Snorkeling with Reef Squid at the reef off the point at the east end of Sekewa Beach

I went snorkeling at the reef that is off the point at the end of Sekewa Beach near the bungalow we rented called Tropic Splendor.  I had the good fortune on this outing (I was by myself because Donna was nursing a cold I gave her from my travels in Indonesia) to encounter a school of about 25 reef squid.  I love all cephalopods - squid, octopus, cuttlefish.  I look forward to see the Monterey Aquarium's new cephalopod exhibit called "Tentacles" that opens April 15 (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/calendar/MemberEvents.aspx ).

 Squid can change color at the blink of an eye.  I'm not sure if this was the start of amorous behavior or just dominance games.

 One squid has a very distinctively different color.

To see all 18 photos please go to :
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5982250706890644593?authkey=CIyQwuq13dT4eg

Last snorkel dive at the reef off the point at the east end of Sekewa beach

I decided to squeeze in one more snorkel outing the morning before our afternoon departure from Vanua Levu, Tropic Splendor.  I decided to take out my 60 mm macro lens and try to shoot small stuff.  This reef is less than 1/2 mile from the bungalow we were renting.  To see all the pictures I posted please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5981095675145427713?authkey=CN7SjsvZ7ratHw

 Juvenile snapper, about 5 inches long.

 Lucky butterfly fish "trifecta"

 One of the prettiest goatfish, ever.

Cool burrow dwelling fish, species TBD.

Our third day of diving with KoroSun Dive, Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji

Donna and I had a third great day of diving with KoroSun Dive on Monday, Feb 10.  We made two scuba dives and I snorkeled during my surface interval with a couple of other folks that came out just for snorkeling instead of scuba diving.  The coral growth that is withing minutes of the KoroSun marina dock is fabulous.

To see all 76 photos I posted from this day of scuba dives and snorkeling please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5979409778513779905?authkey=CNz51faGkrD7Rg

Our guides put us onto one of the most picturesque scorpionfish I've ever seen.

The coral growth at these sites is absolutely breathtaking - which can be problematic if you are holding your breath snorkeling to get some shots.

KoroSun offers snorkeling as well as scuba diving and it is easy to have both great snorkeling and great scuba dives at these sites.

Donna is practicing her clam hand signals next to this beautiful giant clam.  The clam didn't respond however, it just clammed up.

A really cool red leaf scorpionfish.  The guides do a great job showing you the best critters around.

Now Donna is signaling to a clownfish.

Back at the junction of a couple of the great canyons we went through Colin took a moment to demonstrate his impressive art of making bubble rings.  Count em..

More attempted intra-species communications.

2nd day of diving with KoroSun Dive near Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji

Donna and I made a second trip with KoroSun Dive earlier this week.  This time the dive sites were only a few minutes boat ride from the KoroSun Dive boat Bligh Explorer's marina.  Both sites were beautiful with amazing coral growth, schools of small fish, great swim through caverns and great coral canyons.  Visibility was excellent, at least 75 ft or so.

To see all the pictures I posted from this dive please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5978648203665950193?authkey=COTcj9uplqj9Pg

 Donna in one of the many canyons on these sites.

 Donna's pointing at one of the nudibranchs we saw on these dives.

 Popcorn shrimp on an adhesive anemone.  There are actually two in the picture, the larger is about 2-3 inches long.  Just to the larger one's right is a much smaller juvenile shrimp.

 Stunning soft coral.

 Many swim through canyons and caverns.

 A "dartfish" type TBD.  He's about 3 inches long, not too bad with my wideangle 10-17 mm Tokina fisheye lens.

Leaf scorpionfish.  It takes a great guide to find this amazingly well camouflaged fish for you.

Namena Marine Reserve, diving with KoroSun Dive, Chimneys site

Donna and I had two great dives at Namena Marine Reserve in the Koro Sea earlier this week.  Namena is west of the island of Koro, north of Viti Levu and south of Vanua Levu, where we are staying.  This is my second post about the Chimneys dive, the first was about getting our teeth cleaned by cleaner shrimp, a cool experience.

To see all the pictures from this dive (except the cleaner shrimp ones from my earlier post) please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5977886544261259649?authkey=CKv9o6mFsLqCGw

 Donna has spotted a jellyfish.

Looks a bit like an alien spaceship...

Donna with a Whitetipped Reef Shark.

 The Chimneys are beautiful pinnacles topped with amazing coral and fish and invertebrate life.

