Death Snorkel

We took a grand tour of the island today to get ourselves acquainted with the whole place. Our first stop of the day was Death Snorkel, which is a stretch of reef that has quite a strong current when it gets up and running. It wasn't too strong when we went, since it was still fairly early in the morning, but we definitely noticed it.

As meanacing as currents are, though, it's really the urchins you've got to watch for. Case in point:


These spiky little bundles of joy are there waiting if you screw up and don't watch where you're going.


Fire coral too.

Even still, the place was awesome. The water was clear and warm, and fish and other organisms were everywhere.


Corals with a butterfly fish (yellow) and a damselfish (black).

A wrasse (I forget what kind) and the omnipresent urchins.

Butterfly fish amongst the coral.

A coronet fish above some coral.

Christmas tree worms. I saw blue, white, pink, orange, and red versions of these, but this picture came out the best. The "tree" portion is actually feathery feelers that filter water to feed.

You all are in luck, by the way - I've been nominated official picture-taker, as I have volunteered to update the photo database of all of the organisms commonly found here in Moorea. As a result, you'll probably be seeing a lot of the critters. But that's why I'm here in the first place, right?

Anyway, tomorrow is our first scuba dive in the outer reef (so far we've only been snorkeling). Hopefully I'll get some good pictures there too.