The Deep

Last weekend there were no plans to go anywhere, so I took advantage and had two dips in our local waters.  It was still pretty murky and the swell was shifting the water backward and forward over the weed so I was not too hopeful to see much.  But as is usually the case there will be something to see if you make the effort.  On the Saturday I came across a small shoal of trumpet fish, which hung about me for a long time:

I also saw heaps of fish out and about, mostly individuals or shoals of juveniles and other than that the only unusual find was a four legged sea star.  These fellas are hardy as and can lose a limb of two and still keep going:

Unperturbed by the lack of significant finds I went out the next day.  I passed our neighbour who was fishing off the beach and popped in a mere fifty yards away from them.  I’d only got ten yards from the shoreline when I was surrounded by hundreds of herrings.  I hovered about with these guys for ages ducking down and swimming through them.  Maybe I should have encouraged them to shift along the beach to the fishing lines, but I left them to their own devices and that was to head the other way (my neighbour didn’t get one bite):

It was a calmer day with clearer waters so I headed out further than I would normally, probably about a 100m offshore.  The water doesn’t get that much deeper even that far out but when it is murky and less calm I tend to hug the shoreline a bit more.  Again there wasn’t a heap of new things to see but I couldn’t resist this image, as I liked the colours so much:

I did spy something and went down to investigate, to find the top of this Pinnidae, which is a large saltwater clams sometimes known as a pen shell.  We are always excited when we find these washed up on the beach and even more so when we find the two halves complete and unbroken.  The largest we have found was about a foot long.  I have however never come across a live one, and this was the only image with the shell open.  After this it somehow sensed I was there and clamed up.  Only about a fifth of the shell is poking out of the sand:

This weekend the weather is due to come in on Sunday so I went for a wander down to the beach this morning.  Our neighbours Brian and Eske, were stood by their boat looking at their phones and the shark Apps trying to decide whether to head out for a spot of diving.  I told them not to be sissy’s and just get out there, when they offered for me to join them and snorkel while they dived.  Their intention being for me to the shark bait:

After almost getting bogged in the soft sand the boat was launched and out we went.   They reckoned we would be about 200m offshore in a water depth of 6m or so.  While they used an electronic depth gauge to find a good spot (i.e. with reef) they also used a more traditional technique to see if the chosen spot would suit their purposes:

This comprised sticking your head in and seeing what is down there.  While they were looking for reef, they also wanted a reef system that looked like it may be the home of crayfish.  While I was going to bob about on top they would be below hunting for a feed of shellfish:

After kitting up it was time for them to roll out of the boat, which I thought would make a good picture.  It kind of did but I missed the best shot of Brain hitting the water.  This was due to the boat had rapidly rocked back upwards as he left it, sending me flying off the other side.  Eske was in stiches as I swam round the back and hauled myself back up:

The water was about 4-5m where we were and it felt soooo much deeper than where I usually head to off the beach.  I was a tad surprised not to see heaps of fish, or fish bigger than I would normally but I did find this very cool plate coral:

The boys were darting here, there and everywhere listening for the distinctive crackling sound of crayfish as they scavenge about clicking their claws.  They were also looking under all the rocky ledges for the sign of antenna poking out.  I bobbed about and stayed a bit closer to the boat than they did.  Popping down every so often to see what I could see:

It was pretty cool watching the air rise up from below, looking a bit like jelly fish that got bigger and bigger until their exploded into heaps of tiny bubbles.  From this image you can see that the visibility was not the best and if you looked out into the big blue it was hard to see too far, and hard to see what may be lurking:

I did go down to check out what they were up to but without any weights it was hard work getting down and then even harder trying to stay down.  So they were relatively short stints, not that they would have noticed me as they focused on hunting their prey.  You can see a long black cord hanging off Brian’s foot, both of them have these tails which send out an electric pulse that is supposed to deter sharks:

I would normally be in the water for about 45 min but only managed half that time out here.  The water was a bit cooler, the duck diving was harder work and to be honest it’s more fun snorkelling in the shallows where the visibility is better.  That said it was fun and I’m pleased I went out.  Back on deck the wind was picking up and the boat was rocking back and forth, as I waited patiently.  Eventually Brain retuned, flippers coming into the boat first, and it took another ten minutes or so for Eske to return:

