There is an old mooring buoy out past the reef that barely breaks the surface and it always

has some small fish and sometimes other visitors hanging around it. It is like a small oasis

out in the blue water. I swam out to it and in addition to what I believe are keiki convict

tangs, there was this single fish that would leave the protection of the algae and swim to

me as if I might be a new place to hang out. The current was quite strong and there was

also wind chop causing the buoy as well as myself to rise and fall. In the pic below, you can

see this lone fish that I made many attempts at trying to get a focused shot of. It is less

than 1 inch long. I also see in the pic the explanation of a surprise attack I experienced a

bit later...

I had to keep swimming north, at the buoy to stay in place. The small fish were also

constantly swimming. Just after the shot above, I caught out of the top of my vision

something apparently jet across the top of the surface and I felt it hit my head. Initially I

thought it was something the wind blew across the surface but I felt it in my hair above my

eyebrows and then move across my bald head into the hair on the back of my head. It felt

like something hard and sharp drifting across my head. I reached back with my hand and

felt a bite on the back of my hand!! I then felt something between my shoulder blades. I

spun around in the water looking for my attacker but there was nothing there. I felt

something again on my back and reached over my shoulder with trepidation but a need to

know what was going on! As my hand came down on this alien I immediately recognized by

feel that it was a crab!! I plucked it off my back and held it out in front of me and let it go

with the thought of a photo:

What I didn't factor was the strength of the current and the crab immediately was swept

into the dome port on my camera. It climbed past the dome and was taken by the current

right into my chest where it had no problem grabbing onto my chest hair and settling in. I

had to grab it again and took another pic before deciding to swim it back to the buoy and

set it into the algae. It accepted the placement and didn't jump back onto me while I took

more pics of the fish. Looking now at the first pics, I can see the crab perched there at the

top of the heap and I can imagine it deciding to try my head out as a new perch. Had

someone been out there to witness me focused on the fish while this crab leaped from the

buoy to my head I'm sure it would have been quite amusing.

Back at the shore line, I came across some other keikis.

The small fish that seems to be top dog at the buoy was identified as a juvenile amberjack. I have been out there a number of times to visit and it is getting bigger and seemingly chasing the small tangs even more.

At times its vertical stripes disappear and at others they are prominent.