Convict tang fish, rainbow parrot fish (my favorite, despite how garish it is), ringtail surgeonfish (my other favorite for its blacklight blue outline), angel fish, coral, sea cucumbers, some of these, some of those, a few of these other ones, and several others.
As ever, it took me a couple of breaths to adjust to breathing under water. Even seeing underwater is novel for me, since I usually don't wear contacts under goggles. But the scenery here justified the risk. Unfortunately, the water-resistant camera apparently wasn't, hence others' photographs (not that I was likely to capture a fish in a lens anyway).
I forgot all the things you forget in the last moments before escape, but at least now I have these great neighbors. I had a vegetable-watering neighbor and a potted plants-watering neighbor and the unbidden promotional newspaper- and flier-spotting neighbor; and while I remembered to bring a bag of cherries to AEK last night when I dropped in at bookclub (Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire), I didn't notice the tomatoes, avocados, apples, and bananas until Wednesday morning. I sent another email announcing their availability on the porch.
On the flight to San Francisco, I read; in the noisy Red Carpet club, distracted, I watched "Sense and Sensibility"; on the flight to Lihue, I read. I will never fly without earplugs and a horseshoe neck pillow again. When the pilot pointed out an island to the south and RDC said, "Oh, wow," I corrected, "No, it's pronounced 'O-ah-hu.'"
And so we landed in Kauai. We had a red convertible so even though we were on the wrong island we were "Magnum, P.I.," except I have forgotten the theme music. The airport and Lihue look like Anywhere, U.S.A., but then you leave Lihue for the rest of the island.
We passed through the Tree Tunnel on the way to our lodging. You put your head back (if you're the passenger in a convertible) and, since the speed limit is 20 and they mean it, get three whole minutes to zone out under swamp mahogany.
Once we'd found our room, we threw on bathing suits in about four seconds and went to find the beach. And that is where we stayed for the next day. I brought, and not only brought but applied, SPF 30 sunscreen, plus I stayed in the shade of various trees (palms are tricky: even if rotation didn't move my spot into the sun, palm fronds dance a lot in the wind). I got a tiny streak of red on my butt, probably while snorkeling, but that was all.
No sunburn, but the little waterproof camera I took died on my third shot. So until RDC posts his own photographs, I rely on the kindness of strangers at flickr.