They had both caught a cuttlefish each and a few crays, they checked the sizes to make sure they were legal.  It’s a shame I wasn’t able to get down to the bottom and stay longer as it would have been great to see a cuttlefish or two.  Seeing them splatted on the deck oozing ink wasn’t quite the same!  Happy with their catch we headed back in, the boat smashing onto the small waves sending shock waves up my spine, and making for a less than comfortable return trip:

Back at the shore you wouldn’t have noticed the waves and it seemed perfectly calm.  It was a good experience heading out and seeing a different part of the reef.  But I don’t think the deep is for me and I reckon I’ll stay in the more shallow waters next time I snorkel, unless I get myself some dive gear…

The return of Mr O

Since the summer holidays ended and school started we have got back into our usual routine and my trips below the waves have not been so frequent.  I did nip out this morning and was very happy to see this fella again, looks like he may be a resident so I’ll have to keep an eye out for him.  One day if I am really lucky I might just see him out in the open:

I was also lucky to have this McCulloch’s Scalyfin swim around me, and for once not seem terrified.  I’ve seen him just about every time I go out but he will normally very quickly scoot off to some rocky hidey hole.  This time he same round feeding off the weed and giving me a bit of a show before lazily wandering off:

While I saw all the usual suspects I did also find a hermit crabs.  At first I thought I had just found some pretty shells but as I went down to check them out this one moved.  If you look carefully you can see the trail he left behind him, and his eerie orange eyes looking at me:

The Fall Guy

Driving out this morning at 4:20 I got a text from Howsie to say he had just woken up and will be late for our 4:30 meet.  There was no point in going back home and disturbing the household.  So I drove to Capel, parked up and closed my eyes for 20 min.  Today we were heading to the Terrace at the northern end of Willyabrup, and when I told Kym of the planned destination he said so who are you going to sandbag on this trip:

As we walked in the moon was still high in the sky and the clouds out on the horizon were turning from a morning red/pink to the daytime yellow/white.  It was very specky to watch and made the slightly later than expected arrival worthwhile.  On the way in we had a chat about our chosen place to climb, it was misty for most of the drive and this location is very unforgiving in damp conditions.  The skies cleared as we approached the coast so we decided to stick to the plan:

We did a couple of warm up routes to see how we were going.  There are a few lines that I had never been on before.  I’d always looked at the far left climbs and felt they were not worth bothering with, which I discovered had been to my loss as they were really good.  I didn’t give Howsie a choice, it was his lead first and he was looking good until the top when he started to waiver and finally slipped.  Second time round he topped out, at the grade we pondered whether it was the first sandbag of the day or just a bit damp:

The rock seemed in pretty good nick if truth be told.  However, both of us confessed to feeling tired and not quite up for anything too hard so we kept the grades reasonable (sorry Kym).  That said you’ll be pleased to know your route Time and Space got another ascent.  The right hand approach had Howsie foxed and again he slipped (severally times), until he tried the left approach and pulled it off.  I reckon that goes to prove that you probably did it the hard way on the first ascent and could be accused of putting up a sandbag yourself:

My turn and I did a repeat of a classic line that gets steeper and more pumpy the higher you go, I’ve done it a few times but it is not a line to be taken on lightly.  I have to admit that since having built the boulder wall I have probably not give myself enough recovery time, and it showed today as it didn’t take long to pump out.  I dug deep and made a few female tennis player noises before reaching the final thank god holds.  Howsie, got close but was again struggling and fell partly blaming his broken four hour sleep (mostly self-inflicted I might add):

It was clear the higher grades would have to wait for another day.  But we were not quite finished with the Terrace, Howsie was in two minds for his next lead one being three grades harder and looking more intimating.  It was a choice of the arête or the face to the right, and it is obvious which he took.  Although it took him a lot of procrastinating at the base of the arête and face before he made his mind up.  That said the chosen line was very good and one I’ll have to come back to and lead myself.  We reckon it may also be a sandbag for someone who just managing to lead the grade:

One of the reasons that Howsie got a little spooked before finally making his choice to take on the arête was due to a huntsman.  After he had tested the webby hold the spider literally jumped from its purchase into his face.  All I heard was a girlish squeal (like I am one to talk after my last lead) and then I noticed something ‘floating’ down the crag.  I couldn’t resist and had to take a snap of the fury fella who had bravely tried to take on Howsie:

