There are several islands, or “motus,” that surround an atoll.
We spent several days at Makemo going ashore on this one.
We passed hours watching the creatures who hung out in the shallows. The shallows were so active that we stopped snorkeling among the bossy black tip sharks …
and just watched the reef from the beach.
The little sharks were still curious enough to swim up to our feet in inches of water.
We’ve been chasing these Picasso Triggerfish across the Pacific for a good picture. They are very camera shy but didn’t suspect us taking pictures with a long lens from above.
There was some suspicious wrasse behavior going on in the shallowest of shallows. This Surge Wrasse looked guilty of some bodily function or other.
There were lots of little morays. This one was trapped in a tide pool just big enough for him to turn around in. He seemed confident that the tide would come in before he turned into moray jerky and tried to menace us from the other side of the liquid-gas phase barrier.
The red crabs were equally happy in or out of the water.
This coral colony paid a price for miscalculating the tide range but bravely pushed its live edge onward into the shallows.
This attractive fellow was drying out either his head or his butt, who can say with a sea cucumber?
S braved the ankle biters long enough to catch a gang of Convict Tangs commuting through a shallow pass to the offshore side of the atoll.
K braved the long pointy beak of a serene frigate bird long enough to capture a few bird details.
Somewhere a Muppet Show is missing its Gonzo.
The bird-folk among you will also recognize this little grey (sooty?) palm tern.
We spent the remainder of the days admiring the tropical plants (these white blossoms tinted the evening breeze in the anchorage with a scent much like honeysuckle),
walking across the island,
hunting the low-hanging coconuts (“lowconuts”),
fulfilling our hammock-testing duty,
and just enjoying the view.
But what do you do if you forget your shoes??
