St. Vincent (& the Grenadines)

We're staying on the main island of St. Vincent, for diving, but I'm already planning on coming back next year, for us to hire a sailboat or catamaran and sail around all the Grenadines for a few weeks.

I've been "grounded" from diving for today and tomorrow :-(  because I developed skin bends yesterday after diving.  This is a very mild form of decompression sickness, and was quickly treated by the dive shop.  I breathed pure O2 for an hour (and the symptoms of itchy, painful rash disappeared within 30 minutes).  It was really hard psychologically to wave goodbye to Steve at the boat dock this morning and walk back to the hotel alone.  I made the best of it, though, and swam in the bay, walked the beach for exercise (and sun), and now I'm writing this.  Tomorrow will be a repeat.  I did get some neat pictures and videos, so I'll be posting those today, and in another post in a few days.

Coral banded shrimp

Those are adult spotted drums.  Steve shot the next video of juvenile ones (and it's at half speed because the little ones swim so frantically) - note how they REALLY change body shape and coloration as they mature.

This is a frogfish.  They sit motionless until they snatch an unwary fish that swims too close.  They very closely resemble sponges, and usually blend in better than this guy.  The next one is more tricky.  See if you can spy his little eye (and then make out the similar outline of his body and fins, to the one above).  Hint: he's facing the opposite direction of the one above.

This Goldspotted Eel was out hunting in the seagrass (we had never seen one before).

Other masters of camoflage:

Peacock Flounder up close (to see the detail of his eyes and mouth)

This octopus is pretty tricky - find the small eye in the center, then you can see the siphon just behind it, and suckers on the tentacles to the right.

This little crab deep in a sponge, is Zen like me, and says, "see ya later, mon".