We rapped back down one more time to even up the number of lines and I took on the face.  The last time I led this route It had me blubbering up it whinging that it was over graded, pumpy as hell, had minimal gear – i.e. a sandbag.  This time I was psyched up and once I had placed the first couple of pieces and launched up the wall it all clicked into place.  Again probably a sandbag at the grade, so Kym your words make sense.  Howsie loved it but was unsure if he would have been up to leading it on this day:

We were both feeling a tad weary from the Terrace and decided to head down to Beginners Wall to finish off on some proper easy stuff as a warm down.  Howsie hadn’t been here before and so went for a wander and got all excited when he spied a new looking sling sticking out of a horizontal.  The crag booty was a No.2 Camelot that was firmly wedged in, but there was no point trying to get it out.  While the wires had corroded away, it was a bit weird as the sling looked in great nick and the condition of the lobs indicated that this was the first (and only) time this piece had been used:

Before we get back to climbing thought I’d include an image of this king skink who was wedged in a horizontal right next to where we had dumped our gear.  We were both a bit surprised as this one seemed particularly pale, we’ve only ever seen them a dark colour and the speckled white that was very evident seemed a bit out of place:

Lou you may well remember this route, I think I told you it was a 14.  I honestly thought it was at the time!  While you had a little bleat you still managed to get up it, as did Howsie today.  Despite feeling stuffed he stuck at it and quickly moved past the great crux layback sequence, it’s just a shame it is so short:

Steve not sure if you will remember this little chestnut.  We must have been talking curry for some reason as we called it Hot (your sister line to the left being Spicy).  Today it certainly had me questioning what I was doing, but seeing I’d led it before I knew I could do it.  So I just went for it and ran it out rather than hanging about trying to get gear in.  By now the sun was sneaking round and the wind had turned bringing with it the salt spray.  Definitely time to wrap the mornings adventure up:

We’d had a great view of the main area of Willyabrup the whole time we were out and hadn’t noticed any movement on the crag.  It still surprises me that often on a day out on the south west crags we get them all (or relatively so) to ourselves.  We agreed that we need to get out on trad more often, despite both of us having been training on our boulder walls our leading heads seemed somewhat rusty:

Now Marnie an apology is in order (from Howsie) as he mentioned to me, once we were at the crag, that you had been keen to get out.  So don’t shot the messenger when you read this, I’m not the fall guy.

Hold on tight

I didn’t get out for a snorkel this morning, despite the conditions looking good.  Instead I decided to have a climb on my boulder wall, which was great fun in a different way.  Then the day got away with us and before we knew it mid-afternoon had arrived.  We then decided to head down to the beach and despite it looking a little choppy the water seemed clear enough to head out:

I seem to be seeing a heap of giant snails in their bailer shells at the moment, with this one having a shell at least half a meter long.  The swell was pushing the weed back and forth quite vigorously so it was hard to stay down and wait for the perfect picture.  I really liked the algae growing on the shell itself, and unseen in this image there was also a large shoal of tiny fish bobbing about in between the patches of weed:

As I came up a good sized shoal of Weeping Toada swam under me and into the current.  I would have liked to have dived down into them to get a close up shot, but there was no way I could keep up with them against the current.  Instead I bobbed about above them and enjoyed watching he light reflect of them, as they wove their way ever onwards.  After leaving them to carry on without me I spied an unusual movement and went down to check it out:

Luckily for me this octopus had decided to take shelter from the swell under a shell, which also happened to be in an open spot so my view was not obscured by weed.  These creatures are very intelligent and would normally wait for me to break eye contact, and then be off like a shot.  But the conditions must have been not ideal for him and so I got to have a great opportunity to see him and dove down several times:

I didn’t find too much else but bobbed about being buffeted by the waves and occasionally having to clear the snorkel as a wave went over my head.  This little Biscuit Star lodged in a crevice and partly concealed by weed did catch my eye.  Yet another species of sea star to add to my growing list, and a very pretty one at that.  I then headed back to shoe and left this and probably a heap of other treasures to hold on tight to their purchase:

