Just in case you were wondering why there was no post of my underwater adventures last weekend. I did head out but despite the water looking calm, underneath it was a whole other story. There had been some strong winds and swells, up to 4m, in Geographe Bay and the outcome being there was very poor visibility. Weed was floating everywhere. I wasn’t sure if it was worth staying out, but I preserved consciously keeping a bit closer to shore than I would normally. I knew I wouldn’t see anything it did however feel nice to have had a dip:
Yesterday, having been two weeks since I have had any new underwater discoveries I was keen to get out. The weekend also happened to be a three day one with Monday being a public holiday. The swell had been lower all week so I was hopeful and even better it was looking flat when I wandered down in the morning. I noticed a dark shape bobbing about just off shore, which was a dead Sea Hare. I’ve only once come across one of these alive, unfortunately I don’t have the images from that dive in a post to show you but they are very graceful creatures:
The problem with Sea Hares is that they are poisonous to dogs, and this one was heading to shore on a public holiday when the caravan park was full and lots of people were already out and about with their dogs. I left the Sea Hare bobbing about in the shallows, and went in. Above the sky had a covering of clouds that kept hiding the sun for periods of time, so the visibility while reasonable flipped and flopped between great and ok’ish. Regardless of this it felt good being back in the water and feeling like it was worth staying out. I spied numerous fish, mostly the usual suspects:
I also found the above shoal, which was swimming with a shoal of small Western Pomfred. As I approached all the Western Pomfred peeled off and put distance between me and them. These fish did not however seem as fussed. They are all juvenile bullseye, mostly Rough Bullseye but there is one that stood out with its black and yellow pelvic fins. This one is a juvenile Bigscale Bullseye. What is interesting is that bullseye when fully grown hide in dark caves and are quick to run, but these juveniles seemed more at ease in the relative open water and with me poking my camera at them:
I stayed out for a long time just enjoying watching the fish and not bothering to chase them for a snap. I was however curious with what looked like a clump of Slimy Bags, but the shorter length and speckled colouration made it obvious it was something different. Diving down I noticed the opening at each tip and some had small yellow tentacles protruding. It is called Zoanthus Robustus although I have not been able to find out any more information about it, so I am not sure if it is like a filter feeder or an anemone:
As I came out from my morning dive, unbeknown to me, I was followed by a couple of reasonable sized rays. I didn’t spot them until I had taken my mask and flippers off, and while I managed to get my mask on to take a quick look at them they didn’t hang about. So knowing that the rays are about, as a heap of people on the beach told me they had seen lots of them, I decided on a second dip in the afternoon. The water was again flat and calm, allowing a couple of Oystercatchers to probe into the sand for a feed:
The water seemed to have stirred up a bit since the morning and there wasn’t as much to see. So in view of having provided you with a few of the more unusually sea urchins I’ve come across this season, below is the most common. The Purple Sea Urchin will often not be purple and can be white to grey in colour. This one did however have spines with a beautiful purple tip. Like the Western Slate Pencil Urchin I usually find these in little hollows, but somehow these ones manage to maintain sharp points at the end of the their spines. While there wasn’t anything else to report it was a nice dive:
Monday arrived. A public holiday and one of the few that isn’t merged in with a school holiday, so Lisa was able to enjoy it without feeling a little aggrieved. The painter has returned to our place to finish off the last of the work from our plumbing leak in October last year. So we once more have numerous rooms packed in boxes and furniture again randomly scattered round the house. Why is this relevant, well the painter had decided that they wanted to work today and we were after all keen to get the job done. So regardless of the weather we were keen to get out of the house:
The clouds from yesterday were intensifying and a threat of rain was on the way for later in the day. A stiff seaward breeze was also present and it felt chilly but Geoff, Nana and Ben were keen to get out so we all drove along the beach past the river mouth. The beach was starting to change, the sand didn’t look that flat, gently sloping, clean white that we come to expect in summer. It was more rutted and weed was springing up here and there, mounds of sea weed were forming along the water’s edge and where it wasn’t present the beach had a steeper angle into the water:
All a sign of the changing seasons, and indeed today was the first day of Autumn. The water also felt chilly when we went in, at least Geoff and I felt so. The others may not have through so as Nana trying out her new wetsuit, covered head to toe, while Ben looked like a pro all decked out. As the images above show the visibility, despite the clouds wasn’t too bad. Close to shore it was murky and grim, but further out it cleared up and there was lots to see. Again mostly the usual suspects of rays, sea stars, sand gobblers, fish and a stunning array of weeds that looked like a floral garden:
While there wasn’t much new that I saw, I was chuffed to come across my second Estuary Catfish. Unlike the first one I had seen, this one really didn’t want me looking at it. As soon as I saw it, it frantically swam round looking for a place to fully conceal itself. It was so fast that I’m a little surprised I managed to get a reasonable snap of it. It really didn’t take long for it to be hidden from sight. That seemed to the way of this dive, everything was in a hurry to get away and hide. Despite being out for over an hour I took the least number of images I can recall in a single, good visibility, dive:
I did however come across the above fish, one that I have seen previously as it quickly hops about clinging on to the more exposed rocky reef. It is no more than 80mm long and extremely well camouflaged. I thought it may be a goby, but now feel that it is probably a Common Threefin. These are often mistaken for gobies but what distinguishes them is a more pointed snout and also the pectoral fins are divided into two fins. Soon after snapping the above image I headed back through the near shore murky waters, keen to get a hot tea down me:
I was the first back and usually I am the last to come back in. Lisa hadn’t gone out for a dive, in part as it would have been way too cold for her plus we had taken to poodles. Nana came in next and said she was still toasty warm, so the new wetsuit was a hit. Then Geoff came in with quite literally blue hands, shortly followed by Ben who like Nana looked like he hadn’t noticed the cold. We had found some good ground today and we all hoped Autumn would ease in slowly, allowing us the opportunity to come back out and explore again maybe with the sun above us if we are lucky:
Sandbagged 