrotfish:
Oh, hey, another nudibranch!
I want the little black dots on this lettuce sea slug to be eyes:
I saw something falling through the water- a lettuce sea slug had become dislodged from where it was climbing and ended up on its back, so this is what their undersides look like:
(don’t worry, he righted himself quickly)
A pair of neon gobies:
Top: juvenile Princess parrotfish, right: Blue chromis, bottom: juvenile Striped parrotfish
Ocean surgeonfish:
Blue tang:
Bluestriped grunt:
Schoolmaster:
Graysby?
Dive #9 – French Twist
Spiny lobster:
Blue chromis:
Permits! These guys were HUGE! – a solid 2.5′
A whole pile of Glassy sweepers in this swim-through:
Not a great picture, but I found a French angelfish:
Hello there, Stoplight parrotfish!
Cheese!
Hogfish, in his “I’m swimming” coloration:
These little yellow juvenile Bluehead wrasses were EVERYWHERE! but they’re small and hard for my camera to focus on- finally got a good shot!
Reef shark! We actually saw several sharks on this dive, but all that particulate in the water made it difficult for my camera to focus at a distance.
Ok, this is a bad picture, but I didn’t see many angelfish this trip, and this was the only time I saw this guy, a Queen angelfish:
Dive #10 – Christmastree Cave
Last dive of the trip 🙁 But I found this pretty Banded butterflyfish:
A couple more Pederson Cleaner shrimp:
Aren’t their markings cool?!
Fourspot butterflyfish:
Finally found a Harlequin bass that would cooperate for pictures!
farewell, little guy!
Queen parrotfish, initial phase:
Smooth trunkfish, blowing sand around to uncover food- I had seen several do this, but they always stopped when I got close enough for a picture. Glad to have finally captured it!
Again, look at the cool texture of his skin!
Blue parrotfish! They’ve got some serious beaks!
Sharpnose puffer:
Two tiny flounders!!
I spotted these two because they were circling each other and fighting (or mating, but I’m going for fighting):
Staredown
Seriously strange critters- I love them!
And one final Balloonfish (and Sergeant major)
The end.