Sun-up at Shelly Beach this morning was straight out of one of those exotic
holiday brochures.  The sand leading down to the water had been freshly
turned by the Council's tractor-thingy that picks up any rubbish; the sea
was calm - but with a heavy ground-swell; the trees and palms looked
magnificent in the early sunlight; and there was hardly a cloud to be seen.
All in all it wasn't a bad place to be on a mid-winter's day!  :-)

Janet, Julian, Dave and myself tumbled into the water, that has risen a
whole degree in the past week and now stands at 17 deg. C.  Vis in the
shallow areas was about 25-metres dropping to about 10-metres round at
'Dragon Patches'.  This is the time of the year when the Port Jackson sharks
come in to breed.  We saw about ten of them.  All quite active and a little
skittish - especially when you try and poke a camera into their mouths!  :-)

At one point we saw a juvenile wobbegong lying next to a rocky outcrop with
a Port Jackson swimming around its head.  There were plenty of male Eastern
Blue Groupers coming up to us to be patted, a couple of largish Kingfish
looking for breakfast along the reef wall; a porcupinefish; blue damsels;
scores of Ladder-fin Pomfrets close to the seafloor where they formed a sort
of carpet; seapike; yellowtail; those big, black boggle-eyed leatherjackets
that always seem to hang around n pairs; a porcupinefish; wrasse; and - at
different places - two giant Cuttlefish, both of which looked, judging by
their grey appearance and general slothfullness, (not one of them tried to
attack Julian!) to be on their last legs (or tentacles, or whatever!).

We're still trying to identify a large mollusc, one with a small shell and a
huge nobbly mantle with two antenna sticking up in front.  :-)

It was 65-minutes of absolute delight and a great start to the day!  :-)

Strike