Yesterday's 3rd dive was a number of "firsts" for us....first time we saw all 3 phases of a ribbon eel, first time to actually see the yellow female and lastly and the most fun....first time to ever see a free-swimming ribbon eel! Ribbon eels are about the thickness of a pencil and we generally see anywhere from 1" to 8" of them poking out of their holes in the sand/rubble. Yesterday we were on a mission to see a yellow one. Ribbon eels start out black as juveniles, turn blue with a yellow face and a yellow stripe down their backs as adult males and when the need for reproduction arises, one of the males turns all yellow and becomes a female! We've been told that the females mate once and then after giving birth, die, so they are not commonly seen. Well, yesterday we saw the black, then the blue, then the yellow and then the BANGING started......Abner was rattling his rattle, Bill was pulling on my fins....I knew something awesome had been found!

Bob managed to be "in the right place at the right time"! He found a free-swimming yellow phase ribbon eel out in the open. This one was between SIX & EIGHT FEET long! And if you imagine the Olympic gymnasts with their ribbon routines, that's what it's like watching a ribbon eel swim....they coil and stretch just like the gymnastic ribbons! We all whooped and high-fived each other when it finally decided to find a hole and duck into it.

We also saw two great frogfish on that dive, one was a very unusual orange color so here's a shot of that one as well.

Our diving is now winding down...we have only two dives left on this trip. They've all been fantastic but some are always more memorable than others and the ribbon eel dive rates right up there.

After we finish diving today, it's time to try and dry everything out. We're also going across the Straits to a small local zoo this afternoon. It's hard to believe we've been here 12 days...where do the days go??