Another Negative Tide

I have always prided myself in scientifically understanding the world around me. I love to know the names of the plants and animals. To understand their life-cycles and food chains. To know the hows and whys of the geology and weather that play a part in my daily life. 

The exception to this seems to be tides. If you asked me before we moved here what makes tides I would have said, "They have to do with the Moon's gravitational effect on the Earth ." Now that I've married a Zoologist, and have moved to Hawaii, tides have become a regular part of my life. I thought to myself, "I should become more informed about tides." So, I started to research. I read and read, and watched videos and studied tide charts until my brain ached and now if you ask me what makes tides I will slump my shoulders shake my head sadly and respond.."Oh, I don't know ... something to do with the Moon...Probably magic." 

Well no matter, That moon magic made us a lovely -.9 tide this weekend and whenever that happens I get a very happy husband :) 

 Here is one of those mantis shrimp that beat me up last time but it is a 'spearer' instead of a 'smasher' He's just playing dead which works out great for us because we can get this great shot of his underbelly.

 my blue square didn't show up well, but you can really see how good their camouflage is. Add that to the fact that they are really fast and its amazing we ever catch them.

 This cute little guy is called a coral banded shrimp. He only has one pincer left :(

I got the 'micro' setting on my camera to do its thing. I just love this shot! You can see his little tiny body so clearly considering he is only a fraction of this size and underwater.

I still think these rock crabs are my favorite! Richard usually has to find them for me but I just think they are so nifty!

 Plus look at the cute little grumpy face! I just want to snuggle him!

 Here he is with his legs and eyes out.

 Here is a feisty crab Richard found sunning itself right after molting.

 All of the locals LOVE Richard. But only Richard! If I'm out there with him every one is nice and polite but the don't come near us. However, if I go lay down on the beach or go off to the restroom this happens:

 and there were many more! They come and ask him what he's up to. Offer him their catches, check out the stuff in his bucket. 

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing that is scaring people away. I thought it might be because I'm freakishly white, But Richard thinks it has more to do with the fact that I'm a girl. Gender roles are still really big here. I'm going to try and be more outgoing and see if that helps. But who knows, maybe I just need a new deodorant ;)

 Richard finally caught one of the elusive gobies! They are jumpers and are almost impossible to corner.

 This is a snowflake eel! Richard found him right as the tide was coming in. 

Richard got it out of the water and almost into the bucket, but at the last second it wriggled out of the net and sploosh - back into the water. Richard searched the pool for the next 20 mins but couldn't even find a trace of it. The tide had come in and it was time to go but Richard was so upset over his loss he kept pacing back and forth over the little rock ledge that hadn't quite submerged yet. It was like watching a little kid who is so tired but just won't go to sleep because they are afraid they'll miss something if they do. The only consolation I could give him is we could go home and look at the pictures blown up and he could identify them on his new favorite website: http://www.marinelifephotography.com

I am thinking of making Richard his own separate blog where he can post more of his tide pool and other scientific findings. That way when you guys come to look at our blog it wont be just a million shots of tiny animals in an ice cream bucket :)