After a great Saturday morning climbing, the mercury was creeping up to 30 as I got home. The trees swayed and the wind was up, so I guessed that a snorkel to cool down would be out of the question. However, I was wrong. There was not a stir on the flat waters off the beach, no waves and no swell. Not only that but the water looked clear, I could see the sand without any murkiness floating in the water, so my hopes were up. However, before I could head out I needed to get home clear my climbing gear away and at least say hello to Lisa:
There are not heaps of images in this email, which might indicate that I didn’t see much. But there was lots to see and the conditions were perfect. Today I just didn’t fancy chasing the fish round trying to get that perfect image. I was content with bobbing out on the surface for most of the time just taking in the amazing colours and light, and just enjoying seeing the life dart this way and that but mostly scamper for cover as they saw me nearing them. Straight off the beach a large school of small fish circled me and followed me for a while as I went out:
I kept seeing jelly fish, not the hideous stingers that are sure to arrive just in time for the school holidays when all the tourists rock up and invade the beach, but gentle jelly looking creatures. You can feel them as they slip along your body as you swim along. I would normally try to avoid disturbing them but the ocean was full of them, it was quite literally a jelly soup out there. I tried to capture a few close up but they are so translucent that the camera’s auto focus doesn’t pick them up:
With it being so clear the sunlight had an unobstructed journey through the water and bounced off, seemingly dancing, on the gently swaying weeds. In these conditions just sitting there watching the kelp is an amazingly calming experience. I know there are many creatures hidden away in there but today there was no sense of need to search them out. The kelp gentle swaying with jelly fish all around was enough. I spied leather jackets, box fish, the biggest globe fish I have seen and even the odd squid keeping a healthy distance from me:
I did duck dive a few times to see what was round. Sea stars, sand gobblers, hermit crabs tucked in their rented shells and even a crab that very quickly scuttled under a rock shelf. I also found and was intrigued by a couple of corals that were coated in tiny black things. The only way I can describe them is they looked like tadpoles, a bulbous head and skinny tail, which seemed to be what was sticking them to the coral. I found quite a few like this and can only assume these are eggs, if these conditions continue it’s going to be a good snorkelling season:
I was starting to feel cold, I don’t wear a wetsuit on some boardies. I can last about 45min in the water before I need to get out and it felt like I was getting close to that point. I was not going to rush back to the shore so took my time. Swimming over the last rocky reef with kelp I spied someone looking back at me. I stayed here for a while and this fish would poke it’s head out and watch me then, as if in a seductive dance slowly come out and swish about above the weed before going back in, and then repeat the exercise:
This continued for quite a few rounds, and I daren’t duck dive in case I scared him away. Instead I enjoyed it from above, the water was fairly shallow here and with the clarity I had a perfectly good view from above. I don’t recall seeing this fish before, so was keen to identify it and am pretty sure it is a Herring Cale, the striking almost glowing blue streak in the tail giving it away. Eventually I had to keep moving, so I made my way back over the sands to the beach where the waters warmed up. Tomorrow promises to be just as good, I’ve got my fingers crossed:
Sandbagged 