My optimistic outlook on the start of a good snorkelling season has been a tad dashed. Since my first dip I’ve been out three more times. The water is a good temperature but there seems to be a distinct lack of life out there. A few wrasse, goat fish and sweeps pop their heads out however there has been very little else to see other than weed. The only creature I have seen regularly and more often than before are the blue swimmer crabs:
Today I thought I’d mix things up and give the river mouth a bash, with memories of being greeted by big shoals of fish as I previously swam round the bommies there. Today the light wasn’t great with clouds blocking out the sun most of the time. As I walked down the beach didn’t have its usual “summer look” of a flat, gently sloping, clean white sand. Instead large clumps of weed banks were present with a sharp dip in the beach indicating rougher waters had recently been present:
The Capel River reaches the ocean at this end of Peppy Beach hence the name, just in case that wasn’t obvious to anyone. The amount of flow in the river slows down over spring dropping to just a trickle over summer. This usually results in the ocean closing “the gap” by filling the mouth with sand. However, I was surprised today to see the river still sufficiently flowing to keep the gap open. This was resulting in all the would-be-beach-drivers not being able to head out to the other side of the bay:
I walked past the cars picking up on the drivers frustrated states of mind. From the middle of the bay I knew that there were some good bommies straight out. The water near the shore was murky and weed was being pushed back and forth along the sandy bottom. I hoped that it may improve as I went out, but it didn’t. It felt like my last time snorkel of last season that was at the end of April. In fact it felt a bit Game of Thrones like… winters coming:
The only fish to see were a few banded sweeps, and there were no signs of the big shoals I had quietly hoped to see. The poor visibility and clumps of weed floating into vision as I swam between bommies made it a nervous snorkel. I don’t normally get worried being out there by myself but the open water sections today had me wondering what else might be out there. A stupid thought came to mind that bull sharks like areas where fresh water flows into the ocean:
I didn’t bump into any big fish with sharp teeth, but it did feel a bit dark out there in more than one way. All I can put it down too is that the season are that bit more out of kilter than normal. I might just need to wait a month or so for the water to settle down and fish and other creatures to do their thing to bring the place to life again. In the meantime much as I now look a bit like Luke’s father with my new mask, I will have to make sure I don’t get drawn into the dark side:
Fingers crossed things improve soon.
Sandbagged 