After never seeing lion fish, ever - we come to the place where we see lots of them. It's still a thrill for me to see these beautiful creatures. They are poisonous, so you must keep your distance.

You all saw Nemo before, but I couldn't resist my fine result from our photo class. These two are pink anemonefish.

This green turtle (left) is from Kota Kinabalu in Borneo.

This little guy on the right is a nudibranch.

Some nice five lined snappers (yellow, left).

Hope you like this blue spotted stingray (right).

I guess fish like to hide down in these barrel sponges.

A nice little crescent wrasse (right).

Sometimes we get lucky and the sea is like an aquarium - AND we have our camera with us - AND the sun is out - AND a few fish cooperate and don't run away!

This eel (left) lives on the west side of Vanua Levi, Fiji on the reef of Viani Bay. We had a great time snorkeling off our dinghy and low and behold I was able to spot this scary creature (left).

We went swimming with the rays (right) in the Astrolabe Reef. It was a real thrill. We had three Fijian friends with us. Two had never seen the rays before! They borrowed mask and fins from the boat - a good reason to have extra. Don't assume that the local people have an opportunity to snorkel in their own waters!

The whale shark on the right comes from the Philippines.

I thought you'd enjoy these guys. (left) A wedge picassofish (Rhinecanthus rectangulus).

Here's a group of orange spine unicorn fish. I was chasing after these guys! (right).

Are these sergeant fish great! Way too many to count. (left) They seemed like leaves being blown by the wind on an autumn day.

I have been trying to get a really good photo of parrot fish since we started seeing them several years ago. BUT...they're quite elusive. I think one of the reasons is that people eat them. Though a lot of tourists don't like to eat them because they're so pretty! The locals mostly spear them as I've shown in Penrhyn.

I don't even know the name of this red fish on the left, but you've got to admit that he's a show stopper! The more we keep looking the more we see things we've never seen before.

This is just the classic tropical fish photo. He's a chevroned butterflyfish. All of these are from Fiji.

Another classic shot (left) of latticed butterflyfish.

We went out right at fish feeding time and the fish were very busy around the reef. Of course, fish feeding time is also shark feeding time. Probably not the greatest idea.

We're paddling in toward shore where we had left the dinghy and here's my best shot of the day (left) - the Hawaiian state fish, humuhumunukunukuapua'a. What's he doing in Fiji? (joke)

These two photos are from a little throw-away camera. The blue-green chromis (left) around the coral (in Fiji) are ubiquitous, but alluring! The squid on the right aren't spectacular either, but I hadn't gotten a shot of them before, so here you are! Underwater photography is an art unto itself and I have a lot to learn, but I'm having fun!

I had been trying to get a shot of this fish for a long time. He really likes to run away! (right) I think he's a blue banded surgeon fish.

And I think these are orange-fin anemonefish (left) - cute, don't you think?

Sometimes, you just get into the water and look down and there are lots of fish trying to get a free lunch, or at least that's how I interpret it! The black and ;yellow striped fish are convict tangs (Acanthurus triostegus) (right)

Some fish are pretty funny. These dark ones like to just look at you! You have to enlarge this shot to see the fish as they tend to blend into the background. This is like the kid's game where you have to count all the fish you can see! The dark fish are Pacific gregory (Stegastes fasciolatus). The blue and gold fish are another type of damsel fish.

These starfish (right) were right under our boat in Tonga. You can see that the area has suffered a lot of storms as there's a lot of broken coral.

I kept trying to get a photo of these moorish idols and low and behold, here they are (left)

I was also looking to get a photo of some Picasso fish (right). And here I was able to get a whole family. These have many names. One is the white-banded triggerfish, (Rhinecanthus aculeatus), also called humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Sometimes you just see a whole bunch of fish and start shooting and hope for the best.

