Clovelly - Octopus and Stingray Day

So I have been little slack in putting up new posts lately, mainly because I have been spending so much time underwater lately. So here is a quick recap of yesterday but I have about 7 different dives I will combine into a few posts in the next few weeks :)

When I first jumped in I was immediately met with a Common Stingaree cruising along in the shallows.

Even though the water was very green I managed to get a few more shots of Sea Hare's.

And found a Rainbow Wrasse, and White Ear hanging out together.

However, the highlight was two Gloomy Octopuses I found close together. At the start, I spotted the little one's eyes between two rocks.

However, once I turned around I found a bigger Gloomy (larger than a basketball) well camouflaged into the rocks.

At the end of watching these two for awhile, I got the chance to see something pretty incredible. With a male Blue Groper cruising over the head of the big Octopus before quickly taking a bite out of the smaller one which let out a big jet of black ink. Although I didn't get great photos as I was too interested in watching, I hope you get the picture.

You can spot him just below.

That black swirl is the ink.

Three Trip Combo - Parsley Bay (X2) and Clovelly

Because of this glorious summer weather I have spent a fair bit of time underwater lately but have been a bit slack in the uploads. I thought I would post up a combo of a few different trips I have taken to Parsley Bay and Clovelly; I also have another few posts from different places that I will put up in the next week or so. 

Parsley Bay 

Despite how good it looks, it was a little murky and rough on some of those trips so the photos might be a little greener than usual. As is usual for the East Coast of Australia there were plenty of Common Stingaree's. These little guys are extremely abundant and during Captain Cook's 'first' fleet the naturalist Joseph Banks sketched the earliest known taxonomical drawing of a Common Stingaree.

This guy had made a decent sized hole digging up worms.

Lots of little fellas were trying to brave the rough seas.

A family of Common Stripeys

A duo of YellowTail Scad

I still haven't tracked down the name of this black and white striped triangle fish (have also spotted at Little Bay before)

Edit: I believe this is a Crested Morwong

Or these small pinkies.

Edit: I think this is a Sydney CardinalFish

I liked the way the light caught this tiny jelly in the murky water.

And I always find Fan-Bellied Filefish interesting.

Clovelly

Clovelly was a whole lot clearer than Parsley Bay.With Smooth Toadfish out in force.

I got a few great shots of another un-named.

And right at the end of my battery life I managed to spy a cleverly hidden Common Octopus.

A Week of Bad Weather - Clovelly and Little Bay Again

This week hasn’t had the best weather but I still managed to get under a couple of times, with a few kids from work. Really can’t complain about a job that pays me to snorkel. As the visibility wasn’t great and I didn’t get many decent shots I thought I would just combine the trips into one post.

Clovelly once again provided the goods with plenty of inquisitive gropers.

I also found another Common Octopus, but this guy was a bit more feisty and put on a bit of a show.

They can be hard to spot because of their impressive camoflage

I may have got a bit too close

Two days later and the weather was still pretty dicey but a half hour in Little Bay provided a few treats. The first was a common stingaree; a type of stingray that was first described by Joseph Banks an English Naturalist who was on Captain Cooks first voyage in 1768. They get to be about 50 cm and hang out on sandy shores and rocky reefs.

I also finally managed to score a semi-decent shot of an old wife (last weeks poor effort had been haunting me).

And two more Porcupinefish.

And a dusky butterfly fish.

The little guy in the back right.

I'm hoping the weather will clear up over the next few days and I can head to some new spots to explore.