Hope you can hold on to see what I might find on my next snorkel,

Mr Grumpy

Last week the beach was once again choppy meaning the visibility would be poor.  However, the forecast promised a hot weekend, and more often than not that would come with calmer weather.  So Saturday morning I wandered down to take a dip.  While there was not a heap to see and the water still had a cloudiness to it I was very happy to find what are probably octopus eggs hidden in some weed:

I found some of these a few years back, and was told that they become translucent as they mature allowing you to see the developing young.  This time I reckon I have a good handle of where I found them so will attempt to relocate them next weekend.  They were about as far out as I would normally venture, which is shown in this image.  You’ll never see her but Lisa was on the beach lounging in a reclining chair, having breakfast and reading a book on the almost deserted beach:

I continued to look for something new and that included snorkelling over the limited areas of reef, weed covered rubble and open sandy areas.  They all provide a different range of gems that if you blink you might just swim past.  I was beginning to think that I wouldn’t spy anything when I noticed this fella:

The Southern Fiddler Ray seemed very happy for me to dive up and down to get a great close-up look at him.  He eventually got tired of my attention and lazily swam away.  While not at a fast rate and I could have followed him, I mostly leave them be when they decide they have had enough of me poking my camera at them:

There really wasn’t much else jumping out at me but I stayed out looking at the many different weeds species slowly swaying.  The swell was the lowest I can remember this season and I wasn’t being pushed back and forth, which made a welcome change.  While having my head underwater is a very calming and even therapeutic experience, I do bob up every so often to see where I am.  On one such time I came across an unexpected find on the surface, a single black swan:

As I headed back into shore, where Lisa was still lounged out reading I came across a few Eagle Rays.  She told me that they had been frolicking close to shore earlier.  She had seen four or five, two of which had been lapping about playing in the shallows right on the water’s edge.  So despite a promising look the ocean didn’t give away too many treasure for me.  That said I certainly didn’t have anything to be Mr Grumpy about:

Yesterday topped the mid-thirties and today it would be in the high thirties, two clam days meant hopefully clearing waters and improved visibility.  Instead of jumping in at my usual spot I wandered west to a spot that someone had said had a bit of reef.  There were still remnants of the less clam weekdays floating about, and as this image shows the water still had a cloudy look to it:

I didn’t see too much in the way of reef but it was nice to be in an area that I hadn’t looked at before.  I didn’t spot anything unexpected but did enjoy finding a few small limestone outcrops with some hard coral trying to make a comeback.  As I resurfaced from one of these dives I saw a large shape to my side and it was a dolphin.  Popping my head up I saw fins that had obviously been on both sides of me but they had already passed by:

It’s hard to judge but I reckon they got within five meters of me and I had missed the chance to (try in vain to) swim with them.  I watched them disappear as they followed the shoreline popping up so now and then to breathe.  It’s only the second time I have seen them while underwater and despite it being a tad cloudy it was very exciting.  After watching them move on I carried on in the opposite direction:

Within a few minutes I heard the distinct call of the dolphins and again they swam past me, this time I saw them all gracefully go past.  There were close to ten and I’m sure there was a young one with them.  Despite being so close this was the best image I managed to capture.  One hung about a bit longer, seemingly waiting for me to catch up with them but there was no chance of that:

This time they continued to move away and didn’t come back, so I continued my search and spied a tiny 1cm long something.  When I first saw it I thought it may have been the leftovers of a fish or bait, as it was all distorted and looked to have pink ragged flesh.  Then I saw it pulsate and form the distinctive shape of a jellyfish.  I’ve no idea what sort it is despite conferring with Google, but during that search the images of what jellyfish stings can do made me glad I didn’t get close enough to even this little fella to get stung:

Well I can safely say there is no sting in this tale to have made me come out of the water as Mr Grumpy.  However, this Globe Fish really didn’t look too pleased when I found him in a rock crevice, or was it simply the angle of the image?  I on the other hand had a very happy smiley face but before getting out I bobbed in the shallows and watched/videoed an Eagle Ray disturbing shoals of small white fish:

Hope this email finds you as Mr, Mrs or Ms Happy

New shoes

This morning Mikie and I headed out to finish off his 10km challenge, and he picked a great spot to do that.  It felt like there was landward breeze as we walked down to the crag but we couldn’t have asked for better conditions.   This place being so close the ocean and also being quite low is often salt sprayed and greasy:

