Bottlenose Dolphins at the Abrolhos Islands

One of the additional benefits of boat diving is the chance to see a variety of creatures on the way to and from the dive sites. On this occasion we had a small pod of Bottlenose Dolphins playing in and around the bow wave of the boat. An absolute delight to watch.

Yellow - Western Red Scorpioncod!!

This shot was taken by my dive buddy Carol Lawton during a dive we did last Saturday morning at the Coral Gardens dive site off Mindarie Marina north of Perth. The second shot is a repost of an earlier photo showing the more normal colouring for this fish. The Scorpioncod varies in colour according to how deep they are found but none of the literature mentions a completely yellow version. The Scorpioncod is very venomous and should not be handled. If anyone has experience of this colouring I would be keen to hear from you.

Cave Entrance on a reef near Mindarie Marina

This shot was taken three weeks ago on a shallow - 10 to 12 metres deep - reef near Mindarie Marina just north of Perth in Western Australia. It shows my long time dive buddy, Carol, waiting for me to exit a cave in the reef. The reefs around here are limestone and have lots of caves and swim-thru's.

Caves at Gordon's Grotto - Mindarie, Western Australia

These shots were taken on 25th April 2012 at a dive site called Gordon's Grotto off Mindarie Marina, which is north of Perth in Western Australia.

Mosaic Leatherjacket (Female)

This shot was captured yesterday on my dive at the Coral Gardens dive site off Mindarie Marina north of Perth. These leatherjackets are quite common on this reef system and I was lucky to get this close-up.

Giant Australian Cuttlefish

This sequence of shots was taken this morning at a dive site called Coral Gardens off the coast at Mindarie Marina north of Perth. It shows a large Cuttlefish with a meal in its tentacles and the sequence was taken over a two minute period. It's interesting how quickly the colours change! This particular Cuttlefish was around 60cm in length.

Common Scalyfin - Juvenile

The Common Scalyfin is as the name suggests, very common around Perth and they are dull brown coloured and relatively uninteresting. They are very territorial and will defend their 'patch' by swimming at divers, making popping noises and nipping at wetsuits. The young of the species are quite brightly coloured and timid and this one is hiding behind a small Sea Squirt. They gradually lose their colour as the get older ending up as dark brown.