There is no dive shop here to get tanks filled. In fact, there is no anything here..... so we are just snorkeling. There are plenty of small reefs around us with an interesting range of different creatures. Taking good pictures snorkeling is a challenge, particularly in three feet of water. The dappled sunlight is distracting and it is very hard to keep the camera still enough. None the less I'm managing to get a few interesting pics.

From the top left, clockwise:

1. An as yet unidentified goby cleaning out his home. He would disappear inside for thirty seconds or so then come out and spit out a large mouthful of sand and gravel.

2. The head of a reef top pipefish. Our first pipefish ever in decades of diving. This one is slightly thinner than a pencil and about four inches long. The patterning is fabulous.

3. The biggest marine life in this region are the sharks. These are black tipped reef sharks. They can get to eight feet long but the ones we see are typically three to five feet. We have never been in the water without seeing them and we are beginning to take them for granted. Most of the time they pretty much ignore us as they cruise the reef looking for someone (small) who is not paying attention. Sometimes they circle us, getting a little closer at every pass. When they get too '€˜friendly' We swim at them aggressively and they shoot off (so far....). They are actually quite beautiful to watch once you get past the 'shark' thing.

4. There are giant clams everywhere, in an amazing variety of patterns and colors. They can get to more than four feet across but the ones we are finding are generally four to eight inches. What is odd is the crazy diversity within the species. Most marine life is very uniform in appearance within the species but these guys are all over the map.

We go for a snorkel pretty much every day but the weather has been a bit nasty (30kts of wind and a steep chop) for the past day or so and the visibility is going to be poor tomorrow so probably no photography. The longer range forecast is good so more soon.