There's a lot to see and do in Hawaii, and much of it happens at the beach. If you're like my wife and I, that means that some of the best moments occur beneath the waves. We used to buy disposable cameras, but that meant getting film processed, which added to the total cost. After a few years, stores on the islands stopped developing film with less than a one-week turnaround. So we brought the cameras home, and had the film developed locally.
Eventually, the cost and bother got a little much, so we stopped buying these disposable cameras. This allowed us to spend more of our time looking around under water, as opposed to worrying about catching a fish just right. But it did mean that what we brought home from our snorkeling trips were only memories, which we couldn't show to friends.
This year, we opted to spend our Christmas in Hawaii. As a present to ourselves, we purchased an inexpensive digital camera. It was about 7-8 times more expensive than one of those old disposables, but we'll save on the cost and hassle with developing. On this trip, we probably took more than the equivalent of those 7-8 disposables. After the time not using a camera, it added a new dimension to our snorkeling.
One thing that's stuck with me from Peter Benchley's novel The Deep was that sharks were not necessarily voracious killers. (This aspect doesn't translate to the film version). At one point in the book, an inexperienced diver sees a shark approach, and immediately shoots it. Later, the dive leader berates the man, pointing out that he had been the attacker, not the shark. That shark would now swim off and die, because he had not bothered to assess the shark's level of interest in him before firing his harpoon gun.
If you've read The Deep, you know the villains of this story are distinctly human in nature.
I may have some of the particulars of that scene wrong, but it's my strongest memory from the novel. The film version of his first novel Jaws made everyone petrified of going to the beach, or into the water. In The Deep, Benchley seemed to be saying: okay, I told a story about one shark terrorizing a little town. That doesn't mean all sharks prey on swimmers.
Still, I'm not planning on swimming with sharks anytime soon.
Whether we're talking sharks, fish, eels, or anything else you find underwater, the general rule of not touching anything remains the safest advice. Still, most of the sea life you find underwater are unlikely to attack you. The sea life we typically encounter belong to three groups: 1) They try to keep their distance from you; 2) They approach to study you; or 3) They flat out ignore you.
Whatever category they belong to, this year I often wished they'd stay still for a moment. You know, so I could snag the perfect photo. And then there's the question of the lighting, which is always changing with the movement of the water.
By far the coolest fish I saw this year was this flatfish. As it had both eyes on top, my wife and I think it's a flounder. It had such an interesting movement, like a piece of parchment flowing through the dense water. When it saw me, it altered his direction away from me. Then it tried to hide from me.
Can you see it, blending in with the surface of the rock? It had such interesting body markings. Some fish have a dark mottled body, as if they're wearing a military camouflage suit. This one, when it blended in with the rock, was absolutely stunning.
But then, that's why we snorkel. To see everything that's going on in Hawaii. Even if much of it occurs beneath the waves.
Dragon Dave
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