Pelagic Snails & Storm Petrols

Lovely combo of well known guests returning on board and new friends in the making! 

Welcome on board Nai'a! 

With so many nightly celebrations this trip, it felt like the Bula Boys and Lady were there singing every dessert time! 

Rough seas due to wind yet so lovely underwater.

Lovely night sky ~ Cinda

Giant clam, reticulated dascyllus, and dwarf hawkfish all together in one shot ~ Tami

I will take a moment throughout this blog chapter to share all the crew on board. 

Thanks to Bruce Thayer, who spent the last week taking lovely and original photos of the crew, who have become family to so many of our guests. 

We hope you enjoy them!

From left to right: Simi, Bill, Big Mo, Ave, and Semi ~ Bruce

Five types of shrimps in one crevice; coral banded shrimp, white banded cleaner shrimp; hinge beak shrimps; r2d2s; and a feisty floating shrimp. 

One leopard blenny showing its butt yet another one nearby fully out and about. 

Red tip anemone; such a gorgeous anemone with the Fijian tomato anemonefish. 

Blue eyed coral crab ~ Kathy

First shark sightings out in the deep, surfing the currents. 

Schools of fusiliers; yellow and blue; lunar; ruddy; and scissortail, all swimming parallel to each other in their each big family! 

Clau and Ana; one of them got served a pygmy whale in a bowl for dinner on the first night... yes... Bruce... ~ Bruce

According to Heidi (hang on to your seats) the way to distinguish mimic filefish from black saddle toby is their physiques: “The filefish looks like an anorexic toby.” Well.. now that you said it… Yes!  

Everyone, stop trying to find the differences and grab a fish scale and calculate the fishies BMI. Problem solved. 

Midas blenny in a hole ~ Kathy

“The coral is fantastic!” - Cindy

And the anemones are getting their natural healthy color back with the “colder” water temperature! 

Mogee, one of our engineers, busy in the compressor room ~ Bruce

Spending the morning basking in the presence of fish running amok: oceanic triggers in the deep and a huge huge tuna roaming through. 

Quite the pygmy angelfish search as well: they combine the innocence of an angel on their face and the size of a petite fish!

Pink anemonefish ~ Kathy

“Awww that was pretty!” “That was lovely!” - after a fantastic Cat’s Meow

Mo Bale, Mighty Righty's skiff driver for the trip! ~ Bruce

The pygmies are reproducing! THREE white pygmy sea horsies this time, all gathered together! 

And eleven, ELEVEN, pipefish huddled together at the mouth of the tunnel… I think they were sheltering from the current. 

White Pontoh's pygmy sea horse ~ Kathy

Greg was happy with his turtle sighting. 

Ave, another of our engineers, always ready to receive you after a dive ~ Bruce

Steve filmed a semi transparent creature flapping little wings in the water column. We didn’t know what it was.

Pelagic snail! Thank you Doc Webster!

Sweet Steve Webster, with his amazing wardrobe ~ Bruce

We had a lovely hitchhiker for a night and morning. 

A white face storm petrol, snuggling on the dive deck without a care in the world. 

Fijian tomato anemonefish ~ Kathy

Big lovely hawksbill getting himself cleaned. 

While Bill our steward is busy making your rooms pretty ~ Bruce

Shrimps dancing, ready to get your nails and teeth nice and clean. 

Two leafy scorpionfish; one smaller and other bigger. “That was one attractive leafy scorpionfish.” - Bruce

Simi, skiff driver on Lucky Lefty ~ Bruce

Big moray eel guarding his home as a Nai’a pipefish floats next to him at the entrance of the cave, plus a Randall’s shrimp goby chilling in the sandy entrance. Such a trio. 

Golden mantis shrimps.

Juvenile ribbon eel hissing at us, next to a minute anemone with its miniature anemonefish. 

Martynne shot a beautiful photo of the window leading to the field of sinularia at Kansas

Tascha Angel made an appearance at the main cleaning station, as well as a hammer head shark!

He came up to get cleaned: once the divers clocked him and he the divers, boom, everyone startled!

Keni, one of our Chief Officers ~ Bruce

Other lovely fly bys by the big flappy flappies. 

Ana, our fantastic bombastic steward, ready for you at meal times ~ Bruce

World class first dive of the day, both for the schools of fish and all the macro wonder at Kansas. 

“That was fantastic! The coral and so many fish! I have never seen bannerfish school like that!” - Cinda (after Schoolhouse and all those schooling bannerfish)

Blackish reddish Pontoh's pygmy sea horse ~ Kathy

Simply fantastic. 

Floating around, big eyed barracudas, scads and sharkies. 

A very pregnant looking pygmy sea horse (pregnant or fat? Are we having baby sea horses in the area?)

Captain Big Mo in the bridge ~ Bruce

A huge 5 feet sea krait scared the 'bejesus' out of Tami and Heidi as they were chilling on the top of a pinnacle. 

Semi, one of our main dive guides, busy at work ~ Bruce

And one group of divers got to see a school, maybe 20 or 30 hammerheads, first dive of the day! What a way to wake up! 

Scalloped hammerhead shark ~ Kathy

All guests were privileged enough to get a coral reef and environmental presentation by Doc Webster himself. 

We then learned as well that officially, parrotfish are now wrasses! 

Anybody surprised?

Not really. 

Maikeli, our head chef, busy in the galley ~ Bruce

“What a last dive! Hammer head shark so close and the red anemones! Such an amazing last dive!” - Kathy and Julie, who fight like an old married couple who share a brain, after a gorgeous Mount Mutiny. 

Peni, one of our longest crew members and engineer ~ Bruce

VInaka vakalevu everyone!

Hope to see you again!

Soto tale!