Murky Low Tide at Goat Island

18/8/2016

It was low tide and there was some swell on the beach which certainly did not help the water clarity. I swam to Shag Rock. Visibility improved a bit, but not enough for my wide-angle lens. I could not see many snappers; I mean there were many of them there, but not as many as usually. However, it did not matter as the area was full of clouds of curious sweeps, a school of mullets passed by and large trevally were hiding in the forest.

In the beginning of the dive, close to the shore in dirty water, a large eagle ray appeared right in front of me. I could not jump up as I was floating in the water, but my camera did that for me. The ray got scared much more than I did … considering how fast it turned back a swam away.

The dive was sad from the photography point of view, but in general it was quite pleasant.

Cluster of squid eggs attached to kelp stipe (stem).

Clouds of sweep in front of kelp forest in murky water. Update: Actually these are young blue maomao that are very similar to sweeps, but have oval eyes, their anal fin is yellowish etc.

Sweeps in open water in between rock formations. Update: Actually these are young blue maomao that are very similar to sweeps, but have oval eyes, their anal fin is yellowish etc.

Large trevally hiding in kelp forest (with the help of murky water of course).

A missed great opportunity to photograph a yawning snapper. I was working with my videocamera, saw the snapper yawning, so just pressed the button without checking the viewfinder. The camera’s autofocus selected the weeds close to the lens … the fish is hopelessly out of focus.

Snapper turning away from camera.