This email has images from several trips over the last week. After Christmas the water wasn’t showing any great signs of clearing up and each time I went for a snorkel it was hard to spy much. That said I still braved the water to see what I might find:
Couldn’t resist this picture of a cray I spied during a morning snorkel. It was completely out in the open when I first found it. It’s quite unusually to see them so exposed, and sure enough as I ducked dived down it quickly scurried for shelter, and eventually was lost from vision:
During this relatively uneventful trip I did come across a mature Cownose Ray. The water was several meters deep here and there was little point trying to get down to say hello, as it was already in flight mode and moving away from me:
As the week progressed the water cleared a little. On one trip I thought I had found a shell to equal the one Elseya discovered washed up on the beach on my birthday back in October. However, as I pulled the half buried shell out of the sand the weight told me it was still a home to a large sea snail so I left this Bailer Shell in peace:
Despite not seeing a great deal on some trips I still love getting out and immersing myself in the underwater world. I tend to stay in for about three quarters of an hour by which time I’m shivering with cold but also very happy. Most times I go out a group of Banded Sweeps quickly attaches itself to me following me wherever I go:
On the morning of New Year’s Eve it was the first time that the swell was down and the water seemed clearer. It was also the first time I spied shoals of baby fish hugging the edges of the weed. I like to think this is a sign that things really are calming down:
I also spied what I thought was a Wobbegong, but he was a bit too quick for me and hid most of his body in the weed. I bobbed about patiently above the weed and on one occasion it parted to show me the fish, but then quickly closed. When diving down I looked hard but had no chance of finding it:
As I was starting to cool down and decided to head back in, out the corner of my eye I saw something move. It was my first squid of the season. He never let me get too close but with the good light and calmer water I was able to snap a pretty cool image. After watching him for a while I went down but not surprisingly he shot off:
This morning I went for my first swim of 2018 and finally found another sand gobbler. I’ve only seen one at Peppy Beach, as it was working its way across a clear sandy patch. I often see their tracks but rarely find them. I guess that during the day they find a cosy nook in the limestone reef and bury themselves out of sight, and harm’s way:
I then came across the biggest fish I’ve seen off Peppy, at a good meter long, my guess it is a Banded Rock Cod. I hovered above it for some time, then swam a bit to the side and dived down keeping my distance. It looked like he may not swim away, so I went to clear my mask but as I looked down again all I saw was his tail as he was swimming away:
As I made my way into the shore I found a very colourful Mosaic Leatherjacket. While fishermen can’t abide these fish I have to say they come is some amazing colours and patterns and are very pretty to see:
Well tomorrow it is back to work for me, but before that happens I’m heading down the beach for another New Year’s Day underwater adventure.Have a great 2018!
Sandbagged 