April 28, 2011

We dropped in on the "Green Can" this morning. That is the channel marker in front of Honokohau Harbor. I hadn't been down there in a while. At the bottom of the chain there is a big cement block at about 130 ft. As we were descending we saw a couple Sand Bar Sharks cruising out in the blue. They made a couple of passes to get a better look and then they were gone. As we settled in on the sand at the bottom, we took a few moments to pan the horizon and take in the vast stretch of white sand with thousands of Garden Eels. They look like tall grass coming out of the sea floor, but they are actually long skinny eels. As we started to make our way across the expanse of sand towards the reef we noticed little patched of sand were moving. As our focus shifted we realized the moving sand was actually juvenile Peacock Flounders that perfectly blended in with the sand. Some of them were the size of a quarter, the biggest ones were the size of a dollar bill. (They reach the size of a dinner plate!) Then we realized they were everywhere. We probably saw a couple dozen! I have never seen that many together! It was cool. As we got closer to the reef we found a Jeweled Anemone Crab scurrying away to try and find a coral head to hide under. Up on the reef there was plenty to see. We found a Great Barracuda, two Hawaiian Octopus, and a teeny, tiny baby Frog Fish the size of the nail on my pinky finger! Too cute! Another great dive right in front of the harbor. We are so spoiled!