My last, what I would call successful, snorkel was when I abandoned our local beach and headed to Bunbury to escape the South Western Stingers (stingers). That was not quite four weeks back, but it feel like so much longer. It may feel so much longer, as I have taken leave from work during this period when I would normally be in the water most days. While I have been in a few times, kidding myself that the water didn’t look too bad, there really was not seen much to see. It has been so bad that I could hardly see the bottom:
Of course when I duck dived down things came into view, but even on those exploratory descents there wasn’t much about. Or maybe I was looking in the wrong spots. It seems I’m not the only one who has noticed the rubbish conditions, and am a bit fed up with the poor off the beach conditions. The same issue seems to have been occurring from Perth all the way down the South West coast. Further out to sea it seem the water hasn’t been too bad on occasion, but along the coastal fringe the waves keep picking up each evening churning things up:
Today however Geoff, Nana, Gav, Monica, Lisa and myself decided we would risk a trip out. At 8am, when it was already 27 degrees, we headed down. The water had glassy patches here and there, and in-between the ripples looked innocent enough. Today was the first time this season I have driven on the beach. While I don’t mind doing it, I can’t say I’m a big fan. The feeling of soft sand giving way and wheels start to spin, as the car on occasion seems to slow down of its own accord, is a little unsettling:
We drove a fair way this time, more than I have before. I’m guessing four kilometres and halfway to The Huts, which is accessed from Stratham and where the best of the reef extends too. The water looked kinda OK and while it was obvious we wouldn’t have great visibility we still went in. It was a game of dodge the stingers for the first shallow section, where the water protected by the reef was calmer. I also saw a shrimp swimming, no more than about 3cm in length, kicking it’s legs furiously and making a beeline straight for me:
I’m guessing it was a South-west Glass Shrimp but I don’t really know. While I took the above quick snap, there wasn’t time to get a clearer image, as it simply disappeared from sight. I did a 360 degree check and also looked down, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. With literally nowhere for this shrimp to hide all I could think is that it had watched Star Wars. Using the manoeuvre the Millennium Falcon did to attach to a Star Destroyer, so as to avoid being further tracked or worse captured:
Despite the cloudy water it felt good to be back in this reef, lovely weed and plenty of places to explore. Quite a few fish were about, and early on in the dive Nana pointed furiously to my side. An Black Spotted Cat Shark was gracefully swimming along before ducking down towards the weed and disappearing into one of the many crevices. I noted a couple of tags on its pectoral fins, but was more intent on videoing the spectacle than checking them out. I’ve not seen these fish swimming out in the open water, probably as they are generally nocturnal, so maybe they were sleep swimming a bit like when some people sleep walk:
Geoff and Gav were out past the reef in the deeper water. Where it was harder to see the base, and you had to dive down to check out what might be lurking. They were chasing crays, while Nana and I were hovering in the shallower areas where it was easier to spot things. Such as the above couple of cray, which managed to avoid Geoff and Gav’s attention, and the below Common Threefin. There were plenty of other finds but no new ones that I can’t recall seeing before, and due to the condition no images good enough to include:
In some areas the water was so low that there was barely enough water depth to swim over the reef. The image below is taken approx. 100m from the shore. Nana, Gav and I all got stuck on the reef at some point. Thinking we had enough water to get over it, until the water seemed to drain away leaving us beached. We simply waited for the next set of waves to raise the water level and allow us to surf over into the deeper water. These waves were fun, but were also the reason the sediment and weed was being mobilised into the water column:
No matter, we persisted and it was a fun dive. When I prepared to start the slow journey back to shore I spied and videoed a second Black Spotted Cat Shark sleep swimming below me. No tags this time, so it wasn’t the same fish. It settled on the base, some four meters below me, remaining completely motionless. Staying completely still as I went down to greet it several times, and allowing for some great close up images. It seemed a good find to end the dive on, so made my way back to shore, but not in a direct line as I had to work my way round a huge ball of thousands of stingers:
Monica and Lisa never made it in the water, other than a shallow dunk. We had brought the stand-up paddle boards for them, but they decided against it after seeing all the stingers in the shallows. Also they were a little concerned about the outcrops of reef straight off the beach, waiting to cut them up should they have fallen off their boards. One of which the Crested Tern below was perched on. No matter we all had a great time. Fingers-crossed the condition continue to improve:
Sandbagged 