Last week the beach was once again choppy meaning the visibility would be poor. However, the forecast promised a hot weekend, and more often than not that would come with calmer weather. So Saturday morning I wandered down to take a dip. While there was not a heap to see and the water still had a cloudiness to it I was very happy to find what are probably octopus eggs hidden in some weed:
I found some of these a few years back, and was told that they become translucent as they mature allowing you to see the developing young. This time I reckon I have a good handle of where I found them so will attempt to relocate them next weekend. They were about as far out as I would normally venture, which is shown in this image. You’ll never see her but Lisa was on the beach lounging in a reclining chair, having breakfast and reading a book on the almost deserted beach:
I continued to look for something new and that included snorkelling over the limited areas of reef, weed covered rubble and open sandy areas. They all provide a different range of gems that if you blink you might just swim past. I was beginning to think that I wouldn’t spy anything when I noticed this fella:
The Southern Fiddler Ray seemed very happy for me to dive up and down to get a great close-up look at him. He eventually got tired of my attention and lazily swam away. While not at a fast rate and I could have followed him, I mostly leave them be when they decide they have had enough of me poking my camera at them:
There really wasn’t much else jumping out at me but I stayed out looking at the many different weeds species slowly swaying. The swell was the lowest I can remember this season and I wasn’t being pushed back and forth, which made a welcome change. While having my head underwater is a very calming and even therapeutic experience, I do bob up every so often to see where I am. On one such time I came across an unexpected find on the surface, a single black swan:
As I headed back into shore, where Lisa was still lounged out reading I came across a few Eagle Rays. She told me that they had been frolicking close to shore earlier. She had seen four or five, two of which had been lapping about playing in the shallows right on the water’s edge. So despite a promising look the ocean didn’t give away too many treasure for me. That said I certainly didn’t have anything to be Mr Grumpy about:
Yesterday topped the mid-thirties and today it would be in the high thirties, two clam days meant hopefully clearing waters and improved visibility. Instead of jumping in at my usual spot I wandered west to a spot that someone had said had a bit of reef. There were still remnants of the less clam weekdays floating about, and as this image shows the water still had a cloudy look to it:
I didn’t see too much in the way of reef but it was nice to be in an area that I hadn’t looked at before. I didn’t spot anything unexpected but did enjoy finding a few small limestone outcrops with some hard coral trying to make a comeback. As I resurfaced from one of these dives I saw a large shape to my side and it was a dolphin. Popping my head up I saw fins that had obviously been on both sides of me but they had already passed by:
It’s hard to judge but I reckon they got within five meters of me and I had missed the chance to (try in vain to) swim with them. I watched them disappear as they followed the shoreline popping up so now and then to breathe. It’s only the second time I have seen them while underwater and despite it being a tad cloudy it was very exciting. After watching them move on I carried on in the opposite direction:
Within a few minutes I heard the distinct call of the dolphins and again they swam past me, this time I saw them all gracefully go past. There were close to ten and I’m sure there was a young one with them. Despite being so close this was the best image I managed to capture. One hung about a bit longer, seemingly waiting for me to catch up with them but there was no chance of that:
This time they continued to move away and didn’t come back, so I continued my search and spied a tiny 1cm long something. When I first saw it I thought it may have been the leftovers of a fish or bait, as it was all distorted and looked to have pink ragged flesh. Then I saw it pulsate and form the distinctive shape of a jellyfish. I’ve no idea what sort it is despite conferring with Google, but during that search the images of what jellyfish stings can do made me glad I didn’t get close enough to even this little fella to get stung:
Well I can safely say there is no sting in this tale to have made me come out of the water as Mr Grumpy. However, this Globe Fish really didn’t look too pleased when I found him in a rock crevice, or was it simply the angle of the image? I on the other hand had a very happy smiley face but before getting out I bobbed in the shallows and watched/videoed an Eagle Ray disturbing shoals of small white fish:
Hope this email finds you as Mr, Mrs or Ms Happy
Sandbagged 