Friday morning instead of stretching as soon as I got up, I prepared myself to head in for a swim.  I was working today but wanted to get a swim in while the conditions looked favourable, as the weekend wasn’t looking to crash hot.  As such I found myself getting into the water a little after 6am even before the sun had poked its head over the dunes.  I half expected not to be able to see very well but there was enough light penetrating the shallow 3m or so to the sea bed.  It was low tide, which was on my side:

I was again hoping for that early life that may have been out in the more dimpsy, as Lisa would describe the, conditions.  While I wasn’t presented with lots of obvious fish life I did come across a few jelly fish that I have only seen once before off our beach.  It looks like a plastic bag, and I’ve been told they are called handbag jellyfish although I can find no reference of them online.  As a favourite food of sea turtles it is easy to see why plastic bags really are such a danger to them:

I spent a lot of time taking heaps of cool images of the jellyfish, like the Comb Jellyfish they have no tentacles and are covered is tiny hairs that rhythmically move.  They catch the light as they seemingly pulse across its body making the jellyfish glide through the water.  After a while I went in search of fish, no shoals but still plenty to see.  I snuck up on a few to try and get those cheeky images that I have so often not managed to get.  Again I was mostly thwarted, but I couldn’t resist including this image of a Magpie Morwong:

I scoured all areas of the sea bed including the weed, reef, sand patches and bare desolate rocky areas.  It is all luck when you are out there and you need to be looking the right direction and be in the right place at the right time.  There however also a degree of skill required to spy patterns and things that just don’t look right.  Sure enough tucked up close to the patch of weed was one such sight.  I knew straight away what I had found and that meant needing to take my time and not spook the creature that I knew would have seen me way before I saw it:

This octopus didn’t really have anywhere to go, the last one I spied slid under a rock shelf and was lost.  This one tried to suck itself deeper into the little hollow but there was nothing covering it.  So not wanting to scare it too much I got reasonably close, but avoided sticking my camera right in its face.  The eyes on these creatures are very striking.  Unlike the eyes of vertebrates, their nerve fibres run behind, and this means that more light can reach, the retina.  This provides them with good vision, an real advantage for a marine predator:

It was a quick dip of no more than 30min.  I could have happily stayed out there for longer but the clock was ticking and I did sadly have to get to work.  Despite the shortness of the swim it was very worthwhile and I wonder now why I hadn’t done a before work dip before.  Maybe I’ll change my ways, although I have missed the best opportunities this season as the morning light is arriving later and later with each passing day.  Fingers crossed conditions are OK for me to get back into the water this weekend:

Last weekend there was no time for outdoor fun, as Lisa and I spent every daylight hour of both days working in the garden.  While there was no playtime on rock or in the water, we did however get a workout.  There was still more to be done in the garden this weekend, but not as much so I snuck out for a snorkel early Saturday morning.  It was sunny above our house but the clouds were quickly moving in from the east, as was the wind resulting in poor light and choppy conditions.  Undeterred I went in, and almost immediately the battery on my camera died:

Sunday morning I decided to head back out, this time the blue sky extended across the whole sky and there was hardly any wind.  Due to having a morning full of “other things to do” I went out earlier than usual and was in the water by 7am.  Yesterday’s dip had also been quite early and I found squid, heaps of fish including two new fish for me (a Magpie Morwong and Butterflyfish), and a very strange spikey alien sea cucumber.  I was quietly hoping that another early morning would allow me the chance to have more new finds:

The visibility was so much better but it took a while before I found any fish, in fact there had been far more life in the gloomy, cloudy conditions than today’s calm and clear conditions.  Of course the Banded Sweeps were quick to appear, as were the bait fish.  There also seemed to be loads of Western Pomfrey, one of the fish that I hadn’t seen the day before.  I was only one bay away from yesterday’s location but the place look very different in formations, weeds and the fish species I was spotting:

I kept an eye on the sandy beds for any tell-tale signs of things to find.  Not much stood out, the weaving lines gave away the nights movements of the sea snail that lives in the Bell Clapper shell.  This one was left stranded in the open, I’ve found theses before with hermit crabs inside them.  Watching as they drag their home the sandy beds looking for juicy morsels to eat.  The snail’s scientific name is Campanile symbolicum, and it is said to be a living fossil, and the only surviving species of Campaniidae:

The tide heights have risen a bit since a few weeks back and as such some of the previously exposed platforms that were a hundred of so meter from shore, were just covered over.  It was possible to caterpillar yourself across them, but for the most part I went round the edges peering at the more exposed surfaces looking for anything unusual.  It was on this terrain that I found the freaky sea cucumber.  Today I was not so lucky, but this small shoal of what I think are juvenile Silver Drummers came up to me and danced right in front of me for ages:

