Last weekend the tail end of a cyclone was due to make its way down the west coast with the threat of wind and rain. So before it was due to hit us I went out for a dip, in what looked like reasonably clear and calm waters. Our neighbour was fishing and said that only minutes before he had seen big schools of herrings pass by and there had also been a good sized pod of dolphins jumping about and playing in the shallows:
It felt cool, the water temperature is definitely going down, but the water didn’t look too bad as I made my way out across the sandy patch before the reef. Before I got that far I spied a Stingaree with a friend. I’ve yet to figure out what species of fish his friend was. Despite very distinctive markings, body shape and eyes I’ve not found it in my books. Often these little Stingarees won’t mind me duck diving next to them to take an image of two, but this time he didn’t want to stay still:
That said he wasn’t in a rush to get away either. So I kept going up and back down to check him out. Eventually his friend became too nervous to stay out in the open so popped underneath the Stingaree, and if it wasn’t for his eye you’d miss him. I did finally leave them alone and headed out to the reef but as the water became deeper I lost sight of the bottom and it seemed pretty pointless staying out looking into the darkness:
This weekend with four days off I had to give the waters another go, so I ventured back down yesterday. Just to show that I don’t rush down blindly in hope of seeing something underwater below is a strange looking fella that I almost stepped on. My guess is it’s probably a type of earwig, but it is the first one I have seen with this colouration and I have never seen one in such a defence position:
The water looked equally as ominous as the pincers above. Sure enough as soon as I was in I knew I was flogging a dead horse. Not only was the water cloudy with sand and particles swilling about but the weed was on its way in. That said seeing I had made the effort to wander down I stayed out for a while heading to where I knew the reef was a bit shallower… it didn’t help and there was very little I could see:
I did however come across a mob of little thumbnail sized jellyfish on the surface. They seemed to be in patches and looked to be a little like the stingers that are so annoying and can be a little painful. These however didn’t have the same long trailing tentacles. If you look carefully you can see a second one in the background and while I was careful to avoid them I did get a little too close on one occasion… they certainly were not the friendliest. So with stinging jellies about and murky waters I cut my swim short:
Today the sky was blue, well it was early in the morning but not by the time I had decided to risk another dip. This time I drove to the other end of Peppy Beach as the water there had on previous occasions proven to stay clearer than our end. Unfortunately I was proven woefully wrong as the image below shows. At least I got to see my faithful friends the Banded Sweeps and I also found a shoal of Western Pomfrey so it wasn’t a complete loss. I decided not to head out too far and stayed close to a few bommies, which were surrounded by deeper water that was thick as soup:
I get more nervous when the visibility is down, but in truth if something really wanted to make a snack of me the visibility wouldn’t make an ounce of difference as it would happen in a heartbeat without me being aware. I digress, and can say that despite the conditions I was very happy I went out as I stumbled across a nudibranch a species I have not seen before. Previously I have only seen the Harlequin species. I can’t find a common name for this one but think it is a Dendrodoris Nigra. The swell was pushing me back and forth and this guy was tucked away in a crevice, so while I got to watch him for a bit it was very hard to get a good snap:
If it looks calm and the sun is shining I might brave another dip tomorrow, but I already know that my hopes of clear waters are next to zero.
Sandbagged 