You give me far to much credit - which only piles on the pressure for next
time !

...and as I hate to take all the credit.....
 it was actually Meg who found the second weedfish, in fact she thought she
saw a third one, but it scuttled of into the kelp before she could be sure.

...and don't forget Strike .... you found a 'Cerberilla affinis Aeolidiidae'
after telling Pete and Meg all about them on the beach - something we have
not seen for months.

As of the numbray , perhaps we should have let someone touch it - just for
kicks!

Julian

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Strike" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 9:26 PM
Subject: [SCUBA-SE] I don't know how he does it?


> Just to shift talk away from my personal grudges let me tell you about
this
> morning's dive and wot we saw!
>
> (We didn't see Jayne and the promised post-dive pastries! But at least
> Julian, Meg, Pete - a guy from California who's on the Quest List and
> presently in Sydney on a working assignment for a few weeks - and myself
> turned up just as the sun started to rise.
>
> Pete and I buddied together and I explained that we would follow Julian
who
> can *always* find interesting critters.  (It's the sort of pressure that
> Julian hates!<bwg>)  He managed to find a pregnant pipefish, a couple of
> eagle rays and - pointing to what I thought were three black flatworms
> wriggling on the sand - knocked me to one side just before I touched the
> large numbray that was lying beneath the sand using it's lures to attract
> prey.  (Those things don't half give you a belt of electricity if you're
> dumb enough to touch them!) :-)
>
> He also discovered two Golden Weedfish, so well camouflaged to resemble
kelp
> fronds that even when he was pointing at the things it took me a while to
> realise what they were! :-)
>
> There were big blue groupers, a couple of wobbegongs, lots of nudibranchs,
> seapike and snook, goatfish, damsels, shrimps, gobies, wrasse and
> leatherjackets - and lots of other stuff.  But things really began to get
> exciting when we surfaced at the end of the dive.  An army guy in
camouflage
> gear was standing on the beach waving his arms at us.  Pete and I waved
> back!  He kept pointing behind us.  We looked around to see six black
> inflatables carrying black-clad pongoes quickly sneaking up behind us -
with
> no discernible noise from their motors.  It's probably one of the quickest
> exits from the water that any of us have ever made!  :-)
>
> I think the most relaxed person among us was Julian!  With the pressure
> off - and the success of finding two Golden Weedfish - he was able to
relax.
> :-)
>
> Strike
>