Mesmerized
A few days into our stay in Anilao, we woke up to our normal routine of a cup of instant coffee overlooking the flat ocean. After several days of 4 dives a day we had seen many of the local dive sites and our guide asked us if we wanted to spend our dive attempting to find the famous Rhinopias, a type of scorpion fish that is relatively rare. We obliged and headed out to the backside of a small nearby island to search for it in a rubble field in about a 100ft of water. We did end up finding the
Rhinopias on that dive (will post photos soon!) but while we spent time in the shallows off gassing from our search efforts in the deeper water, I stumbled across what, at first looked like a small piece of coral walking along the reef. After a few moments, this piece of "coral" realized it was being watched, and gave up the charade, giving me a show of ever changing color and texture. Immediately recognizing the creature as the incredibly venomous and beautiful Blue Ring Octopus, I called Barbie Elsasser over to enjoy this amazing little guy with me. Here are a few shots of its different colors and textures.