Lost Buttress is the most northerly of the crags in the Willyabrup area and I imagine it is rarely visited.  I was very lucky to have been invited by Kym and Rob to help develop this crag, which admittedly had seen action before but there are no records of what was done.  On days when there may be crowds at the main cliff, no one would think to come here.  That may be the limited number of routes or the distance from the main area, but either way it is their loss:

While it doesn’t have mobs of lines it’s a gem of a place with a high proportion great routes that people have agreed deserve the star or two we gave them when publishing the guide.  Mikie had to bag 108m of leading and we knew that was an easy target at this place, so we didn’t have a ridiculous early start.  We tallied up the route meterage and worked out that six lines on the main buttress plus one on the Playground would be enough.  :

He worked from right to left to warm up on the easier lines (No Nuts Required and Baby Shower (both 13 – UK VS 4b’ish)).  We also brought a rap rope to make things that bit more efficient.  For a relatively short crag this place provides routes that give an disproportionate amount of exposure.  There are two lines that provide great positions above the capping roof, and he started with Airtime (17 – UK HVS 5b’ish):

The image above may give away the fact that I was being a photographic belayer.  When I was a fair distance away that meant anchoring in and when he was leading Overexposed (17 – UK HVS 5b’ish) I used the red cam, the precise piece that he really wanted for this next move:

Unfazed he worked his way out and sorted out something less secure but sufficient before pulling through into the corner on smeary slopey feet in an increasingly airy position.  Kym he agreed that the routes were stonking, and better still unlike some peoples thinking he considered the grades were pretty spot on:

The wind wasn’t turning yet on this glorious day that provided us with dry rock, solid lines and not surprisingly the crag all to ourselves.  Within a mere couple of hours Mikie had racked up the six lines on Lost Buttress, having also bagged the very fine Jenga (14 – UK VS 4c’ish) and Washing Away the Blues (16 – UK HVS 5a’ish).  So next we had to move over to the Playground, which can be seen in the background:

However, before we went over he was keen to try one more route, on second this time.  It was the test piece route of the crag and my own creation call As the Crow Flies (22 – UK E3 5a’ish).  Despite the conditions being great, and I have a stack of lame excuses, I didn’t have the head to make the bold committing moves up the rounded featureless arête on nought but smears:

Instead I piked out by head left, and Mikie had a crack on second.  After a bit of flailing about he worked out the moves, declaring he would never have led it.  I’ve not heard of anyone leading it but would be keen to hear if anyone has been successful.  We then hauled the gear across for the grand finale climb, passing this huge jammed piece of driftwood some 4m’ish long that I always admire when I am here:

For the last route we picked another starred route, Tunnel Vision (18 – UK E1 5b’ish).  Kym and I had been eyeing this one off for ages but the stars never aligned and we never made it to this crag together, so he eventually led it with Lou seconding it.  Being the route that would see him cross the finish line I simply had to get some good shots.  So we set up an elaborate system to allow me to do that:

It was great to watch Mikie work this route.  It has a couple of crux sections with a pumpy start, balancy delicate slab and then a pumpy hold finding roof.  As he climbed it I thought I saw him falter, but he pulled through to finish his challenge on exactly 10,000m (not a meter more or less) of clean leads on routes he had not done before:

This challenge has taken him approx. 5 years to complete and in that time he told me he had gone through two pairs of shoes.  However, looking at the state of his current shoes I reckon he could count that as three pairs.  As a reward for reaching his goal he is going to treat himself to a new pair of shoes, and it’s about time:

Despite being a tad tired it would have been rude not to have a little bounder at the Playground.  Great rock and fine problems above a (mostly) sandy landing makes this a brilliant spot to muck about.  So we had a play on two boulder problems Slime Ball (19 – UK E2 5b’ish) and The Slicer (21 – UK E2 5c’ish), and after much falling and close calls both admitting to being trashed:

I found out afterwards that Tunnel Vision (at 18) was the hardest trad line Mikie had done to date so a double celebration was in order!

