3 Apr 2024
Good morning from Halfmoon Caye, again:
I’m not super-thrilled; this isn’t my favorite site- visibility wasn’t great last time we were here and there are much cooler sites (like Aquarium!), but I did forget to check out the concrete block the mooring is attached to (there’s some fun-sounding blennies there) and my buddy was shooting some small nudibranch in the sand that I’d like to find, so let’s dive!
Dive #14 – Halfmoon Caye Wall
Midnight parrotfish:
I’ve seen these guys a few times now, but they’re always a bit too far away (and this guy is still too far away to be properly lit).
Bearded fireworm:
Graysby being cleaned:
Nassau grouper:
Slender filefish!
and another!
These guys are adorable, but shy- I’ve been trying all week to get a good picture!
Grouper being cleaned- look how big his mouth is!!!
Sailfin blenny:
This is the guy I was trying to find- he launches himself out of his hole and waves his giant dorsal fin around. I was never quick enough to get a picture of him out of his hole (the one shot I did get is blurry), but it was fun to watch. Probably should have shot a video. Oops.
Today’s morning snack was banana bread and it was amazing!
I may have stashed a few pieces for an afternoon snack as well, as ceviche isn’t really my thing.
Dive #15 – Halfmoon Caye Wall
There was a bluetooth speaker on the dive deck and we usually had tunes cranked while we geared up. Anyone could connect their phone and play whatever music they wanted, so here’s Lily entertaining us with her tunes and stellar dance moves 🙂
Hogfish and friend, hunting in the sandy shallows:
Empty conch shell:
Cutting through a channel in the reef to get out to the wall:
Two! spiny lobsters!
Slender filefish:
Nassau grouper #1:
Sharpnose puffer:
Nassau grouper #17
(not really, but there were a ton of these guys cruising around)
Ugh, this guy will not come close enough for a decent picture (with proper lighting), a Queen triggerfish:
A school of little glassfish:
So that goatfish (the topmost guy) is especially pink:
Usually he looks like these guys:
PVC “palm” tree (again):
This is the thing my buddy was photographing the last time we were here (that little brownish speck by the bigger white stone):
This is a tiny sea slug!
The trick to spotting them is to just start at the bottom, find a dark speck, see if it moves independently of the current, then zoom in and hope for the best:
I think they look like tiny tacos 🙂 but they have the coolest name- the Flapping dingbat! (Gastropteron chacmol)
Once you know what to look for, these guys are EVERYWHERE!
Hey look! I finally took a picture of people doing boat things!
Today’s lunch: a build-your-own taco bar.
Dive #16 – Painted Wall
Someone had fun modifying this picture…
There were so many Sergeant majors just below the surface!
Joe was a fan 🙂
Black durgon:
Spotted eagle ray!
He was pretty far off in the blue, I’m glad this picture kinda turned out.
Queen angelfish:
Bluestripe grunt:
Common, but I still like them 🙂
Two Arrow crabs:
A purple-ish Blue chromis:
and a more blueish Blue chromis:
There was a decent variety in the coloration of these guys.
Flamingo tongue!
One of the smallest Stoplight parrotfish I’ve seen!
Most of the ones I’ve seen are a solid 14-16″, this guy was maybe 6″!
If you look very closely, there’s a little fish hiding in this Christmastree worm’s left spiral:
Slender filefish!
And another!
A not-so-Yellowtail damselfish:
Scrawled filefish, trying to hide:
Threespot damselfish (juvenile):
Yellowtail snapper:
A not-so-healthy-looking Blue tang:
Bluehead wrasse, changing from his juvenile phase:
Bluehead wrasse, initial form (top) and final form (on the bottom):
Yellowhead wrasse, initial:
Yellowhead wrasse, intermediate:
No final form photo on this guy, sorry!
Bermuda chub, aka, Belizean piranha, because they are little (well, not-so-little) garbage disposals that’ll eat just about anything.
There’s almost always a small school of them hanging around the boat.
Dive #17 – Painted Wall
I, for the first time since my training, used my compass! For the first few minutes of this dive, we kept going more and more shallow; turns out my buddy remembered the wall being to the south. When she looked at me with a shrug, I pulled out my compass, set a course for north (which was the direction I remembered the wall being) and started swimming. Within a few minutes, we could see the blue getting darker and sure enough, there was the wall! Go me!
The mooring here was so shallow that the boat couldn’t drop the hang bar!
I like trying to get pictures of parrotfish while they’re chomping on things:
Stoplight parrotfish, initial phase:
Stoplight parrotfish, terminal phase:
Brittle sea star infestation:
French angelfish:
Spotted trunkfish:
Bar jack:
Banded butterflyfish:
Threespot damselfish:
It’s definitely a bit harder to see his spot when he’s an adult versus the yellow juvenile form.
Trumpetfish:
Cero:
Blue chromis, in the purple coloration:
I love how skeptical Schoolmasters always look:
Fireworm #1:
Fireworm #2:
Fireworm #3:
All of these guys were on the same coral, within a few inches of each other.
This flat, spideresque Nimble spray crab was tucked deep into his coral and as much as I wanted a picture of him, he kinda creeped me out…
Red hind:
Freckled sea hare / Aplysia parvula?:
Also pictured, tiny blenny who would occasionally peak out of his hole and nip at the sea hare 🙁
My fish book gives that scientific name to 2 different sea hares, so I’m not 100% sure on the ID.
But, he’s new to me and I think he’s adorable!
I especially like his little eye.
Dive #18 – Painted Wall
Tonight’s night dive was all about Lettuce sea slugs and Freckled sea hares! As soon as I dropped, I spotted this little Lettuce friend:
My buddy spotted this Flamingo tongue, so we swapped critters:
Then just a few feet away was this Lettuce sea slug:
And another, with his back exposed!
and right next to him was this Freckled sea hare!
A juvenile Yellowtail damselfish hiding in the coral:
Lettuce sea slugs also have little eyes!
Another Freckled sea hare:
Yes, I photographed almost every lettuce sea slug and freckled sea hare I came across, but I won’t bore you with dozens of picture of the same guys over and over 🙂
Caribbean reef squid:
They were feeding off the worms attracted by all our lights:
They were surprisingly tolerant of us and our bright lights:
Tarpon face:
These guys were also hunting by our lights and it was always a bit unnerving to turn around and find one right next to you!
The smallest Lettuce sea slug I’ve ever seen:
He was only a couple wrinkles long!
There were also a few nurse sharks cruising the site:
Arrow crab:
Up and over!
I was trying to photograph this little sea hare:
when this nurse shark tried to squeeze between me and the rock to my right:
There wasn’t enough space and he totally bumped me out of the way! A fun way to end tonight’s dive (I could have spent hours down here- there was so much to see!)