As I drove home from Welly Dam, after a morning out climbing with Steve, the wind was strong and the trees were bending this way and that. However, it looked like it may have been a southerly wind, i.e. offshore, so I checked the beach before going home and it was looking good. When I got home Lisa was looking sprightly, her migraine from the last few days had finally left her with a clear head. So it didn’t take much convincing to get her to come down to the beach for a snorkel:
It felt like the wind could be turning soon so we walked down to the local beach to avoid chewing up time before it did change. At the water’s edge the tell-tale shapes of rays could be seen, four in all, so we decided to go in near where these were. Four Eagle Rays were feasting on the carcasses of fish that had been cast back into the water after they had been filleted by the people who had caught them. While we got to see them the rays did not hang about and soon they were lost from sight. So we worked our way towards the reef:
The water didn’t seem super clear, the sand along the shore was being stirred up. However, as we went out to the weed and reef section I normally check out it improved. This was a good thing as Lisa had so far only been out a few times in areas where the water was shallow, here it got deeper and I wasn’t sure if that with poor visibility would have made her too nervous. We have lived in Peppy Beach for coming up to eight years and this was the first time she has snorkelled off our local beach:
Due to the depth of water here while it is possible to see things from the surface, to get a really good look you need to duck dive down and check out the many hidey holes. From above I spied a fish that I hadn’t seen before, a colourful orange with a few vertical white bands near the face. Sure enough under a shelf I saw a Scalyfin, it was watching me closely and probably weighing up what direction it should go for to get away from me. We saw lots of sea stars, this originally named Red Sea Star was snuggling up against an equally originally named Purple Sea Urchin:
I thought that after the close encounters she had had in the shallow reefs past the point that Lisa would not find this area as interesting. I needn’t have worried and she soon had a go at duck diving so she could also check a few finds out that bit closer. After initially struggling with the additional buoyancy that the wetsuit gave her, she soon got the hang of how to get down more efficiently before then swimming along the bottom:
Many other fish were lurking but all were too quick for me to take a snap, this Herrmann’s Sea Cucumber was however going nowhere. I was going to show Lisa but by the time I popped my head above the surface and managed to get her attention the swell had shifted my position and I wasn’t able to recollect where I had found it. The wind was turning as predicted and with it the surface was no long flat, and so it was getting close to time to head back to shore:
I kept duck diving along the way finding more interesting finds and of course sea stars, including this Echinsaster Arcystatus. Lisa asked me afterwards how often I felt that I had seen the same creature from a previous snorkel, an interesting question but one I thought would be impossible to answer. In her usual inquisitive way she then asked how old sea stars get, so I had to check that out and while each species is different some can live for up to 35 years:
As we were swimming over the last of the weed we came across a Bight Stingaree, it was quick to see me and slunk into the weed. This time I kept an eye on it while I managed to get Lisa’s attention. We hovered over it for ages just watching to see if it would emerge, not that it would. Eventually I was starting to cool down. While Lisa was snug in her full length wetsuit I was only in my boardies and starting to feel it. Time to really start making our way back. Lisa thoroughly enjoyed the local snorkel, but one thing did put her off:
Being a long weekend there were more people than usual on the beach and that included a group who had brought a jet ski. I felt like they knew where we were and had stayed away from us, but underwater you can hear them from miles away and it is impossible to really tell just how close they get. When we got back to shore the jet ski started to come over where we had been, making me think they had kept an eye out for us. Regardless of that it still doesn’t stop you feeling on edge when you are in the water:
We were hoping to get out past the point on Monday but a fresh easterly was blowing from early morning. So we plumped for a local snorkel of Wave Walk, with no beach driving and only a short road drive required. The last time we came here it was also choppy and Lisa had opted to walk the poodles rather than come in for a snorkel. One day I might get here in better conditions, it will probably be worth it as while I’ve never been in during good conditions I have always seen plenty of life:
As soon as our heads were under we saw a huge shoal of Garfish, and while we were pushed about by the swell in the slightly murky waters we saw heaps of Western Gobbleguts, Banded Sweeps, Western Pomfrey and Herring. Other fish, which Lisa can now add to her tally include a Shaw’s Cowfish, Southern Goatfish and the impressive male Humpback Boxfish. In fact thinking back to Lisa’s question yesterday about whether any of my finds are repeat finds, I think the Humpback Boxfish may well have been exactly that from my last snorkel here:
Fingers crossed conditions will be slightly better next weekend.
Sandbagged 