After our amazing morning shark dive and a nice long surface interval at Ocean Oasis, Sally took us to see “her favorite brain coral” at an unofficial site called Anchor. I don’t know if it is possible to express Jazz’s joy at having someone in her life who has a favorite brain coral. Here is dive sites namesake, and a handy marker for entrance and exit.
It was a great site, with lots of healthy coral.
Here’s a blenny taking in the view, and a confused parrotfish sleeping on the sand at the wrong time of day.
Sally’s favorite brain coral is right by an open “lake” of sand, and the coral we passed on the way to it was especially full of critters. Here’s a sand diver playing lifeguard, and a tiger-tail sea cucumber hiding by the edge.
Right about the same spot, we saw a couple of squid. It’s more rare for us to run into them this deep; usually we see them in shallow water on our way back to shore.
And then we reached the brain coral, and it is HUGE. And right underneath it, there was a queen conch, who had left a long zigzag trail on her way in.
Turning back, we found yet more beautiful coral.
And sheltering in it, a really big moray, and a very innocent lionfish. (The wrasse looks like a halo to us.)
As we swam back towards shore, we found a big school of grunts, a barracuda, and another big school of… mackerel? snappers? Honestly we can’t figure these nondescript gray guys out.