I continued my journey spotting fish here and there but focusing mostly on the exposed limestone reef sides which were littered with all sorts of sponges, weeds, fans and squirts.  Several of them looked very much like fungi, which has in the past been one of the land based flora that I have been known to take copious images of before.  There were two today that really reminded me of the fungi I have found on fallen trees, this orange one being one.  Alas try as I might I have not been able to identify them:

It seems that every time I head out past the point I find a place with a different feel to it.  This time I came across this lush green underwater paddock.  It may be seedlings from the more common weed that we have round the place, the stuff in which I have managed to lose track of so many creatures like the recent cuttlefish.  There is no reason for having this image in here other than it striking me as looking very different, and in a way out of place with all the towers of kelp around it:

As I started to head back to shore I came across what looked like a tangled hair, the sort of thing that makes swimming in a pool so unpleasant!  I watched it for a while and then moved the water near it with a single pass of my hand.  It uncurled and the whole length started to move about, but in a way that was not in sync with the movement of the swell.  I’m not going to even try and guess what it was but there definitely seemed to be a purpose to how it moved, slowly making its way downwards:

Before I got back to shore I had one more find, a small fish.  Despite being very well camouflaged in the green kelp, I knew this little triggerfish would also be very quick to hide once I got to close.  I have come across them before but have never been lucky enough to take a snap of one.  Being just 5cm long tops and with a very distinctive pattern I’ve yet to name it.  While triggerfish can be found in many sizes and some quite small it is also possible that this one is a juvenile:

Both morning swims were very worthwhile, as there is always something new to see.  But it was time to pack up and head back to get on with more chores round the garden.  The image below gives you an idea of how far down the beach I head, with the houses Of Peppy Beach just visible in the distance.  Too far to head back to get a fully charged camera battery, so from now on I will have to remember to take a spare battery with me, just in case:

Last week a low pressure system came over the SW, which dropped the temperature, brought some wind and resulted in the waters looking a little cloudy compared to the previous stellar conditions of last weekend.  I was however keen to get out and seeing Sunday morning was booked up with a climb Lisa and I headed to Wave Walk on Saturday, a spot that Geoff had once told me was worth a visit.  In view of the weather not being ideal Lisa chose to not go in, and instead was enjoying some beach time with her book and a cuppa:

The toll of the week’s weather was clear, weed was floating on the surface and the water had a cloudy look to it. Still I persevered and tootled about to see what I could find.  The longer I stayed in the more my eye’s tuned into the conditions and there was the occasional fish to spot.  I duck dived down to check out some ledges but there was nothing to exciting to report on hiding underneath them:

Contemplating whether to stay in or not a large Smooth Stingray cruised past.  This one was in no hurry and I swam alongside it taking some video footage and a number of snaps before leaving it to dawdled into the murkiness.  These gentle giants can grow to 2m and weight 350kg, and this one was only a tad over a meter wide.  I’ve seen a few without their tail, and it is said that some anglers and commercial trawlers cut them off to reduce the risk of getting hurt while throwing them back into the ocean.  After watching the ray I started to see lots of shoals of fish, but mostly stuff I have already reported on this season:

There was a small squid that stayed just far enough away from me to take an image, before finally having enough of me and powering out of sight.  I also spotted a Spiny Tail Leatherjacket that looked amazing, the four bright yellow spikes just in front of the tail giving it away.  That one too stayed a safe distance.  This Humpback Boxfish was not so shy and allowed me to follow it round for quite a while.  After an hour I came out happy with my finds.  Lisa and I sat on the beach while I sipped my tea, and fought the urge not to jump back in as a large pod of dolphins slowly drift past:

Sunday I drove back into Peppy in the early afternoon, after my morning climb, and there was no wind.  So before heading home I did a quick circuit to check the conditions.  It was pancake and very snorkelable, so after dumping the climbing gear and have a quick drink I wandered to the local beach.  Not a wave and hardly a ripple, a complete contrast to the day before.  While the water temperature never really changes on hot days like this it somehow feels much easier to slip into the water and not have to fight the initial shock:

The water was clear and calm, so I started to scour the familiar territory of my old hunting ground.  There wasn’t much fish life to be seen but that didn’t stop me pottering about, diving down to check out sponges and where I could find them fan worms.  Occasionally there are opening in the limestone reef and you can see in the cracks and crevices, and in this one I spied a very colourful striped fish.  It was of course gone when I dove down and from this image alone it is impossible to try and work out which fish it was:

