William Stevens III's Journal
February 22, 2010
I went and saw my niece the other day; she was, as is her wont, sporting a Finding Nemo t-shirt once again. I was reminded of my earlier failure to secure a Dory fish for her for a present, and I thought, hey... am I William Stevens the Third or what? I'll go get one myself, without anyone around to interfere.
So, after the sun went down last night, to minimize my chances of running into someone else, I returned to the vicinity of the area where I'd seen those little fish last. What I wasn't counting on was how murky the water was at night.
But, an impossibly cool uncle's gotta do what an impossibly cool uncle's gotta do, right? So I set off.
Unfortunately, I pretty quickly found out that I was sort of out of my element in this murk, particularly without a guide in tow. I couldn't find the spot where we'd seen those blue guys at all. I swam around what felt like the entirety of Gatama Atoll looking for them, but to no avail.
I was a little startled when I ran into these fish here. I don't know what they're called, but they caught my dive light and reflected it back in a really eerie way.
I saw a number of pretty cool rock-and-plant formations down in those shallow waters. This one was really sweet; I would love to have a fountain that looked like this in my atrium.
I had to include this shot, too... I was in this area with a couple rays like this guy here, but for some reason this dolphin was hanging around too. I don't know if he wanted to be my friend, or what (and I'd forgotten the food I brought last time)... but he definitely wanted to nose in on my picture.
What I wasn't expecting to find was this behemoth, here. I had found an area that kind of looked like the place I'd last seen the Dory-fish, but the little blue gals weren't there... but this guy right here was. This one, I could identify, an ocean sunfish—but I'd never seen one this gold color before. The guy almost looked like a living statue. Pretty stunning.
Still a little geeked from my find but starting get exhausted from swimming all over looking for my niece's present, I finally gave in, surfaced, and stomped up a beach to sit down and rest for awhile.
This little guy came up to me, and I found myself wondering if my niece might like a lizard for a pet... then I remembered my sister getting freaked out about my own pet lizards as a kid, and decided it might not have been such a good idea.
But Stan and I (he looks like a Stan, doesn't he?) still kicked back for awhile on that beach to watch the colors in the early-evening skies. (I offered him a beer; he declined.)
Beautiful stuff.
February 22, 2010
I went and saw my niece the other day; she was, as is her wont, sporting a Finding Nemo t-shirt once again. I was reminded of my earlier failure to secure a Dory fish for her for a present, and I thought, hey... am I William Stevens the Third or what? I'll go get one myself, without anyone around to interfere.
So, after the sun went down last night, to minimize my chances of running into someone else, I returned to the vicinity of the area where I'd seen those little fish last. What I wasn't counting on was how murky the water was at night.
But, an impossibly cool uncle's gotta do what an impossibly cool uncle's gotta do, right? So I set off.
Unfortunately, I pretty quickly found out that I was sort of out of my element in this murk, particularly without a guide in tow. I couldn't find the spot where we'd seen those blue guys at all. I swam around what felt like the entirety of Gatama Atoll looking for them, but to no avail.
I was a little startled when I ran into these fish here. I don't know what they're called, but they caught my dive light and reflected it back in a really eerie way.
I saw a number of pretty cool rock-and-plant formations down in those shallow waters. This one was really sweet; I would love to have a fountain that looked like this in my atrium.
I had to include this shot, too... I was in this area with a couple rays like this guy here, but for some reason this dolphin was hanging around too. I don't know if he wanted to be my friend, or what (and I'd forgotten the food I brought last time)... but he definitely wanted to nose in on my picture.
What I wasn't expecting to find was this behemoth, here. I had found an area that kind of looked like the place I'd last seen the Dory-fish, but the little blue gals weren't there... but this guy right here was. This one, I could identify, an ocean sunfish—but I'd never seen one this gold color before. The guy almost looked like a living statue. Pretty stunning.
Still a little geeked from my find but starting get exhausted from swimming all over looking for my niece's present, I finally gave in, surfaced, and stomped up a beach to sit down and rest for awhile.
This little guy came up to me, and I found myself wondering if my niece might like a lizard for a pet... then I remembered my sister getting freaked out about my own pet lizards as a kid, and decided it might not have been such a good idea.
But Stan and I (he looks like a Stan, doesn't he?) still kicked back for awhile on that beach to watch the colors in the early-evening skies. (I offered him a beer; he declined.)
Beautiful stuff.