Today I tried some Hawaiian snorkeling for the first time. I mean, I lived on a remote island in Hawaii, the reef was a 1 minute walk from my door; surely there is snorkeling to be had, right? In fact, Tern Island DOES have some interesting snorkeling around the shoal and today was our first venture into the Tiger Shark-infested water. Ok, no, never mind, I never did see a Tiger Shark but I wanted to... from land... maybe.
Even though I am, by nature, a terrestrial boy and previous snorkeling trips never ended well, I purchased a decent set of snorkeling gear back in the lower 48 before I came. All intentions were that I'd be snorkeling a lot! I also had an underwater housing for my little digital camera. Sounds like fun, right?
We didn't have to swim far before I took in water through my nose and others found some interesting fish (yeah, I caught up eventually). I don't know the first thing about fish so show me a goldfish down there and I'd be immediately coming back up to the surface for air. Alas, I snapped some pictures and was able to look some of them up later.
Here are a couple BLUEFIN TREVALLY:
One of the most common were the CONVICT TANG. I think we saw these on probably every snorkeling trip:
Last and probably least... this white and orange blob/streak is a juvenile YELLOWTAIL CORIS (a type of wrasse):
Thrilling, huh?
In looking back at my underwater pictures from today, I think I'll spare you guys! It was " hey! Look, there's a blob here, ooh, a rock there". Really nothing special.
Don't worry, I played with my underwater camera housing later in the season so this won't be the last of the fish...