While I didn’t see much else I did get the feeling I was being stalked.  Normally garfish have not hung about, but a reasonably sized shoal was following behind me and continued to tail me for a long time.  Previously I have spotted the Robust Garfish, but these are Southern Garfish.  They spawn in the shallow sea grass, of which we have lots, and the young can stay in the shallows for a couple of years.  Feeding on strange mixture of sea grass, algal filaments and on occasion crustacean.  In this image one of the them has its mouth open, which I was surprised to see above the beak:

The clear waters made it a pleasant dive and to boot there were no stingers, which I would normally expect on such a calm day.  That said the school holidays are now over so maybe like all the tourists they too have gone.  I also came across a big school of Australian Herring, these fish move along the southern coast of Australia from Victoria to the SW of Western Australia.  Our SW corner is the only place they are known to spawn, and as such this area plays an important part in the life cycle:

Heading back in, more because my calves were cramping after climbing, I came across a small school of what I am going to assume to be Southern School Whiting.  Alongside the herring these are the more common fish that the local beach anglers catch for a feed.  These fish have a wider distribution than the herring stretching further up the west coast.  I often find these right along the shore and you can see them from the beach:

I’m hoping to venture a bit further afield with Lisa next weekend, so who knows what we might see.

The last day of the long weekend and in view of the beach having been crazily busy on Sunday, we thought it would be safe to head out this morning without the crowds.  Sure enough the plan worked like a dream and today Rongy and Alana tagged along, with Lisa and I.  It was always going to be a short dip due to other things that needed doing, but that didn’t deter us.  Having got over my little bogging incident we ventured back on the beach past the point, as Rongy was very keen to check the area out:

Not far out and the fish and rays were out, Rongy also spied a Heteractis Malu or more commonly called a Malu, Delicate or Sand Anemone.  I’ve seen three in all my years of snorkelling here, and today I doubled that.  Much as these look like harmless creatures they are in fact carnivorous and any small creature that happen upon them, such as fish, crabs or snails, will be paralysed and then drawn into the mouth at the centre of the disk to be digested:

I drifted off leaving the three of them to watch the myriad of fish that were about including Wrasse, Pomfrey, Leatherjackets, Sweeps, Morwongs, Globefish and many more.  The visibility was good and the ocean bed below was like a garden in bloom.  I didn’t chase any fish and was content to simply drift along checking out the ground that varied from flat sea grass, shallow reef covered in kelp to deeper crevices with sandy bottoms:

My patience finally paid off and I spied one of the creatures I had been hoping to one day stumble across.  An octopus was on the sandy bottom, obviously focusing on something which may well have been a prey.  I stayed very still, knowing that this very intelligent creatures will quickly disappear if it saw me.  It was of course inevitable and it slunk under the weed and rocks, then despite looking around all over I was unable to locate it again:

After that I started duck diving and getting more adventurous by going into caves and through swim throughs.  There are usually fish lurking in these areas but the light is not that great and as such getting a good image of them is hard.  I did however find this creamy coloured sea star, the shape is similar to the Echinaster genus of sea star but I’ve struggled to find any info on ones that are this colour, most being orange or red:

Today the water was pancake, a tiny swell but not a ripple on the surface.  The car was far, far way on the beach and while it is hard to say I reckon we were close to 200 meters out.  Despite being so far out a ridge of reef provides a great playground that goes from at surface to 5m deep in a short few meters.  I worked my way round this area looking for more ledges and crevices to see what I could find:

Under one I found what I think is a Cup or Barrel Sponge.  There are many sponges but they all have the same basic structure.  An organisms that has no tissue or organs and is effectively a body full of pores and channels.  Like a chimney they take water in from their base and it is piped through these channels to be ejected out of the top.  Filtering out food particles as the water goes through these channels, while oxygen is absorbed and waste products ejected:

It was great fun diving up and down checking out the area and not really being too fussed with taking images, however soon the allotted hour we had available was coming to a close.  Rongy was already out of the water and the girls were heading in so I made my way back trying not to get distracted and taken of course by the many sights that there are too see out here.  The area impressed Rongy and Alana them and it sound like may be keen for a revisit next weekend:

We got home, with no issues driving off the beach this time, and after a quick freshen up went about our errands.  As Lisa and I were driving back from Busselton late in the morning the ocean looked flat and clear.  So when we got home, much as I needed food, I was pondering whether to go down to our local beach.  It felt like I hadn’t been here for a very long time, and seeing it was so convenient to be able to walk down I decided to get one last quick dip in:

The water was still very clear but the surface wasn’t flat anymore and I bobbed up and down.  This area felt deeper and far more exposed than past the point.  That said it still had some nice areas and I again took to going up and down to see what I could see.  The above Golf Ball Sponge, yes it really is called that, drew my attention.  The image shows the intricacy of the internal structure of sponges, but something else caught my eye:

