2010 SA Marine Life calendars

The wait is over! The 2010 SA Marine Life calendars are now available for purchase. Seriously, they are the best yet. They will sell themselves. There was a shortfall in production, so there won't be so many to go around. They're still $10 ea. Let me know if you want any. I can't provide a preview at this stage but will do so when possible.

Steps @ 2nd Valley jetty closed

There's some good news & some bad news from 2nd Valley. 1st the bad, the jetty steps are broken and have been closed off (see photos). Entry from the beach is also impossible due to thick deposits of dead seagrass. Entry must be made from rocks in either of the 2 southern bays. The good news is that a new beach access ramp has been built to replace the old boat launching ramp. This new ramp is not for vehicles though, just people and possibly wheelchairs. More good news is that there is renewed signage re the spearfishing ban in the area. Most of the above details may mean that there will be plenty of free car park spaces available until the seagrass disappears and the steps are fixed again. A seal was seen swimming at the jetty when I visited on Saturday morning (27th June). More photos from 2nd Valley can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stevereynolds600/SDFNewsSheetJuly2009 .

Rapid Bay jetty again

At the end of May, I returned to Rapid Bay jetty again for my 2nd dive there this year. It was great for diving, with flat calm conditions allowing snorkelling out to the T section on the old jetty. My buddy & I were then able to spend a long time out under the T section. Just one thing spoiled my dive. I couldn't fire off any shots with my camera for some reason. I was able to enjoy myself once that I had gotten over it. There were ever so many fish to see, and some large cuttles too. We even managed to rescue a brown-spotted wrasse hooked on some fishing line. We had to cut the line to let it go. It's good to see that some juvenile Blue Groper are still hanging around the jetty. Unfortunately, no photos to show for this dive. I did, however, manage to take this photo of the new jetty after the dive, when checking the operation of my camera.

Blue-ring octopus with hatching eggs

Ray Trezise took lots of photos, such as this one, of a female blue-ring octopus with her eggs. A baby blue-ring can be seen hatching from one of the eggs in some of the photos. The newly hatched baby octopus can then be seen swimming alone in some photos. A collection of these photos can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stevereynolds600/BlueRingOctopusWithHatchingEggs

Scuba swim at Second Valley again

I managed to get wet again after a 3 week hiatus. Tried to find Lasseter's Reef without success so returned to swim near the jetty. Viz wasn't great but took a few photos and videos anyway. Some of the photos can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stevereynolds600/SecondValley. Two videos can be seen on YouTube. The large school of zebra fish that we saw can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTYHZgAdCls. A cryptic cuttlefish can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWIG-PWZyDg&feature=channel. Somebody's "Marino Rocks Snorkel" can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDbTCOy1Os&NR=1. I must mention that there are still no signs warning of the spearfishing ban at Second Valley. Check out the YouTube video about the now-demolished boat sheds at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T76awUKROQ&feature=related.

Back at The Bluff again

11/4/09 I returned to The Bluff at Victor Harbor for a dive. The viz was a bit disappointing but I still tried taking a few photos & videos. I didn't get to see any large octopus this time but a large leafy seadragon more than made up for that. There were a couple of schools of fish around my exit point. I even got to video a seal following my dive. Some of my photos and videos can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stevereynolds600/TheBluff.

Return to Second Valley

28/3/09 I returned to Second Valley for the first time since late January. There was still no replacement signage regarding a spearfishing ban there. I dived in the 1st bay left of the jetty. I was doing a special project which may be revealed later on. I ended up around the rocky point where the jetty was no longer in view. The boat sheds have now been removed from the rocky point. I photographed a very large male Rainbow Fish which I saw out near the point. I returned to the jetty steps which were now well out of the water so I had to swim over to the sandy beach.

I took this short video out near the point. Check out the large snook which disappears as quickly as it arrived. More photos and this video can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stevereynolds600/SecondValley.