Sea Dragon

A tough but rewarding day. Russell and I drove down to the Wirrina Marina, stopping off for an excellent vegetable pasty at Yankalilla (one good thing about country towns is the quality of the bakeries). At the marina we kitted up, and headed out on the boat to Rapid Bay. I was feeling really crusty, I think I have come down with strep throat or something, so I probably shouldn't have gone out, but I really wanted to get my diving certificate for the Red Sea.

It was about a ten minute boat trip from the marina to the disused jetty at Rapid Bay. The first dive was terrible. With blocked ears I couldn't equalise, so I had severe squeeze on the way down. It threw me off, so I used up 80 bar just getting to the bottom. I saw lots of schools of fish, including John Dory, Senator Wrasse, Rainbow Cale, Eastern Blue Groper, Common Cuttlefish, Jewel anemone, whiting and snook, but it was not an enjoyable dive. On the way back to the surface I had reverse squeeze.

The second dive was completely different. I was expecting the squeeze so I made a slow neutral buoyancy decent down a pylon, taking the chance to look at the different soft algae growing in the area. I took a while to reach the bottom, but I was relaxed, and even ended the dive with 100 bar left. As well as the fish, this time we saw an eleven legged starfish and several conspicuous starfish. The place chosen for our fin pivot had a black and white nudibranch right in front of me, and I saw the startlingly bright Verco's nudibranch. As the crowning moment of the dive, I saw a Weedy Sea Dragon. Sea Dragons achieve perfect neutral buoyancy, allowing them to hover effortlessly at any height, because of this any forced changes to height, even 50cm, can rupture their swim bladder killing them. I could sit right in front of it, maybe 30cm away, for five minutes as it serenely drifted around. It was beautiful and graceful, with a delicate snout and vivid colours. My Sea Dragon made all the diving worth while