Capturing the Moment

  Today I was on a solo adventure and had a mission. I was going to find a dragon moray eel and the swim thru/cave at this site that I had only heard about. I found eels but none of them dragons, and even though I used most of my air getting there I found the swim thru. This is a picture of it at the top right.   It was a glassy morning in Makena, Maui, perfect for a dive. I entered at the black sand beach in Makena State Park just to the side of this massive cinder cone known as Pu'uOlai. Spotted Eagle Ray The reef here is dominated by finger coral until you hit the point. After that you have big boulders, walls, and patches of sand. This undulated eel looked very dangerous but acted like he needed a better hiding spot. Reticulated Butterfly Fish Trembling Nudibranch I was very excited to find a reticulated butterfly fish. I haven't seen one of these for many months. They are quite rare here in Maui as we are on the very edge of their habitat. Only a coup...

 The beauty of the underwater world is enough to make me want to go under again and again. These pictures are from an early morning dive at Wailea Point, Maui when the sun rays are coming in at just the right angle for photos. The reef here has alot of relief topography which added alot to the sunburst shots. These big pillars are also the best place to look for nudibranchs and other treasures of the reef. While searching for these sea slugs I happened upon some nudibranch eggs. They looked like a red velvety rose and when I peeked through the 'petals' I found a tiny egg eating nudibranch having a feast. He is too small for me to get a good picture of but you can see the spec right in front of my thumb in the picture. The many overhangs and caverns here also provide hiding places for many of the rarer finds. This swimming crab on the right was courting another crab which I didn't see until the last second. And Heidi found this beautiful gold-lace nudibranch whi...