Finally… my boulder wall

Rongy recently downsized his woodie and in late November offered me three panels plus the frames.  I found out that these panels and frames originally came from the Mountain Design shop in Bunbury, so I was inheriting a little slice of SW climbing history.  Lisa asked how long I thought it would take and I said to give me time and it may take 3-6 month all up:

I have toyed with the idea of building a wall many times and always decided not to bother.  There are several people who have them and it seemed extravagant to build my own.  But once the ball was rolling things kinda got bigger and a week into December I had designed the wall and bought the additional material needed:

I started to clear out the shed and had in mind to use a sixth of the floor space, taking advantage of the portion that had a sliding door opening onto the garden.  It was pretty exciting but I had to control my enthusiasm and wait till I had some time to get stuck into it:

Luckily I had a couple of weeks off over Christmas and New Year’s.  So on my first weekend off Craig came over and we had a huge twelve hour day in which we smashed out heaps of the wall.  He has all the tools and toys to make a job like this less painfully and both more efficient and professional:

I proposed to have a roof, vertical wall and the overhang and all of it needed to be framed up.  While it was secured to the shed frame I wanted to have access to the back of the walls, in case of bad t-nuts or worse.  So we built it with that in mind, which made it a tad more complex:

We got a heap done but there was still more framing to make, boards to cut to size and of course none of the new boards had been drilled or had t-nuts placed.  I wasn’t however in a rush and we were pretty chuffed with how far we had manage to get.  I couldn’t resist an image of Nicka who came to check out the progress and was rewarded with a nice blue streak from the chalk line:

Over the next week and build up to Christmas, I was off work.  That meant at 6am when Lisa had ducked out to F45 I snuck into the shed and stayed there for 4-6 hrs each day.  The frame and panels were soon ready, and I found drilling the holes and fitting the t-nuts was relatively painless due to using screw in t-nuts:

As you can see above I went to painstaking levels to make sure when I cut the roof panels they were the right size.  That included plumb-lining the top edge of the overhang, as the pre-made frames I had received were not quite the same dimensions.  Then just two sleeps before Christmas Craig came over to help get the roof panels up and then all that I needed were the holds:

Australia post teased me a bit and indicated they wouldn’t get here till the New Year.  Then that changed and they would arrive before New Year’s, with five out of eight boxes arriving on the Thursday and the last three due to get here on the Friday.  Only problem was that when I went to get the last three the post office was closed:

It was back to work after New Year’s so despite the holds having been collected on the Tuesday, I waited till today to place them so Craig could help out.  It felt like it’d be more fun setting it up together and also I knew he was pretty excited about it.  I placed the first hold at 8am, and it had to be the one that Elseya encouraged me to buy:

We had a bit of a scare when we realised that I had not been provided enough long bolts.  Luckily Geoff had a few spare and came over to drop them off.  He then promptly stayed and helped finish off the wall, while Lisa kept us going with tea and coffee supplies:

At midday and 200’ish holds later I was given the privilege of placing the last hold.  There were times of wondering if I had got enough holds and then whether I had possibly got too many, but it worked out about right:

So after telling Lisa it may take 3-6 moths, it only took just over a month.  With the wall complete it seemed crazy not to give it a go, and Elseya was the first to jump on and of course go for the biggest and best hold.  We then set about having a general muck about:

We played the traditional follow on game and while Craig and I ventured out onto the roof, that really didn’t get as much attention as the other walls.  Just like at Lou’s wall we seem to have an issue with dogs wanting to lounge about on the mattresses below where you are climbing:

Even Lisa put her sticky boots on, and that is a very rare occurrence.  After a while some were getting tired and left Craig and I to have a quick bash at some of the routes we had set.  Some were easier than expected and others were pretty desperate, but overall we agreed it’s pretty good:

So who fancies coming over for a boulder sometime?