The above image is the after-image and the before-image is below.  My guess is that this is a Feather Duster Tube Worm, as you can no doubt guess rather than force the water through its body to collect food these allow the water to simple flow through the fine filaments making up the feathers.  Despite the natural water movement it doesn’t take much human (or animal) created movement to spook them, and they very quickly retract back into the tube shown in the image above:

I spent a lot of my time looking very closely at the weed checking for signs of Pipefish or Sea Horses.  We have on rare occasions found their desiccated bodies on the beach, but as yet I’ve yet to find a living one.  Having been told they are very hard to spot I don’t fancy my chances.  At least this afternoon when I was looking for them there were plenty of shoals of small fish to distract me, such as what I assume are young Gobbleguts:

I was about to head in when a cuttlefish drifted below me, and just like when I saw the octopus in the morning I froze.  Another intelligent creature that belongs to the class of Cephalopoda, which includes squids and of course octopuses.  I was hoping it would get curious and come to me, as I have heard they can.  But instead it slid into the weed changing colour as it did, and disappeared from sight.  I tried to find it again but once it was under the weed it was an impossible task:

Eventually after an hour in the water and a total of 6 to 7 hours of snorkelling during this long weekend I headed back to shore.  Roll on next weekend and fingers crossed the conditions are good again.

It is the last weekend of the summer school holidays, which also happens to coincide with the Australia day weekend.  It is a day when everyone feels there is a need to get to the beach, especially on the big day itself which this year fell on Sunday.  As such we were expecting it to get busy, and so I took a day off on the Friday when it would be a bit quieter:

The reason was in part to have less people around but also as I intended to drive down myself.  While I’ve driven off road and on sand before, it has been on rare occasions I will confess that I’m not the most confident at it, and don’t really enjoy it.  However, now we have a real reason for doing it and that is to get to places like this:

It is also only a short drive in the grand scheme of things, so on Friday we went down and Esky drove out too.  We went to the next bay along from where Geoff and Nana took me, and with a very low tide this area was so shallow in parts Lisa got beached.  Above the Western Pomfrey, which are a bit of a regular now, but as the image was photobombed by a Western Striped Trumpeter I had to include it:

I’m getting behind here and in the above image is a shoal of Weeping Toado, which is part of the Pufferfish family and often called a blowflish or blowie.  These remind me of my dad, as they are the fish that were in the water when we got him to have a go at snorkelling in extremely shallow water.  However, as he is afraid of being in the water I don’t think he got to see them in his panic:

Esky came out with Megan, and they were trawling the reef looking for fish but also crays.  Above his catch bag is floating behind them as they are lost in the distance.  It is not always the big stuff that is worth seeing.  Occasionally it is the very small things that catch your attention, such as this jellyfish that is no more than a centimetre in size.  We also saw what looked like spiders floating about that were much smaller:

Nana was taking the place of Geoff, who couldn’t make it.  She was up and down like a yoyo checking out any nooks and crannies she could find.  She scored and found a Rock Lobster, or crayfish as they are commonly called, and better still one that had nowhere to hide unlike last time.  It was tucked under a little tunnel and stayed put allowing me to get a few snaps before leaving it in piece:

At one point Lisa was shouting out, with her snorkel in her mouth, Eksy called Megan to his side in case it was something not too friendly that she had spotted.  I looked round just in time to see a big Smooth Ray glide effortlessly, and too fast to keep up, over the kelp.  While they get much bigger, this is the biggest we’ve been lucky to see this year:

Below is a fish that I’ve spied a bit in the last few dives.  It seems to potter about in the kelp and is not one to sit around, a bit like Wrasse do but I was sure it was not a Wrasse.  Once seen it moves on pretty quickly, and this is the best image I managed to get.  Based on the shape, colouration and section of the dorsal and anal fins being clear I’m going to guess at a juvenile male Herring Cale, which funnily enough is part of the wrasse family:

As I carried on my way I found a sea star that I have seen once before many years back.  I’ve checked as much as I can and am pretty sure it is an Echinsaster Arcystatus.  The technical name is a bit of a mouthful but I can’t find any information that alludes to a common name for it.  It looked like it was covered in fluffy fur that created a blue hue:

After all my efforts on the other reefs to snap the Horseshoe Leatherjacket, in this area there was an abundance of them.  They were not shy and hung about, it seemed on this dive that there was an abundance of many variety of fish where ever you looked.  Over each dividing ridge of coral there was something new to spy:

In amongst the shoal of Horseshoe Leatherjacket there was one that was very different, and I followed it about.  It didn’t seem to mind my presence and eventually broke free of the pack allowing me this solo shot.  When I got home I was at first excited to think I’d found a Barred Filefish, but now I realise that I got it wrong and it is in fact a Yellow Stripe Leatherjacket:

