After an attempt by a colleague to give me extra work “to prevent me from heading to the beach”, I did the only thing I could do. After all it was a go-a-bit-slower, work from home Friday and I was feeling a bit fried. Plus there is nothing better than a dip in the ocean to reinvigorate the brain, even if the water temperature is starting to feel almost bath like. The water temperature is currently 21 degrees, which is getting close the long term average maximum that peaks in March. Mind you the average year round variance is only 6 degrees:
So it is not so much the water temperature that makes it feel so much colder in winter; it is the air temperature, wind, and lack of radiant heat from the sun. Being a quick dip I went in only wearing my boardies. After a very refreshing half an hour I didn’t even feel a tingle of coldness. Back at my desk Rob was however happy I hadn’t refrained from heading down, when I sent him images of what the people in the above boats were hunting. Unlike my last dive, this time I could have reached out and caught several Rock Lobsters (Panulirus Cygnus):
The fish were also out and about feeling braver. Allowing me to get that bit closer, or maybe it was that I was able to stay under a little longer. Sneaking up on them from the side, ambush style. Of the images my favourite are the above female Shaw’s Cowfish (Aracana aurita) with its deep red keel like belly, and below female Western Smooth Boxfish (Anoplocapros amygdaloides) that seemed to be play peekaboo with me. Both are boxfish, a family that also includes cofferfish and trunkfish. Cowfish being names due to the obvious horn like feature:
Often I will swim from the reef across a sandy section. Keeping an eye out for any subtle change in the wave pattern the sand, which is made as a result of the rhythmical motion of the water. The change in pattern can be for several reasons. The one I am interested in is the potential for something being hidden just below the surface. When I got too close to the two stalk like eyes, a Blue Swimmer Crab (Portunus pelagicus) sprung out like a Jack-in-the-box, taking on its defensive posture to make it look bigger that it really is:
Back at my desk it was back to the grind, but with the weekend just round the corner plans had been laid. Josh was keen to get out. However, my car woes continue and we have still not managed to pinpoint the reason for the overheating warnings. To the point I’m not prepare to risk taking it out. While living out at Peppy Beach is wonderful, not having wheels leaves us somewhat hamstrung. Josh kindly offered to pick me up, for which I was grateful, and we headed to a place he had, until today, not sampled:
In past posts I’ve, maybe too often, talked of the fearsome reputation Smiths Beach holds. So I did wonder if he had remembered that when he suggested the location. On the plus side I really enjoy the climbing here, so was happy to pick off a few of the lower grade lines to make sure Josh had fighting chance on them. Despite getting the early sun, which was already up when we arrived, the two chimney like features on Harbour Wall were the obvious choice. Both of which Josh ate up even enjoying, I think, worming up The Drunken Sailor:
We then retreated to the narrower second zawn, which is afforded shade for a wee bit longer. Not that it was overly hot today, more so to allow us to keep the grades reasonable. This meant picking off a couple of routes I haven’t led for many years, and carefully eyed them up before committing. Below I am looking up at one of my routes called Deceptive Looks, which wasn’t too bad but I confess that it would scare the bejeebers out of any grade 13 leader. It was however the next route that played on my mind:
Photographic Belayer is aptly named, as the gear is relatively sparse making the belayer at times redundant That said on the pointy end it is a very nervous lead, and Josh was a little worried himself when I kicked into serious mode. As I write this I had to check my images to work out when I last led the line. To my surprise it seems I have only led it once before and was a week after Craig had established it. Back in January 2011, when I was a bit more fearless than these days. Um maybe another sandbag route, but at least this one is Craig’s not mine:
It’s good to have moments like that, when you feel right on the edge, just to stop you from becoming complacent. Josh found the relatively long crux sequence somewhat challenging so I was surprised when we suggested one more line before we wrapped thing up. But he did and while I found the last line more reasonable, his ability to hold onto the rounded holds was nearly fully depleted. Not helped by his fingertips being raw and sore from the abrasive rock, but he batted on regardless. The rope was then coiled and stashed in my rucksack:
Fortunately, having a healthy depth of skin left on your fingers is not a requirement for what we had in mind next. It is becoming more of a regular thing to head round the bay to Canal Rocks and go for a dip after scaling the cliffs at Smiths Beach. The ocean was relatively calm today, and I was tempted to jump straight in off the rocks. One day I will. The water is certainly a bit deeper there, but we could see the weed covered boulders below the surface and it looked like interesting ground. Today however we went in in at the boat ramp:
Like yesterday I decided to go in with just my boardies. No wetsuit, or even a rashy that Josh had opted for. Possibly a brave move by me as the water temperature on the west coast is some 4 degrees cooler than at our local beach that is in the more protected Geographe Bay. It certainly felt more brisk as I dove in. Preferring to get it over with quickly, as opposed to torturing yourself as the water creeps higher up your body when you walk in slowly. All of that was washed from my mind as the abundance of fish came to sight:
It may seem I have included images of two different fish above. I’m reasonably confident the first one is a Filefish (Monacanthidae), in part because of the distinct shape of the lower part of the body near the pelvic fins. That said it is not unique to filefish and I have not been able to identify which species. And as I attempted to follow it, it seemed to change colour. Therefore, I am not sure if I ended up following the same fish. And looking more closely at the images the body shape near the pelvic fins looks different in the above image:
Needless to say I have given up, but was interested to read that some Filefish can change their appearance very quickly in 1 to 3 seconds. So, I was not hallucinating when I saw the first fish change right before my eyes. Leatherjackets, a similar shaped fish, can also change colour, but I have not been able to find out how quickly. I spied another colour changing marine creature, and got excited. The above Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama), while not at the maximum length of one meter it was a good sized one and as Josh dove down to it, it swam under a ledge:
It didn’t seem to mind me popping down to say hello several times. Each time seemingly more comfortable with my presence, getting closer to me and not putting on as much of a colourful display. While there were many species out there, here is another Western Smooth Boxfish. I included it, as it had much deeper colours than the specimens I find off my local beach. Half an hour was enough, and as we made our way back in this fish was happy for me to take an image. While I have seen them before, as yet I have not pinned down what it is:
Sandbagged 