July 5, 2014

            Headed to the southeast near shore area this morning.  Saw a few Cushion Sea Stars of various colors along the way, pretty good size, about 1 foot across that look like a puffed up version of a “starfish” or sea star as is the proper name.  Worked my way to the shelf area where 100s of fans are on a rocky area about 30m offshore and 1-2m deep.  For as many sea fans as there were, there was very few Flamingo Tongues (FT), only on the edges of the reef, not in the center.   Very surprising considering the quantity of fans.  I would have thought it was a cornucopia for the snails.  Apparently not, and it makes me curious as to why.  Continuing to follow the shoreline, within 30m or so more FT started showing up as I neared the bend turning west.  All FT were seen on Common Purple Sea Fans except for one that was on the sediment in front of a fan (about 10cm away).  As I proceeded towards the southern point heading west more FT started appearing.

            Afternoon had me prepping equipment and cameras for tomorrow and catching up on transferring information from my reusable, waterproof “paper” and cameras to my info sheets and computer.  Not as much fun as being in the water checking it all out, but necessary none the less. 

                                                    FIELD OF SEA FANS - FEW FLAMINGO TONGUES

             
                                             GIANT SEA ANENOME

                                          BLUE ENCRUSTING CORAL

                                          BLUE ENCRUSTING CORAL - CLOSEUP

                                          SEA CUCUMBER - PURPLE - ABOUT 12"