We got a tip from someone at yoga that the brain coral had spawned the previous evening and might still be going, so we waited to the appointed time and got into the water right under our boat to check it out. It turned out that we were a day too late for the spawning, but we still saw some cool things. Like this french grunt swimming in front of an anemone, which is also sheltering a couple of arrow crabs.
We’ve mentioned parrotfish are common, and so are trumpetfish. But another thing we see all the time here is trumpetfish shadowing parrotfish, or sometimes angels, as they hunt. Apparently the tarpon will do this to divers at night, and eat the fish you blind with your flashlight.
We mentioned a honeycomb cowfish in our last post. But did you know they change color? Here’s one showing the darker side of its nature (left). Also pretty common are whitespotted filefish; seen here with its spots most of the way turned off.
Also notable: other divers over the slowly descending wall, a juvenile lionfish, and the mooring block that Villa is spending the season attached to. It’s kind of nice to be able to finish a dive and swim back onto your boat!
It’s always wonderful to see these extraordinary photos!