Our incredible run of eel sightings continue right on into the next day.... Jan 6th, 2011.
Because we had so enjoyed our dives at Angel City the previous day.... we returned there again for our first dive this morning.
One of our sightings was this Sharptail Eel.
If you ignore the big fin along their back and just watch the way that they swim.... they are clearly the most snakelike of the eels that we regularly see.
They are also the eel that we most often see out of their hole and swimming along the reef.
They like to swim very close to the bottom.... further enhancing their similarities to snakes.
I am kind of a bottom crawler myself.... but I can't get as low as these guys.
So, I have lots and lots of pixtures of the backs of Sharptail Eels.... as I look down from above.
I had decided some time before this particular dive.... that I didn't need anymore of those kind of shots.
If I couldn't get a different perspective.... I wouldn't trip the shutter.
I was lucky enough to see this guy coming down the shoulder of the reef from above.... and was able to position myself to get this pixture as he came around a coral head.
Bonaire is always a great place to see Eels.
This particular day, January 5th, 2011, was an outstanding day for eel pixtures.
This is a Chain Moray.
Named for the colorings on their body.... that are thought to resemble the links of a chain.
The Chain Moray is one of very few marine eels that can survive for some time out of water.
It will forage over wet rocks for up to 30 minutes at a time during low tide. As long as it remains wet, it can absorb some oxygen through it's skin.
This was the trip when we decided that Angel City was one our two favorite dive sites on Bonaire.
We dove those two sites numerous times on this trip.
Very manageable entry with a nice long swim out over the sandy bottom to a double reef.
It's all the activity from the small critters, that makes that long swim so enjoyable.... at least for us.
There are many coral heads.... separated from each other dotting the sandy bottom.
And each seems to be the territory of a specific critter or critters.
While diving this same site, on the day before this.... I had caught a brief glimpse of this eel as we swam by.
So when we came to that same coral head again.... I went over for a closer look.
Getting this pixture.... of an eel that I had never seen before.
My research since.... has led me to believe that it is a Yellowhead Moray.
Seems like they are pretty common in satlwater aquariums.... but not usually found in Caribbean waters.
Often.... underwater photography is a game of peak-a-boo.
Especially.... if you like to shoot in tight and close up like I do.
Many, many times.... I don't win that game of peak-a-boo.
Ending up.... with something in the pixture that I really didn't want.
Most of those pixtures get deleted.
But every once in a while, I have a keeper.... even with the coral head, I didn't plan for.
