Yesterday 1800 gluttons-for-punishment swam from Cottesloe Beach to
Rottnest Island. A gruelling 20 kilometre swim, with the first swimmers
coming in just under 4hrs. It tired me just watching the highlights of this
event on tv later in the evening. That day I was on clean-up duty at a
local yacht club. An early start to Clean up Australia Day, which
officially begins next week.

This morning though, it was dive-time. The Cottesloe Reef Photographic
Competition is open for a month. The idea behind this competition was to
build up a library of quality shots of the Cottesloe marine environment.
Also, we ran a very successful petition to try and convince our Fisheries
Minister that this particular area should be declared a Fish Habitat
Protection Area. Due a change in our state government (elections were on
when I was visiting Strike & Sylvia) we are back to square one. But! the
one thing in our favour is that this government did promise in its election
propaganda to seriously reconsider conservation issues. So, while I wouldnt
hold my breath atm we are pretty sure our efforts will be fruitful before
the end of the year.

Well, back to the plot .. the dive. This morning we organised to meet at
the carpark, gear up & go our separate ways from the shore. Some wanted to
try wide-angle stuff .. naturally not wanting bodies & bubbles all over the
place spoiling their environment-with-diver in the background shots ruined.
I took off to the main sand patch which was a 500 metre hike westwards.
Found a seapen waving in the open sand. While photographing that felt
something watching me from above & looked up to see a very large toadfish
that I had never seen before. Checking a fish reference book the nearest it
looked like, in shape & size, was a silver toadfish, except it didnt have
any spots or faint blotches. It was very curious, following me around most
of the dive, but wouldnt let me get close for a phot :-(

Found a false triton shell that had a lemon yellow head, foot & mantle. I
actually didnt register it was a shell from the distance as it was heavily
covered with algae & had a sea tulip hanging off it. Thought it was a lump
of rock till I noticed the trail where it had crawled through the sand. My
first sighting of such a shell so far, a good sized one also.

Found a couple of lionfish trying to hide in vase sponges. Heaps of
nudibranchs everywhere. Lots of pretty pink, yellow & off-white sea
cucumbers busy feeding themselves. Every large lump of coral had a resident
octopus busy pulling shells and coral rubble in to its lair. Baby
wobbegongs were hiding in the kelp. Two little Port Jackson sharks were
discovered in the sand. One allowed me to get real close for a photo was it
was busy puffing out sand & debris from a hole, obviously looking for
something to eat. Was continually buzzed by pesky damselfish. Nipped at on
the finger by curious wrasse. Had to shoo them away in the end while trying
to photograph a large group of bright yellow sea tulips about 3 feet in
height. This is such a great area for juvenile fish. They are so cute
looking before they either change colour/sex. It was a very successful dive
photo-wise even though I did not see a sea dragon. One day :-)

During next weeks Clean up Australia Day session will be nipping off to
Cottesloe Beach for my last chance to get some decent pics for the photo
competition before judgement night.
Viv