The most frustrating thing is that most of the fish just want to run away from you (right). Sometimes you can just hang out until they get used to you, or other times you start chasing after them. That doesn't seem to calm them down! The pennant banner fish is the one to the left and he has that strange cutoff shape. They really like to run away! Scott has chased them all over the place to try to get a good shot. The pretty blue guy is a Neon damsel (Pomacentrus coelestis) - I think! There's also a scissor-tail sergeant there.

I think these are swallowtail sergeants. They're pretty cute!(left)

These are Scott's fish shots. I think he did well (right). I was getting cold and quit!

These underwater photos are quite a challenge, but we keep trying and little by little you start to get something interesting. (That's not to say that the viewer thinks they're interesting!!). That white coral is a leather coral.

Here's one of my whale shots from Vava'u (right). This is a baby southern humpback.

We did go out whale watching on another occasion and were able to get into the water. This is a baby humpback just relaxing in the water! (left)

Here's another shot of Scott and the baby whale after the baby has made eye-contact with Scott and satisfied his curiosity. (right)

Here's baby spyhopping and mom diving down (left). I've got more whale shots on my Tonga Page.

Out around the Coral Gardens we were able to see some pretty spectacular corals - at least the best we've seen this year. The little yellow things on the bluish coral are Christmas tree worms (right). They come in different colors, as you may notice. Of course these vagabond butterfly fish (Chaetondon vagabundus) are a couple of my favorites

When we swam outside the reef in the cooler water we saw lots more coral and more abundant sea life (left). You can see how the floor drops off. The surge was a little bit off-putting, but seeing all the fish was your reward. Here's a good shot of a convict tang (left). The greenish fish is a wrasse. They come in a multiplicity of color combinations.

 Scott did pretty well to get this shot of a pufferfish (right).

Here's another tough one to spot and photograph. Scott's better at diving down than I am. This underwater photography may motivate me to get my diving certification.

More butterfly fish (spot-tail butterflyfish) and a little dascyllus (Dascyllus aruanus). (right)

We did NOT see many sharks in Vava'u, but we did see this barracuda.

This is another wrasse. (right) I've got a fish o phile on the boat now that I hope will help me research this one - or perhaps my viewers will give me a clue!

Some more of my favorites, longnosed butterfly fish (left).

This is not a great shot, but as you try to get a deeper shot you must use a flash and you probably need to dive down. These brown fish are the female version of the parrot fish - the beautiful blue-green fish (right).

Another pretty greenish wrasse and a spotted goby.

Some of these are a bit repetitive, but I like them anyway! (right)

These shots are from the islands in the Vava'u Group. The water was definitely colder and as a result the corals are quite beautiful (right)

If it isn't already obvious, I'm a sucker for a pretty fish (left)! This is a male sunset wrasse (Thalassoma lutescens).

Having said that, don't you think this plain looking fish has a certain allure? (right) He's a stocky hawkfish (Cirrhitus pinnulatus).

Back to the pretty fish. You've seen them before, but I can't resist the idea that this one will be the perfect shot (I have yet to find that "perfect shot".

Most of these "long shots" are really long shots. I just had to try to get am image of these blue-green chromis - again! (right).

The more you're in the water the more interesting things you see! The beaked leatherjacket, (Oxymonacanthus longirostris) like to hang out near acropora coral. They are the hummingbirds of the fish world! They are a type of filefish.

Another pufferfish is seen on the right. he's a black spotted pufferfish (Arothron nigropunctatus).

The darker colored fish, such as the white-cheek surgeon fish (Acanthurus nigricans) are hard to shoot because they fade into a dark background, so here's one of my photographic prey against a light coral and sand background (left).

Another shot of the bluestriped surgeon fish - one of my favorites.

I hope you like this ray. I got a few good shots of him from Palmerston Island in the Cooks.

If I get a good shot I'm compelled to show it to you. These little fish like to hide in the Acropora corals. The butterfly is a chevroned Butterflyfish.

These rays are from our visit to Uepi in the Solomon Islands. They did a dance that I tried to capture. It was quite a thrill to see them.