I’ve managed one more dip in this unusual season. And it may be the last until the next snorkelling season comes along, as I’ll be unable to get into the water for a little while. It felt cool walking down this morning, and we have recently had some overnight single digit readings on the thermometer. The temperatures are finally starting to drop, as we head into the middle of Autumn. But the calm, rain free conditions persist. Two very weak low fronts have hit us, but they did not bring any rain and barely any wind:
The beach had a steeper slope where it slid beneath the water, typical of winter and indicating wavier conditions. The water was however lovely and clear. The lower and less intense sun and cool water quickly sucked the heat out of my body. I know I got colder than normal, as my fingers are still painfully tingling as I type. It may not have been as clear as my swim last weekend up round the bay, but it was lovely for our local beach. Banded Sweeps and Horseshoe Leatherjackets happily followed me round as I did my familiar lap:
I’ve previously called this a European Fan Worm (Sabella spallanzani), which is listed as a pest. Having looked them up again I could have been mistaken. My originally identification was made using a diving site that has a wealth of marine creatures, all catalogued making it easy to use. This time however it may have mislead me, as the feathers on the European Fan Worm radiate out in a spiral. Whereas this one has more of a flat feather structure, so while it is definitely is a Feather Duster Tubeworm (Sabellastarte) I’m not sure what species:
There seemed to be plenty of fish about, and I even spotted one that I do not recall seeing before. No more than six inches long with a very distinctive olive green body that was black in the lower half from the middle of the body back. It had striking big blue-green eyes. Despite coming across it twice during my swim, I was sadly unable to take a picture to allow me to identify it. Maybe because I was not able to stay down for long, as I was struggling with the cold. That said it was also not keen on me getting close and quickly darted off for cover:
If these conditions persist until I’m able to get in the water again, I will hopefully come across it again. I’ll definitely be wearing my wetsuit to keep me warmer and weights to help with getting and staying down. And while that particular fish didn’t allow me to get close I was very happy to come across the above Striped Stingaree (Trygonoptera ovalis). I was even more pleased to then come across a lonesome fish, one I have previously come across only a couple of times. Easily distinguishable from the ever present Banded Sweeps:
This Longsnout Boarfish (Pentaceropsis recurvirostris) couldn’t seem to make its mind up as to whether it was comfortable with me being about or not. Never trying too hard to get away, but when I did pop down to say hello it would start to swim away. There was no great urgency in its movements when it dawdled away. We played this game for a while. I guess I wasn’t stressing it out, if it really wanted to shake me it could have. While I did not get a side on image I liked this one, showing its lovely and seemingly effortless fluid movement:
Sandbagged 