Speaking of getting things wrong, I have heard there are species of Catshark that live in the more shallow waters.  During recent dives we’ve come across them five times, but am still excited when I see them.  I can also confirm that I was on the money with the small colourful fish in my last post and they were in fact Yellowhead Hulafish, but can also go by the name Prettyfins:

The Banded Sweeps, above, are present on every dive no matter the conditions.  Even when all other life hides away these fish come out to say hello, so it seemed only right to include them at least once.  Back on the beach Lisa was getting ready to make a cup of tea, yes we had come prepared, and as I drifted back in Megan was watching a Cormarant dry it’s wings:

Almost as soon as I got out of the water a dolphin cruised past just metres off the beach, we tried to coax it to stay about but it kept going.  It was then time to warm up and catch-up of what everyone had seen.  In addition to Catsharks and Wobbegongs, which I hadn’t spied, the one that I was most jealous of was Monica coming across a Cuttlefish!  I’ve seen one before but would love to see them again:

Esky and Megan drove off leaving us to some decadence of a fresh brewed tea to warm us up.  I however was keen to get back in so left the girls to have a brew while I went to see what else lurked below.  In the first dive I had worn my short wetsuit and also a weight belt, which I had only just bought.  It certainly helped me with staying down and not floating back up, but this time I went in without it:

This time I did get to see a Catshark, but no Cuttlefish.  The water was just starting to turn as I was out there, but the conditions held enough for me to have another god dive.  Almost immediately off the beach I snapped a couple of Tarwhine, very similar to the bream family but with a more rounded forehead and slightly different pattern.  These were little ones and they can grow to close to half a meter:

I also found a second Echinsaster Arcystatus, this time is much shallower water allowing me to take a better image of it.  I’ve read that it resembles Plectaster Decanus (the Mosaic Sea Star) but is bigger in size, less brightly coloured, has a pattern that comes across as more mottled and has arms that are thicker and more round.  Um I’m not sure how it resembles a Mosaic Sea Star it at all:

I’ve also seen a fair bit of what I believe to be Sea Lettuce.  You may recall the post in which I had lots of photos of various sand gobblers, often call sea cucumbers.  Well like them I’ve read sea lettuce is edible not just to sea creatures but also humans.  If it is, then I could in theory harvest it not just for use in salads and soups but also make ice cream and medicine:

During the first dive Nana had found a Globefish in a nook, one that it could not escape from.  While I have seen loads of these fish, I rarely get to see them face on.  It was however a bit deep and so the light wasn’t that good.  This time I lucked upon one that was not trapped and seemed happy to say hello.  It didn’t even swim away when I got this close, so I left in it piece before finally getting out:

There was a cuppa waiting for me, which was very welcome.  The wind had started to turn and the glassy flat water was gone.  We packed up and drove out, being a Friday there were very few people on the beach and it was an easy drive out on the more compact sand.  It got a bit soft at the end but we sailed over that.  Back home the gear was cleaned and prepared for the next trip, which happened to be the very next day:

Come Saturday we had a bigger convoy, starting with four cars and ending up with seven.  We ventured a bit further along the coast, and as we drove out Lisa and I were wondering how far we had gone and at what point we had passed the bay from the day before.  The coast goes on and on like this for some 6km like this and there is reef the whole way:

With yet another very low tide there was lots of reef sticking out of the water.  These created labyrinths to explore but at times they led to dead ends and you had to reverse out.  If there had been a swell I image you could get knocked about a bit, and possibly also cut up.  Today I had my wetsuit on offering a bit of protection in the narrower parts I venture.  I also had the weight belt on allowing me to sink and float along the bottom, sneaking up on fish:

Hidden amongst the weed there are so many different fish.  Often you just get to see them out of the corner of your eye, as they dash for cover.  But today these Brownfield Wrasse above were not quick enough to hide.  They are usually very fast to go under the weed.  I also spotted the follow fish, and I am stumped with this one.  I was hoping the body shape and large eyes would give it away but I’ve had no luck:

Here is another fish that is usually quick to hide, an Old Wife.  Something I didn’t know was that the dorsal and maybe the other fins have a spine that has venom in them, and they have also been known to set up “cleaning stations” where they remove parasites from other fish.  So you could say the film Shark Tale, in which fish set up a cleaning business was loosely based on real events (ha ha):

There is only so much sitting on a beach that I am capable off, and it seemed like no one was in a hurry to leave.  So like the day before, after warming up on the beach, I went out for a second snorkel.  I again found something green, this time it was a fluorescent green coral.  I’ll take a punt and suggest that it may be a Diploastrea Heliopora, or more commonly called Brain or Honeycomb Coral.  If correct these corals can become enormous, but this one was only ten centimetres long at best:

