The easterlies looked to be easing after another bout of strong winds so Lisa, Geoff, Esky and myself decided on a local snorkel off Wave Walk. Yesterday, as I returned home from climbing, I had taken a quick detour to check what was happening with the water and from my vantage point while it was a little choppy it looked crystal clear. This morning it didn’t look the same but we put that down to the morning sun not being high in the sky. When it is higher is penetrates the water and rebounds of the white sand to provide an amazing aqua-blue:
The forecast suggested today would start with a southerly, so off shore wind, which made us think it may have been nice and flat. The wind wasn’t due to turn till mid-morning, but the signs were already there for a change to occur and the ripples were beginning to form. However, we were there and it looked invite, so with a positive attitude we suited up to go in. This was to be Lisa’s first snorkel of the season, and as such it took a little more work to wash the toothpaste out of her mask. It was put on last season and since then had hardened up, being now a bit on the stubborn side to rinse off:
The water was clear and I set off on my usual tour of the reef, which is just a short distance off the shoreline. Scouring the weed as the gentle, but ever present, swell was pushing it back and forth. It was just enough to stir up a bit of the sediment. As I looked around small shoals of baby fish started to appear, Elongated hardyheads, Bullseye and Western Pomfrey. These are signs of what I would normally expect to see in December, as the snorkelling season kicks off. Banded Sweeps, Goatfish, Green Wrasse, Herring Cale and other usual suspect popped up here and there, but not in great numbers:
There was also a small school of Herring and then Western Striped Trumpeter fish swam past, they were heading towards the others and I hoped Lisa would see them. The reef felt more asleep compared to my previous trips here, so I ventured further out. Across another deeper patch of sand and towards the next bank of weed. The water was deeper and it was harder to see the tell-tale signs of something unusual. The reef came up a bit in places and I duck dived down to check under shelves and in caves but nothing unusual showed up:
I did however notice that there seemed to be a lot more excrement floating about in the water. I do occasionally see this, but today it looked to be abundant so I kept a keen eye out for what may be about. A larger school of Herring drifted past, but not in the numbers required to generate all the waste floating around me. Then I noticed what looked like a storm cloud (above). This was a massive school of Western Striped Trumpeters, thousands and thousands of them:
They were all tightly knit together with those in the middle heading down to the bottom to scour the weed for a feed, making it look like a mushroom cloud. Unafraid of my presence I got closer and they were happy for me to swim through them and if I stopped they would circle round me blocking out the light. As I did so they lost the cloud formation and spread out and it wasn’t until then that I realised just how many there were. It’s a shame they were not making the sound from which they get their name isn’t louder, as it would have sounded amazing:
It felt like I spent ages diving in, under, over and round these fish and took a few videos, two are linked below. Eventually popped my head up and I could see the other three were either heading in or back at the beach. I started to make my way in but before I got to far I looked back, the big shoal looked to be regrouping into a cloud formation. Leaving them behind the wind had well and truly turned and the water was getting choppy. I kept a watchful eye out but nothing else was to be seen, again the reef seemed to be asleep. No matter, it was lovely to get my head under water and the conditions over the next few days are looking promising:
Sandbagged 