One of KoroSun Dive's great guides, Stevie.  Look at the life on the top of the Chimney.

 Colin took me on a quick bounce dive at another pinnacle after the Chimneys dive.  I got it, not too bad but wish I'd had my macro instead of my wide angle.

Look at the incredible coral and colors that Colin is pointing out.

Diving Namena Marine Reserve's "Crossroads" site with KoroSun Dive

 Donna and I really enjoyed our two scuba dives in Namena Marine Reserve earlier this week with KoroSun Dive.  The first site was called, if memory serves, "Crossroads" so named for the large gatherings of schools of jacks, barracuda, and sharks along the wall.  We saw large schools of jacks and barracuda as well as several Whitetip Reef Sharks and Gray Reef Sharks.  We also enjoyed an encounter with a very large Bumphead Wrasse on a cleaning station but I didn't get close enough for any great photos of it unfortunately.

Below are a few pictures from our dive at Crossroads, the link to more is:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5977706278142037825?authkey=CKXY65jAzfjDhQE

 The south Pacific is known for its stunning corals.  Fiji is absolutely tops in the world for soft coral.

 Gray Reef shark just off the wall at Crossroads.

 Tony is using a Gopro to video a Whitetipped Reef Shark.

 On this dive I excelled at looking the wrong way for the closest shark approaches...

Check out the density of the life on the wall!

Donna and I dive Namena Marine Reserve with Korosun Divers yesterday and we got some sub-marine dental hygiene work done!

Donna and I had a great day of diving at Namena Marine Reserve in the Koro Sea between Vanua Levu (where we are staying in Fiji this trip) and Viti Levu.  The boat trip on Korosun Diver's excellent dive boat is about 1 1/2 hours each way.  Korosun's dive master/manager Colin is great to dive with and he took the time to introduce Donna and I to getting our teeth cleaned by cleaner shrimp, photos below.  The rest of the two dives were also excellent and I'll have more to say about them in my next posting.

If you want to see all 12 photos from our sub-marine dental hygiene in Fiji please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5976830548549636417?authkey=CNLnvYnTzsDxfQ

Colin gets things started by carefully positioning himself as the first customer to get the shrimp used to divers, he holds his breath a long time to get them started.  Then it is our turn.

A selfie, you can see the cleaner shrimp on my left upper lip.  They tickle.

If you look closely you can see a cleaner shrimp on the rock right next to Donna's mouth poised to go to work on her mouth!

You can see a cleaner shrimp on Donna's right lip.  Another cleaner shrimp is waiting his turn to the right, but Donna had to break off and get another breath after this.

Macro Madness in Komodo. Mainly night dives with my 60 mm macro lens.

The small critters you find, especially on night dives, in Komodo are really cool.  Below are a few of my favorites.  These were taken over several nights between 1-6-14 and 1-18-14 while on the Seven Seas liveaboard out of Komodo.

Whip coral goby, about 1 inch long.

 Hi, I'm Ken, what's your name?

Small moray.

Zebra crab on a fire urchin.  These crabs know they have good protection and they seem to know they look cool.

For the link to all 49 macro shots please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5975731004700022065?authkey=CMzfsOuB5_mGEA

Two days of Manta madness at Karang Makassar, Komodo, Indonesia

During my 13 day trip on the Seven Seas liveaboard in Komodo, Indonesia we spent two days diving with large groups of Reef Mantas feeding at Karang Makassar.  One of the world's leading manta experts, Andrea Marshall, who has been intensely studying and diving with Manta's for ten years, said this concentration was in her top five encounters, ever.  She identified 63 different individuals based on belly photographs.  Incidentally, divers can contribute to the growing database of Mantas by contributing their manta belly photographs to mantamatcher.org .

Here are a few of my photos from this amazing experience and you can see more manta photos by going to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5975520118150235489?authkey=CILD8v7uxfHj1wE

This picture gives you some sense of the size of the mantas.  The juveniles were only 8 ft or so across while the large adults (note, the diver is much closer to my camera than the manta up above him) were about 15 ft across.

 Masha is getting some GoPro footage as this manta comes past.  Compare Masha to the width of the manta.

When you look in the eye of a manta you can tell they are looking back at you, like when you look in the eye of a humpback whales on the silver banks off the Dominican Republic and unlike the "Is anybody really home" feeling we got looking into the feeding whalesharks off Yucatan last summer.