The Little Mermaid - Turks & Caicos Edition

This year's Caribbean vacation involved more snorkeling! 

I used the same camera as last year, although this year I had the added benefit of Lightroom to edit them afterwards and make the fish stand out more. 

Excitingly*, we saw not only some old favorites from last year but some different varieties...and some interesting other creatures as well...

*To those who share a love of tropical fish, which may or may not be just me and J

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
French Angelfish (juvenile) 

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
Queen Triggerfish

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
Blueheaded Wrasse (one of my new favorite fish)

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
Rock Beauty

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
Blue Tang (a.k.a. "Dory")

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
another (or perhaps the same, but on a different day) French Angelfish

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
Squirrelfish

f/2.8, 1/250th, ISO-50, 5mm
"Common" OCTOPUS

f/2.8, 1/500th, ISO-50, 5mm
Sea Anemone

f/2.8, 1/125th, ISO-50, 5mm
Some kind of damselfish?? I've given up poring over fishy websites to find him. 

f/2.8, 1/250th, ISO-50, 5mm
CARIBBEAN REEF SHARK! AHHHHH!*

*The story of the shark:
On our third day, we convinced my FIL to come out snorkeling with us. The area we're in is literally right in front of the house, but due to the murkiness of the water in general, it's not hard to get somewhat separated. Not in a terribly dangerous way, just in a I-might-have-to-pop-my-head-up-and-look-for-fins way.
At some point during our snorkel-venture, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a very large fish. My nerd-fish self got a little bit a lot excited as I turned to face it and swim closer. Everything moves a little slower underwater, including my brain, so it took what felt like forever (and was probably only 20 seconds) for my brain to add up all the features and come out with "shark". Staring right at me. Just 5-6 feet away. And I'm all alone in the water.
Here is the order of events for my panicked brain: 1. Must play dead. Like with bears.
2. Sharks are not bears. I do not think they share a common ancestor but I cannot be certain.
3. Don't sharks eat seals? Don't seals just lay around?
4. Don't sharks eat humans when they think humans are seals?
5. MUST STOP LAYING AROUND LIKE A SEAL.
6. Must find J and FIL. Must warn about shark.
[Turns around, sees them swimming towards me].
[Waves arms like a maniac, pointing towards shark and then making what is CLEARLY a danger sign, aka an X with my arms.]
[J and FIL keep swimming towards me nonchalantly.]
7. Perhaps I should stop drawing attention to myself by flopping around like a deranged seal.
8. Hmm, FIL swimming casually by shark like it's no big deal. Perhaps I should too.
9. More importantly, I have a camera, I need to at least try and take a picture.
[Swims just far enough away to get part of FIL in shot with the shark and take a shaky picture].
[Swims in complete opposite direction of shark while trying not to pee self.]

Upon coming ashore, we determined that my FIL did not actually see the shark, which explains why he was not even a little bit phased by it's presence.

Me? I couldn't stop shaking for an hour.

I did, however, go back in the water. But only after I looked up shark breeds and determined that this one was not a major threat.