Goat Island Shallows, Nov 29th, 2012

Snapper in Kelp ForestYesterday I was diving Goat Island Shallows again. Despite the rain the visibility was very good, perhaps the best within the last a couple of months. That means good conditions for wide angle photography. Actually my wide angle photography is not really wide. I use a 18mm lens with the 1.5 crop factor sensor which gives an equivalent of 27mm on a 35mm camera.

I focused on the general scenery of rocks covered with weeds and kelp. I also made pictures of narrows gullies to see the life in the shade of the kelp forest. It’s fascinating instead of it being dark/grey/brown, it’s often bright yellow/orange/red.

Those of you who know the place are familiar with the huge snappers that live there. Yesterday I could see something else. I am writing “something” as I could not see the fish properly. I could see a huge shade under the kelp several times. The I could see the body in one crack. It was bigger than the biggest snapper I know at Goat Island, it was darker than snapper. Before I could see more it disappeared in the kelp. Is anyone familiar with that Goat Island “citizen”? Please write me to daniel.poloha@gmail.com.

I also met one very inquisitive blue cod. I made a couple of pictures of it and left. I turned back while swimming and could see it was “flying” behind me. I stopped and played with it. Naively I stretched my palm to let it land in it. It sucked my finger instead. That really surprised me I nearly dropped my camera.

Great visibility, great inhabitants, Goat Island proved again it is a great shore diving spot.

Some pictures from the dive can be seen in the Goat Island Shallows gallery.