We spent most of the morning snorkelling in Bayside today. The major highlight was wonderful views of a Blue-ringed Octopus. What an amazing animal! We don’t seem them too often and they are quite shy. This one didn’t want to hang around but it made its way off quite slowly with enough time to take photos. Despite being highly venomous they are really quite harmless. The blue rings say ‘don’t touch’, which is wise with all marine life.
The morning started, however, with a swim off Ricketts Point where the highlights were two Pygmy Squid. They are surprisingly common but you have to search among the Sargassum weed and seagrass. They are tiny and don’t always look like a squid. I don’t have photos from today but here is one I took during a snorkel last year in Blairgowrie.
In the late morning we moved to Beaumaris and swam near the jetty in front of the Motor Yacht Squadron and to the northwest. This is quite a diverse location and it’s where we found the octopus.
There are lots of seahorses under the jetty at the moment and they are in shallow water quite near the shore. The males are very fat and pregnant.
Here are a selection of other images of some of the strange creatures you can find snorkelling in Bayside if you take the time and go slow.
