Today is the first day of a week and half festive break from work and the timing was good. The temperatures have been steadily increasing towards the weekend and usually that means the sea calms down. So this morning I was walking down to the beach at a very reasonable time of 8am’ish. There was not a sole in sight and the ocean was a beautiful blue:
Lisa and Elseya have been off school for just over a week and have had a few days down at the beach, as to be expected. They had warned me that the South Western Stingers were back, these little jellies have a nasty habit of appearing just as the summer school holidays start. The pinkish tentacles gave these ones away this morning, but that is not always the case. Often the shadows they cast on the sand below is more obvious than the actual animals:
There were not too many of them this morning, and I swam past the few I saw without being stung. The tide was out and so I had an even clearer view of the weed and reef below than I would normally expect, and it also made me feel that bit more comfortable going out further. While it has been some time since I have been in the water the area felt familiar and I recognised the bommies, caves and sand patches:
There were the usual fish about, none in great numbers but it was lovely to see them all the same. I spied just one pin-shell (above) and managed to sneak up on it before it clammed up. The kelp and other weeds gently swayed with the light dancing off them creating hypnotic patterns. Hidden amongst the feast for the eyes I spotted a few shoals of small fish, too alert to be able to get too close too:
I wasn’t sure whether it would feel too cold in the water and had decided not to take my short wetsuit. After diving in the water it felt lovely and I never felt too cold, not even shivering as I got out. I’d made a special effort to clean and prepare my snorkel mask for the first dip but sadly it still misted up forcing me to pop up every so often to clear them. The beach was still empty except for one person riding their fat bike while their dogs ran alongside:
The most colourful find was an ornate cowfish, this female allowed me to get up really close and the light illuminated the patterns that are pasted all over her. Unfortunately as is often the case the image I managed to get doesn’t really show this. One day I wouldn’t mind finding a male ornate cowfish, as they have very different and much more colourful patterns:
As I scoured the sandy open areas there wasn’t much to see other than a blue swimmer crab, who was feasting on the remains of what I assume to be the tail of a small shark. He was quite happy nibbling away but each time I got too close he would scurry backwards with pincers stretched out as wide as they would go to make himself look more menacing:
I then moved onto an area I don’t normal go, as the water is deeper and there isn’t much reef. But seeing the tide was out I took a chance and stumbled across more blue swimmer crabs than I’ve ever seen. The crab in the image below started off a mucky green colour, but as I stayed near it became more and more of bright blue colour:
I thought the yoga I have been doing, which includes breathing exercises, might have helped improve my ability to hold my breathe. But sadly it does not seem to be the case, and I found it quite hard duck diving down to check out anything that looked different. Eventually I could also feel the back of my legs stiffening up, a sign that it was time to get out:
The first snorkel while it didn’t provide any new finds was still very cool and even after 45 minutes I wasn’t tuning blue. I might even pop down this afternoon for a second swim with the fish…
Sandbagged 