With the weather so fantastic, we decided to head south for a couple of days and snorkel at Blairgowrie and London Bridge Rockpool. These are places we often do back to back when the weather is right. As always, it depends on tides and winds.
The pier is good in any southerly (as it’s protected by the peninsula) but is often do-able in any light wind, as it’s protected by boards that extend below the waterline from half way along the jetty. London Bridge Rockpool is a different matter. We only swim there an hour each side of a very low tide when the swell is quite small. It’s prone to ocean swells and like all oceanside swimming, you don’t want to get caught by a rogue wave.
But it’s a wonderful spot with a 3m deep hole in the middle. It has a lot of interesting critters including the Evan’s Sea Spider, though we failed to find any this time. What we did find though, was equally curious. This spot never ceases to surprise! Neither, however, does Blairgowrie Pier.
Blairgowrie Pier Snorkel 10 January
The highlight at Blairgowrie was finding two Southern Velvetfish. These cryptic fish aren’t that uncommon but can be very hard to spot. They don’t swim away but lie down and spread their fins. Their skin is covered in scales and is apparently shed, like a snake. We also found a lovely Southern Spiny Gurnard. There were a couple of heart urchins out and about too, which are always fun to see, as they spend most of their lives buried.
There was also the usual smattering of pretty nudibranchs (sea slugs). I haven’t bothered identifying these ; )
London Bridge Rockpool Snorkel 11 January
On the way to London Bridge we stopped off at Bridgewater Bay. The weather is rarely this good. There was almost no wind and only a light northerly and when we arrived, people were already snorkelling.
This site had very few fish but beneath overhangs around the single flat-topped bommie just to the east of the steps down to the beach, there were beautiful yellow soft corals. These are normally in much deeper water but here, only in about three metres. The nudibranch we photographed at Blairgowrie (third from last in the panel, above) is a soft coral camouflage specialist.
After that we proceeded to London Bridge Rockpool and spent a good three hours exploring, mostly in very shallow water. To our surprise, we found Smallfin Clingfish feeding out in the open on the sand. These critters are normally hidden among the seagrass. On the sand between were a number of adult and juvenile Flathead Stargazers that would flit about and bury themselves instantly.
