Misc. June shots I will add to as the month progresses....

The two helmet conches above were found in the same area the next day, below:

And again the following day although further apart. (only photographed one of them):

I have heard of a good sized barracuda on the reef and finally came across it today

(6-14-10) It was hanging still above the coral likely waiting on a meal when I came across

it. Subsequently it would swim off a bit and then stop until I suppose I got closer than it

liked and again it would swim off. The visibility wasn't good so on one approach I decided

to dive down for a better shot. As soon as I left the surface, it bolted off.

It's a big fish!! Five minutes after seeing it, I came across the resident school of Heller's barracuda. Pretty cool to see both species of Hawaii's barracuda in a single swim session:

On another day, I was able to get pretty close to the Heller's:

A few days back, I saw a nice shell down in the sand after swimming out to see the

amber jack that was no longer at the buoy as it turned out. This shell had a hermit crab in

occupancy so I returned it to the sand out past the reef where it was less likely to get

taken.

The next day I found the shell in the same area which was no surprise as I doubt the crab

can move it very far; it's heavy. I swam in to the shallows with it and took some shots after

I was able to coax the crab out of hiding and then once again returned it to the sand

outside of the reef.

When I returned the hermit crab and shell to the sand, I saw a small (3" long) puffer

juvenile I snapped a shot of:

There are large schools of juvenile fish this year on the reef which is promising. Below

a couple shots of young goat fish.

A young green turtle has been hanging out at a coral head and it seems it may have taken

up residence despite the heavy snorkeling traffic: