Back in Perth - Rotto Dive

Bit late with this post, but here are the photos from my dive last weekend. Sunday morning I woke up at 5:30 (toooo earrrrlyyyyy) to get ready for a dive on the UWA Underwater Club’s boat. The nine of us who were going loaded our gear into the Tantabiddi (the club’s boat) and set sail to Rottnest. It was a bouncy crossing, but I was excited to get back into the water. The first dive was at Swirl Reef – a dive site I had been to before. This was one of my favorite spots that I had been to at Rottnest so I was more than happy. The highlights from the dive were a couple Port Jackson sharks,

 the intricate caves,

 a fleeting stingray, and a cuttlefish (this squid / octopus type creature)! 

Got a video of it swimming away from us - I was filming and V, another diver, was busy taking pictures of it. Not as dramatic as the other octopus I saw from a few dives back, but if you look closely you can see it change colors a bit as it swims. 

Think this cuttlefish was injured because there were lots of scratches and bite marks on its body. Funny little creatures. Here are the other shots from the first dive:

Can you spot the fish?

This was in the cave... pretty incredible that there are any colors since barely any sunlight reaches this point.

The second dive we just went into this shallow bay since the wind was really starting to pick up. Mostly weedy but there were a couple nice rock formations.

By the time we left to return to Perth, the wind had really picked up and I was regretting not having had anything to eat. Contrary to popular belief, it is much better to sail on a full stomach than an empty stomach. As such, my empty stomach had me worried at one point that my “seasick-vomit-free since ’90” streak might be broken, but it all worked out. All in all it was a great day and just a nice reminder of how special it is being in Perth and Australia… not as if I could just go for a dive on a reef back at Hamilton. Seems like the vacation never ends … or until next week when I have my final exams! Eee! Pretty much my last day of classes today. Before our finals we have one reading week to prepare for our exams. Naturally, this seemed like the perfect time to get one last trip in with my friends so on Friday, I set off for Coral Bay with 10 friends. Coral Bay was one of the reasons why I chose to come to Perth and Western Australia (might have goten a little mixed up about the distances because originally I thought it was like an hour away … try 16 hours by car or a two hour plane ride) so I’m pretty excited to finally see it.  

Late Post from Last Weekend and Road Trip Plans

Sorry for the late post, but here are some photos from last weekend. Saturday ended up being pretty overcast so we just camped out on this little beach we found on Rott and spent the day there. Didn’t end up getting in the water, but did manage to fit a good nap in there. There was also this cool rainbow thing around the clouds covering the sun.

If I close my eyes, they can't see me!

On Sunday I ended up going back out to the Grain Jetty with Daniel, Carmen and Adam (this really nice Scottish guy who I went diving with last week.) Although it was a beautiful day, the water felt pretty cold! That didn’t stop me from staying in for 72 minutes! Longest dive yet. Unfortunately, there was a scratch on the inside of the dome port of my underwater housing, but I am working on fixing that. Here are some of the shots that did come out though.

Can you spot the crab?

Not sure what this was, but saw it floating around. Think it is either some kind of jelly or eggs?

This Friday I am setting out on a pretty massive road trip. All in all we will be covering about 2800 KM! That is just about 1 / 5 of the way from New York to Sydney! The loose plan is to drive up to Monkey Mia (11 hours, yikes!) Friday morning; arrive that night; and stay there till Monday afternoon. Monkey Mia is basically a marine park that is the home to many friendly dolphins that I can feed and maybeeee swim with - if they are feeling especially playful. From there we will go to Kalbarri National Park (a mere 5 hours away) for a day or two to visit some beautiful gorges; and then stop by the Pinnacles Desert on our way down to Albany. Here's a fun fact: Kalbari is 974 KM away from Albany. Right next door! Once in Albany we will check out the Natural Bridge and the Gap (two pretty amazing rock structures) and then swing over to Denmark where the Valley of the Giants is located. Here we can see these huge trees and walk across a canopy top bridge. Sweaty hands and feet here I come … not the biggest fan of heights for those who don’t know, but never one to shy away from an adventure. Should be a fun trip that will be a nice distraction from school…