Things are clearing up

This email has images from several trips over the last week.  After Christmas the water wasn’t showing any great signs of clearing up and each time I went for a snorkel it was hard to spy much.  That said I still braved the water to see what I might find:

Couldn’t resist this picture of a cray I spied during a morning snorkel.  It was completely out in the open when I first found it.  It’s quite unusually to see them so exposed, and sure enough as I ducked dived down it quickly scurried for shelter, and eventually was lost from vision:

During this relatively uneventful trip I did come across a mature Cownose Ray.  The water was several meters deep here and there was little point trying to get down to say hello, as it was already in flight mode and moving away from me:

As the week progressed the water cleared a little.  On one trip I thought I had found a shell to equal the one Elseya discovered washed up on the beach on my birthday back in October.  However, as I pulled the half buried shell out of the sand the weight told me it was still a home to a large sea snail so I left this Bailer Shell in peace:

Despite not seeing a great deal on some trips I still love getting out and immersing myself in the underwater world.  I tend to stay in for about three quarters of an hour by which time I’m shivering with cold but also very happy.  Most times I go out a group of Banded Sweeps quickly attaches itself to me following me wherever I go:

On the morning of New Year’s Eve it was the first time that the swell was down and the water seemed clearer.  It was also the first time I spied shoals of baby fish hugging the edges of the weed.  I like to think this is a sign that things really are calming down:

I also spied what I thought was a Wobbegong, but he was a bit too quick for me and hid most of his body in the weed.  I bobbed about patiently above the weed and on one occasion it parted to show me the fish, but then quickly closed.  When diving down I looked hard but had no chance of finding it:

As I was starting to cool down and decided to head back in, out the corner of my eye I saw something move.  It was my first squid of the season.  He never let me get too close but with the good light and calmer water I was able to snap a pretty cool image.  After watching him for a while I went down but not surprisingly he shot off:

This morning I went for my first swim of 2018 and finally found another sand gobbler.  I’ve only seen one at Peppy Beach, as it was working its way across a clear sandy patch.  I often see their tracks but rarely find them.  I guess that during the day they find a cosy nook in the limestone reef and bury themselves out of sight, and harm’s way:

I then came across the biggest fish I’ve seen off Peppy, at a good meter long, my guess it is a Banded Rock Cod.  I hovered above it for some time, then swam a bit to the side and dived down keeping my distance.  It looked like he may not swim away, so I went to clear my mask but as I looked down again all I saw was his tail as he was swimming away:

As I made my way into the shore I found a very colourful Mosaic Leatherjacket.  While fishermen can’t abide these fish I have to say they come is some amazing colours and patterns and are very pretty to see:

Well tomorrow it is back to work for me, but before that happens I’m heading down the beach for another New Year’s Day underwater adventure.Have a great 2018!

A winter’s day

As Dan and Joanne were over from Melbourne I had a good reason to head out and they were keen for Willyabrup, which is where we went yesterday.  We had agreed to meet at 6:30.  However, seeing I’m awake at 5 most days and creep round the house like a mouse so as not to disturb the others so I got there a bit before them.  With not another sole at the crag my initial thoughts were to watch the waves and maybe do a bit of photography, but the waves were not very clean and the sky was grey so I was a bit stumped:

Instead I set up a self-belay and led Hope, it’s the first time I have done this and wasn’t entirely sure about it.  But some 12 years back I met Craig doing the same thing at Willyabrup and I think I got it right, plus for me Hope is a pretty safe climb.  I was about half way up when Dan and Joanne rocked up and by the time they were ready to climb I had topped out and set up a belay.  Have to say I enjoyed the self-belay and am tempted to repeat the experience, but am not sure how hard a climb I would lead this way:

I leaned out over the edge of the top slab of Hope, so I could see how they were going as they followed me up.  As I belayed the sun was poking it’s head out every so often and when it did I could make out my shadow in the waves below.  I had to wait till the white water was somewhat calm enough to get a good shot, and caught it pretty well in the image below.  I also spent  a good length of time watching the waves in case the dolphins should show up but it was not to be today:

Seeing we had three people climbing I also brought out the SLR camera to play with.  It’s been a while since I’ve taken this one along and was hoping that I could convince the others to lead a few climbs that would provide some good shots.  Better still today was a bit grey and that meant I wouldn’t be battling with the stark contrast of the shade and bright ocean/sky backdrop.  I could enhance the images on a photo package to get over this hurdle, but I use my images without any changes so what you see is what I take:

Joanne had in mind to lead Inner Space, which I reckon is a very spicy 17 especially with its ‘Wilyabrup’ style top out.  But she wanted to warm up on something a bit easier, so after showing her a few lines she went for Hitching.  It was a great choice as it too has its own runout cruxy section, so was a good way to get her head into the right space:

