By all accounts it had been a very sensible move on Lisa and my part to stay home over Easter. The roads had been insanely busy and there were tales of trips to local places taking twice the time or more to get too, if you were unlucky. To avoid the tourists I also hadn’t been down to the local beach, but on Monday morning it was sunny and the whirly gig on the roof of the shed was almost stationary indicating near to no wind. I stood outside and listened, not a sound of a wave to be heard. So the three ingredients of light, swell and wind all seemed promising encouraging me to head to the beach:
Despite being mid-morning it wasn’t as busy as I expected. No doubt the other end of the beach where we sometime drive would be packed, offering longer stretches for the city folk to drive their cars on the sand. There were however a few cars parked-up and there was even one crew getting ready to put a jet ski in the water, um. I decided to make a mental note of that as I went in the water. No wetsuit today just shorts, and the water felt good. Not the cold I was expecting. It was also calm and clear allowing a great view of the ground below:
Over the season the times of the hide tides having been creeping earlier and earlier in the day. At the start of the season the morning snorkel would have been at low tide, and while this may only make half to three-quarters of a meter difference it is definitely noticeable. So now when I go in, which is at hide tide, due to the extra depth to the water column having good light is important. There seemed to be lots of fish about, no large schools but plenty to see. Above is an elusive Spiny Tailed Leatherjacket. Today I didn’t dive down to check it out knowing it would just dart away, instead merely watched from above:
I did however go down every so often to see what was to be found, quietly still hoping to stumble across a few more nudibranchs. The bright orange shown above occasionally attracted my attention and each time on closer inspection was found not a nudibranch. So I am still unable to make use of Nana’s new book on them. The above I believe to be either a sponge or compound ascidian, and is still very beautiful to see. It was on one of these exploratory dives I saw a movement that intrigued me:
I had stumbled across a small octopus tetricus, which had slunk into a crevices as I had gone down. It tucked itself uptight against a purple sea urchin, and I wondered how comfortable it was feeling and also how it was avoiding the sharp spines. It did the usual dance with its eyes, bobbing them from side to side almost sizing me up to see if it was worth the risk. I came back to the surface and floated there keeping an eye on the octopus hoping it would emerge. I stayed put for a while just watching and it looked to be making moves to come out when the jet ski came uncomfortably close making me look up and also sadly lose sight of the octopus:
After looking round for ages trying to find it again I gave up, in the open ground it is hard to distinguish where you are, cursing the jet ski owner. Eventually I moved on in search of other new or exciting finds. Despite looking in many caves and under many ledges, while I saw heaps, there was nothing worth reporting on. Except that is when a cuttlefish, no doubt startled by my sudden appearance, looked to be attacking me. It’s skin went rough and its tentacles became contorted, as it made a couple of aggressive approaches at me (above). After which it went back into the protective recess away from me, and only then returning to the usual smooth skin (below):
I noted the bommie position that was very distinctive and left it alone to settle down. After pottering about a few other bommies nearby I headed back to see if it was still there. This time ready to try and video the experience. But it wasn’t, or it was hiding deeper in the matrix of holes under the large bommie, and the entrance was now being guarded by a Western Striped Cardinal Fish. These fish only grow to approx. 14cm or six inches long and this one looked fully grown. If you compare the images above it will give you an idea of just how small the cuttlefish I saw was, it really was just a baby:
I was really pleased to have had a dive over Easter and thought once more that that would be it for the snorkel season with windy weather due to come in. Then on the following Friday I got messages from Nana to say she and Geoff had been out that afternoon and saw heaps, including nudibranchs!! I had seen the conditions on Thursday and Friday and knew they were looking good, but work had got in the way. So being hopeful I headed out on Saturday and while it didn’t look great I decided to go in anyway, and was immediately greeted by a small short-tailed stingray:
I followed the ray about for a bit and even took a video, as it circled round me seemingly not wanting to head out to the deeper water. It is the first time I have seen one of these rays, and really clearly seen the distinct white dots on its pectoral fins (or wings). Eventually I did brave going out and left the ray in the near shoreline. While I could see the bottom it was not clear or calm, as the image of Lisa walking the poodles is evidence of. I carried on regardless for a while diving down and looking about but today I started to feel cold quickly, which may have had something to do with having been out climbing since the early morning and then heading straight down for a swim:
The body was definitely low on energy and added to that my calves were feeling like they may cramp up. No doubt from all the mornings climbing on slabs at Moses Rocks. So it was a short dive and I headed back to shore not finding anything as I swam over the sandy bay until I got right up against the beach, where schools of anchovies danced round me in the sand riddled waters. The cyclones in the north are pushing some weather down our way for the next few days but being ever hopefully I’ve checked the forecast and it looks like next weekend might be good for another dip, so fingers crossed:
Sandbagged 