Night Snorkeling

Snorkeling after dark is so much fun. Hanauma Bay is open until 10 p.m. on one Saturday a month in the winter months. Walking up or down the path after dark you see a dozen circles of light indicating the location of snorkelers exploring a nocturnal, underwater world. There are pictures here.

They may not be a different set of creatures compared to those you see in the daytime, but they look different at night. Sometimes all you see are eyes peering out from every crevice, catching the light and holding it. Other times brittle stars abound. Last time I was there, sea cucumbers with thorns poking out all over were everywhere. With my sister in 2004 I saw a crab anemone, a grotesque walking creature that mystified us until a park official explained that crabs attach anemones to the top of their shells as camouflage; when they change to a larger shell, they pop them off and stick them to the new shell. Here's a picture Marilyn took; what would you think if you saw this lumbering across the sea bottom?

But perhaps the best night snorkel was with Janet and her housemate, in November 2009. Emily found us an octopus to play with. It ate and ate, appearing to keep an eye on us but not disappearing into a hole. We finally got cold  and made a break for shore. Here are some photos of that memorable night:

banded urchin

mystery sea cucumber

We saw it walk, but I didn't get a picture of it.