She confessed that she preferred trad, and had moved from the dark side to this brighter more natural side of climbing.  On this lead she also got to use, for the first time, tri-cams and had to trust one for this nervous section up the blunt arête.  She styled her way up the climb and looked very cool and calm, even managing a smile and wave for the camera half way up this section:

Dan had already hinted to me that he was keen on Stainless Steel, he’d not been on it before and was feeling confident that he could give it a red hot crack.  It is certainly up there as one of the true classics here and other than start up the flake and head for the crack in the headwall I didn’t give anything way.  So as he started I was running up and down and along the slab to the side to get some good angles:

It was an impressive thing to watch, he didn’t seem to stop and hesitate at any point, the gear was placed fluidly and he made every section look very smooth.  There was minimal stopping, but he on occasion waited straight armed on a bigger hold to shake out.  At the final roof he powered up and didn’t break a sweat once.  Another fine lead to watch and again a well-deserved smile at the end of it.  While technically it was my lead next, seeing I can get here so often I encouraged Dan to have a pop at Dolphin Smiles and hopefully get another on-sight 21:

Joanne, after seconding Stainless Steel clean, was feeling a bit pumped and sat this one out.  So I belayed this time, a shame in a way as Dan again looked good on this route but he did attempt the left variant to the crux wall.  He almost managed it but popped off the top and took a long fall, which would have made a great image!  I hadn’t told him which way to go, but I reckon the left is way harder and sure enough when he jumped back on and went right he got it clean.  Joanne was still feeling a bit tired and I think mention of the top out on Inner Space had spooked her so she went for a different climb, which you may recognise from this image:

Instead of a 17 she went for One for the Road at 19, go figure.  It was good to observe how she climbed the bottom wall, I often feel the route is over graded and a bit inconsistent.  However, watching her climb I realised it probably isn’t and it is more that I am so used to the moves and know what is coming up so don’t think too hard about it.  At the roof, she took her time and went up and down to the very well chalked up hold three times before committing:

I’m very happy to say that on the third attempt she found the good hold and pulled through, so another good on-sight was in the bag.  I was sat on top of the crag while she was working the route and the wind was felt cold and I was making me shivering.  Looking out at the cloudy sky with blue patches, an ocean with raggedy waves and feeling cold made it seem like a wintery day.  Despite the perfect conditions to continue to climb into the afternoon it was time for me to head out, so after saying my goodbyes I left the two of them to carry on climbing:

Hope you are all gearing up for a great New Years.

Merry Christmas!

We decided to have a Christmas Eve get together at Welly Dam, and the hard core crew turned up at 6 for a not so early start.  My guess being that it was a later start so we could make sure we were not too tired on the big day to see what Santa may have brought us.  Mikey was keen to get a few more meters in for his challenge so we let him kick the proceedings off:

The idea was that everyone should wear some festive attire, but the message must have gone AWOL.  That said I did replace my tin pot with an ultra-safe Santa hat, and I must admit it seemed to make some magic happen as I managed to bag Chasing Mason (finally!):

The Howe brother’s donned festive (probably more appropriate) tin pots decorated with bows.   Occasionally it felt like it was snowing as a bow would float down from above, and on one such occasion Rongy was quick and picked up a bow for his tin pot!  It was however far from cold, although the rock was in good condition and lines were being ticked left, right and centre:

There were a few faces from old too:, Marnie was down from Freemantle; Chris popped over from Donnybrook; and Dan and Joanne were over from Melbourne.  Dan foolishly believed me, as I picked a few lines for him to tackle, but he did really well.  He was not the only one to take a fall or two and nearly everyone who led tested the ropes at some point:

By ten’ish the second wave of party goers turned up.  They were the mostly non-climbing crew.  Soon it was starting to warm up, and some of the early starters decided that food, drink and a chat was more appropriate than climbing so the action slowed down:

There was also a chance for the kids to jump on, but being Welly Dam there is never anything real easy for them to try.  That said swinging on the ropes and abseiling down is always fun:

As we got close to midday the BBQs were fired up and everyone settled down to munch some lunch in the shade of the trees, as the sun started to hit the wall.  It was definitely now time to stop climbing and top up on energy:

Hoping everyone has a very Merry Christmas and great New Year!