Earlier on this night I was down near Woodman Point joining 5 other
WAUParians for a night dive under the jetty. We enjoyed this dive so much
we plan to meet again next Saturday, same time, same place .. followed by
barbie under the stars with drinkies.

The viz was was poor but the amount of critters on the prowl was something
else. 2 of us were diving solo - Hutch & I, with Eric & Owen and Maryanne &
Dave pairing up. I later found out during our after dive barbecue that even
they lost sight of each other .. but we all eventually caught up or passed
each other while checking out the pylons under the jetty. Maximum depth
under this jetty is just over 9 metres so plenty of time to burn.

I did a 83 min dive and was so chuffed to find my first baby dumpling... it
was so cute. Shining my dive light in the sand I spotted first the eyes and
then noticed the lines on its body change colour, turn a bright purple
colour, before it tried to shuffle down further in the sand. Slipping a
hand under it from behind I scooped it up for a closer look then put it
back down on the sand to watch it quickly shuffle under till only the eyes
were visible.  In the same area found a large lionfish that was quite happy
to just sit on a broken pylon. This place was crawling with octopi. Some
the size of a kiwifruit.. others much larger. Another first for me was
accidentally finding a blue ringed octopus while I was busy playing with
the common octopus for this area.

Running our dive lights up and down the pylons it was amazing how many
juvenile fish and various species of crabs we could see tucked up asleep
between the sponges, corals and ascidians. Some of the juvenile fish were
literally the size our aussie 10cent..I guess the size of a US quarter.
Many of them were secured to their sleeping spot by their teeth .. quite a
funny sight indeed. Lots of nudibranchs and various types of blennies and
shrimps on the pylons also.

There were quite a few folk fishing off the jetty so we did not venture out
in to the open in case we got hooked. At the end of the jetty were some
squid zipping in & out of the light thrown in the water by the street
lights. While working my way back in to the shallows came across a small
eagle ray shuffling around in the sand. Was busy concentrating on that when
something small bumped in to me. Turned to see a Port Jackson shark which
was only 6 inches long going around and around in circles. Crawled out of
the water to find Maryanne & Dave rinsing themselves down under the outdoor
shower. I soon joined them and off we went to strip off our gear and ready
ourselves for a barbecue under the stars.
Viv