The green theme continued, as I found what I can say with more certainty is from the Chalinidae family of sea sponges.  It is a Haliclona but breaking it down any further is impossible, as there are over 400 species.  Sea sponges are very complex, created by a cluster of cells each organized to perform specific functions.  If the cluster of cells is split up it can be possible for them to reorganise to create a new sponge:

My next find was the best of the two days.  This is a Short Tailed Nudibranch named due to the strawberry looking tail behind the gills.  Whilst these may be common it is the first nudibranch I’ve seen this season.  They feed on sponges and the tail is actually a gland in which the toxic chemicals extracted from the sponges are stored.  The brightness of the tail lures any predators and hopefully deters them due to tasting really bad:

As I started to head back in for the second time a small shoal of Western Striped Trumpeters circled me.  So in view that they put on such a good show I had to include an image of them.  They are part of the grunter family, a name that comes from the croaking sound it makes when stressed, a sound created by expanding and contracting muscles attached to the back of the skull:

One final image.  Yet another smooth ray, which swam past me on the final leg of my four snorkels in two days.  I was in no great rush to get out so followed him for a bit, and he seemed fine with that allowing me to swim next to him instead of behind as usually happens.  While I got very close I particularly like this image just because of all the colours and how the light is dancing on the rays back:

Back on the beach, I found Gav still trying to catch a feed.  He hadn’t been too successful having caught a Blowie and this fish, both destined to be put back in the ocean.  We were not sure what this one was, so I said I’d try and identify it.  However, despite the distinct pattern I’ve not managed it name it so will put it out there, if anyone can help:

As Lisa and I drove out, and me being a bit of a rookie to beach driving, I made a few basic mistakes at the last section.  There were heaps more cars on the beach and the last section had been churned up, making the sand much softer.  With just ten or so meters of soft sand to go I managed to get bogged, fortunately the crew were not far behind so with some helpful tips and support from Gav I got out.  It was my turn to feel a bit green.

Being school holiday I thought I would take Friday off and have a short week.  No reason other than it would be nice to spend a bit more time at home with the girls, and ease into 2020 more gently.  On the flip side the weather has been good for a few days with off shore winds and low swells.  So I took advantage of the conditions with three snorkels in three days:

On Friday morning while Lisa was out at cross fit I mentioned that I was likely to head out for a snorkel.  I took a chance and messaged Geoff and Nana to see what they were up to and my luck was in they were home and keen to get out.  Better still they were happy to drive past the point.  I’d heard tales from several people about the great snorkelling here:

Straight off the beach it looked similar to where I go off my local beach.  I was however greeted by a shoal of Robust Garfish.  The extended snout and distinctive black spot give this species away.  Not to be confused with the Southern Garfish, which is not found so easily due to over fishing.  So much so that in 2017 and 2018 then banned people from fishing them:

Not too far out from the shore I was greeted by a sea of green, and there was no obvious end in sight.  There was weed as far as the eye could see, the lush kelp was interspersed with many varieties of weed, the one that caught my eye the most being this plant that had fluorescent blue tips at the end of each leaf.  It looked like a Christmas tree:

For some time there seemed to be no fish about.  I spied the odd Wrasse playing hide and seek but not a lot else.  Then it changed and there seemed to be fish everywhere.  It started with huge shoals of bait fish, and then something a bit bigger.  A large shoal of Southern Silver Drummer came past, and every so often would come back round for another look at us:

I also spied a McCulloch’s Scalyfin, an elegant looking fish that is more often than not solitary and while common round these parts are wary and keep a safe distance.  I feel like they are also inquisitive, as they will watch you and poke their head out to see what’s happening, only hiding away if you try to get too close:

The reef in this area was mostly shallow but every so often, a crevice would open up and the walls would be covered in a variety of weed.  Below Nana is sporting her anti stinger outfit, and while we didn’t see too many I think she maybe onto a good thing.  Here we found a swim through, something I’m not particularly keen on mostly because I can’t hold my breath for too long:

Geoff however was up and down like a yoyo, not as covered up as Nana but he was sporting some robust gloves.  He wasn’t afraid to dive down and stick his hand about in the hollows in case there happened to be an unsuspecting cray fish, not that he had brought a catch bag in case he had a lucky find.  One was spotted but it was too quick and too deep in the reef:

While it was good fun to duck dive down and check out what lay beneath there was also plenty to see just below the surface.  There were several large shoals of Western Pomfred.  They were really well camouflaged by the kelp despite their large numbers, but when you got the right angle they created a beautiful mosaic pattern:

