Sounds like a great dive!  Who needs to go 250 ft deep?  Thanks for the
report.  BTW, what's a dumpling?  Sounds like a flatfish (i.e., flounder,
sole, etc).
-Mark B.

At 01:10 PM 10/26/2002 -0400, Krazy Kiwi wrote:
>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