Smooth Trunkfish are just a little on the peculiar side.
Their body that looks like something of a cross between a box and a triangle.... is covered with boney plates rather than scales.
They swim by using their small dorsal and anal fins.... moving them in a rotary motion.
I bet you will think "helicopter".... as you watch them move about the reef.
To find food.... they blow jets of water at the ocean floor to uncover the organisms that are hidden there.
But somebody thinks they are good looking.... as the males will often have a harem of females in their large territories.
If you fall of the dock at Buddy Dive and swim north.... towards Capt. Don's Habitat.
You will in due course.... come upon the wreck of La Machca.
I'm not enough of a sailor to be able to tell you what kind of boat it was.... more than a rowboat but not much more than that.
It's upside down resting on the slope that form the face of the reef here.
And.... kind of famous for the very large Green Moray Eel that hangs out there.
So, you swim close to the bottom, poking your face into the various holes.... to see if you can spot the big green guy (Moray Eel, not The Hulk).
That's exactly what I was doing when this Grouper.... stuck his face out at me.
I'm not sure what the deal was with the open mouth.... probably nothing more than breathing.
But I can now tell you for sure.... it is possible to jump, when you are underwater.
You might recognize this shot from a couple of weeks ago.... the full color version.
I liked that pixture but was thinking the background was too strong.... and maybe taking away from the Red Banded Shrimp.
So I tried this..... "painted out" all of the color and then "erased back in" the color of the Shrimp.
It's not the pixture I could have had.... if I had managed the depth of field better and blurred the background.
But it's interesting.... don't you think?
For as long as I can remember.... my absolute favorite time of the day has been sunset.
And.... there is just about nothing better than sunset in the Caribbean.
This is the dive dock at Buddy Dive.... our favorite Bonaire resort.
The dive shop is closed for the day, the boats are all back on their moorings.... just out of frame to the right.
Divers have collected the tanks they need for their night and early morning dives.... and stowed them in the locker room.
So the diving will continue throughout the night.... but for now the business operation is closed.
Tomorrow, just before 8am, one of the boat captains will stroll down the dock and dive in for a short swim out to the boats.... making his "commute" to start the work day.
But for now.... you can just about feel the peace radiating out of the pixture.
I really like this pixture.... and wanted to use it in my Best of Mike series.
That might have something to do with the fact that we really like this dive site.
In spite of the big climb down to the beach and back up.
I thought I would tell you a little bit about this spot.... but then I realized that I had already done that in BoM #39.
So here it is.... just a nice pixture.