There was also large numbers of the Australian Herring, interestingly I can’t find this in either of my fish books.  It is also known as a Tommy Ruff, but even that didn’t come up in the books I had.  It is the fish that most people are after when they are fishing off the beach.  It is not in fact a Herring like the in the northern hemisphere Herring, and is part of the Perch family:

I had to include this next image.  While there were many shoals of small fish, these ones in particular caught my eye.  Very distinctive colouration and body shape, but do you think that helps me to identify them!  I have given up and am not sure what they are.  The shape seems to me to resemble a Hulafish more than any other species, but the colouration doesn’t match:

I spied the above fish at the bottom of a deeper crevice, here the walls had a myriad of Sea Fans and this red one caught my eye.  You can also see some in the image above.  By now I was starting to feel the cold and my ability to duck dive down and hold my breathe was reducing, so it was time to consider making my way back in:

However I had to go down a few more times as Geoff spied a cray fish shell.  They are known to usually moult once a year, although the frequency reduces as they get older.  After shedding their protective shell two things happen, firstly they need to hide away until their new shell hardens up and secondly they become hungry and need to feed.  A prime time to catch them:

Despite going out up to 150m, the reef can still be very shallow and there are even patches that stick out above the surface.  This image was taken as I was making my way back in, I was hoping that these Cormorants were going to fan their wings to dry them but no such luck.  Not wanting to disturb them I didn’t get any closer and wandered back in:

Back over the sandy patch before the shoreline I saw a small creature bobbing about in the water.  It seemed to be waving it’s body back and forth to generate movement and was going up and down as well as along.  It was not until it rested on my finger that I realised it had legs.  I’m not convinced but it may be a Polychaete Worm, as they can have legs but usually more than this creature:

On Saturday morning Lisa and I headed out to meet up with the climbing crew.  It was a great morning but she caught a bit too much sun so when I mentioned that I intended to go for a dip in that afternoons off our local beach she declined.  As I got ready to get in I saw a pod of dolphins.  So I whacked the flippers on and went straight out, and bingo timed it perfectly:

After witnessing the life beyond the point the little patch of reef that I visit so often now seems pretty drab.  However, after seeing dolphins I felt like it had been a worthwhile dip.  Then I noticed a whip like tail sticking out of a ledge.  When I investigated a Stingaree that I think is a Sparsely Spotted Stingaree, due to the colouration and fringing white edge, popped out:

With two great finds already I was happy and I just bobbed about checking out what else may be lurking.  Other than a few shoals of small fish, which I won’t even try to identify there wasn’t much else.  I did run into a particular stingy bunch of stingers.  So with a slightly sore forehead from bumping into them I decided it was time to head in, content with my finds:

Sunday morning Elseya was at work, so after dropping her off we met up with Esky and he drove both Lisa and I out past the point.  A bit further from where Geoff and Nana had taken me.  It was Lisa’s first snorkel this season, and in truth probably for a several years.  Esky had his float and marker in tow, under which his catch bag hung in case he found crays:

The water was clear and immediately a Western Shovelnose Ray swam under Lisa and I and allowed us to follow it.  We probably disturbed it as we swam over it, and we are lucky it didn’t bolt in a different direction.  This allowed us to watch it for some time but eventually it had enough of prying eyes and swam away:

The reef here was extremely shallow, so much so you could stand up in the water.  This suited Lisa as it was her first snorkel in a long time.  The only problem with it being so shallow was that it was possible to seemingly trap yourself in the labyrinth that the reef created.  And then had to work your way back out and around, which did happen to Lisa at least once:

Our next big fund was another Catshark.  I thought it was a Black Spotted Catshark, but it is much darker than the previous one I found and the field guide doesn’t indicate that they can be this dark.  Regardless of that it was a great spot by Esky, and Lisa was having an awesome first snorkel.  She didn’t however fancy going out much further so we left her in the shallows:

The fish life increased as we went out, slightly deeper but still shallow enough in places to be able to stand up if needed.  A shoal of Southern Silver Drummer’s stayed close, and in the clearer water the patterns on their face were much more distinctive.  They again didn’t seem too afraid, I’ve heard they are not good eating so maybe it’s because are not at risk of being speared:

As I checked out mostly what was close the surface Esky was busy looking underneath, ever hopeful that a cray may be in reach.  He had a weight belt on to help him stay down, something that can be, and I find is, tricky.  That may be something that I could invest in, possible also a wetsuit which would keep me warm and allow me to stay out for more than an hour:

Again there were different types of weed to the last spot, the one that I really liked was this purple cabbage looking one.  It was a strikingly different colour to the more common greens and reds, making it stand out.  But also the leaf shape and clustering was quite unique, but not unique enough for me to be able to figure out what it was:

Finally an image of me as I was duck diving down to check out one of the many deeper sections.  This was yet another great location and I can see that we are going to have to come out this way more often.  There is certainly a greater abundance of life, more variety of locations and to boot also less people.  Also Lisa has already expressed an interest in getting out again soon:

On our way back in I spied a coral that I liked and this is the last image.  It was hidden under a cave and it was my last duck dive.  I headed back in, as Esky tried fruitlessly to find and catch a cray.  He came back empty handed.  Lisa was already on the shore but had spied a Smooth Ray, Flathead and also what she thinks may be a tube anemone.  It has certainly been great weekend in the water:

This weekend the forecast was looking good to get out for a snorkel, but having planned a climb for Saturday it had to be a Sunday morning dip.  The conditions were supposed to be so good that I had suggested Lisa come out with me, and it would have been her first snorkel this season.  Sunday morning she was however far too comfortable in bed with a good book, so I wandered down by myself to take a dip.  The forecast had got it wrong and there was a landward breeze that was starting to pick up and the small but not insignificant waves were starting to roll in:

It was now or not at all this weekend, so I went in and bobbed about.  The longer I stayed in the choppier it got and my snorkel occasionally took in water.  It was a very low tide today and that meant I drifted out a bit further than I would normally when it is not so clear.  There wasn’t much to see until I came back up from a duck dive and looked in the right direction to see a family of three dolphins effortlessly glide past me.  There was a calf and two adults, no more than five metres from me but in today’s conditions the images I got aren’t that great and they quickly disappeared out of sight:

We get bottlenose dolphins along our coast and they grow to over 2m.  I have not come across them very often when in the water but each time I do they seem very big.  The calves are usually born between February and May and are approx. 80cm long, and the one I saw probably bigger than that so maybe last year’s young.  Despite such interactions, as today’s, only lasting seconds it created a real buzz that lasts all day.  Hopefully one day I’ll get to see them in clearer waters and if I am really lucky they won’t be in such a rush to keep cruising down the coastline:

The experience made me keen to stay out and check out what else there may be to see, although I have to admit that I was quietly hoping the dolphins would come back along.  Often we see them cruise back and forth along a stretch of the coast so it was possible.  In the meantime I came across three Horseshoe Leatherjackets.  Unlike previous times when they haven’t got very close this time they kept circling under me.  However, when I dived down they would move away and keep a safe distance.  Facing me as if to keep an eye on my next move, while their prominent dorsal spin, above the head, was moved into the upright position:

These fish can grow up to 60cm long, but I have only ever seem them at about 30cm.  The dorsal spin is serrated on the rear edge, no doubt a defence mechanism but it is unclear to me why only the rear edge would be serrated.  I’ve read that there is a second much smaller spine, located immediately behind the main spine, which can lock the main spin in the upright position.  They were just over a nice bit of reef covered with kelp and I dived down several times checking underneath it.  I found a variety of other fish hiding in dark crevices not brave enough to venture out, so I let them be and moved on:

After swimming round the reef and weed for some time and seeing nothing more than the usual suspects, it was time to start heading towards the beach access track and over the open sandy areas.  The dolphins had not passed by me again, or at least not while I was looking, so I was quietly hoping to see a ray after coming across both a Smooth Stingray and Bight Stingaree during my last snorkel.  I was not to be disappointed, and came across a Southern Eagle Ray.  The wide wings, wider than they were long, and angular raised head are clear signs of which ray this was:

I was interested to see it was in what seemed to be a sitting position, something I have not seen before.  I stayed on the surface watching for some time, not wanting to dive down and disturb whatever it may have been up to.  I’ve been unable to find out why it was in this position, but it stayed there for a considerable time.  However, after a while I could sense that it was getting nervous with me hoovering above.  So I decided to go down and see if it would let me get a bit closer:

Not surprisingly it was off, I didn’t even bother to try and keep up with it.  Instead checked out where it had been “sitting” upright, but found no obvious signs as to what it was doing.  Eagle Rays like many rays have venomous barbs, but that is not why I didn’t follow after it.  The main reason was that they are very fast swimmers and it would have left me for dust.  They have even been known to jump out of the water.  While the reason for jumping is not fully understood, there are some theories such as getting rid of parasites and females avoiding interested packs of males:

Before I reached the shore I came across a Western Smooth Boxfish and also this beautiful male Shaw Cowfish.  Box and cow fish are closely related and are often confused, they both have a hard shelled body made up of bony plates that gives it the distinctive boxy shape.  Being benthic feeders I often see them in these open spaces, as they blow jets of water at the sandy floor hoping to expose prey.  I mostly see the female of this species so it was nice to come across the very colourful male for a change: