It's the middle of Winter and the last day of the school holidays. The sun is out, it's 23 degrees C and the water temperature is estimated to be between 10 - 15 degrees C. Perfect for a swim although some thought still a little too cold.Only draw back no hot showers - the female toliets at the Bathers Pavillion were closed for renovations even the disabled toilet was closed. Option was to use the male toliets - no way! or use the toilets about 3 minutes away with outdoor timed COLD showers.
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| one of many rock pools teeming with marine life |
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| Kids drew this sand picure |
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| An abundance of sea sponges or sea squirts |
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| rocks covered in oyster shells barnacles limpets and periwinkles |
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| Perfect conditions for a swim in crystal clear waters |
I had a very quick cold shower before heading home. The showers didn't even wash the sand off my legs! and yes they were cold! Will have to have a proper shower when I get home.
After my swim the sun was strong enough to dry me off as I spent time looking around the rock pools. I spent quite a lot of time looking around them.
Each rock pool was it's own ecosystem.
I was amazed at the variety of marine life.
I didn't see any crabs scurrying around or hiding under rocks but I did see a few brown eleven armed sea stars (didn't actually count the number of arms they had but they do vary unlike a normal starfish) which people found and picked up from under rocks as well as ugly fat sea hares which were green and camouflaged very well amongst the abundant vibrant green seaweed, shells and rocks. I even witnessed these sea hares expel a deep red/crimson fluid when picked up and handled - very much likened to when a squid is disturbed and expels black ink to warn off predators. Visually unappealling - very much like mensulation especially when the sea hare was returned to the water whilst it was still expelling this red/crimson fluid out of a visible orifice from it's back rear end which dissipated into the water after a while.
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| Patch of vibrant green sea grass |
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| White tip sea aneome |
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| sea hare |
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| periwinkles |
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| Eleven armed seastar - well this one has 9 - they vary from having 7 to 11 |
There was an abundance of constantly moving periwinkles limpets and tiny shrimp which were the size of sea monkeys. You could see the vegetation and marine life "breathing" - the rock pools were alive. The seaweed- the sea anenomies - white striped anemones - the sea sponges which when stepped on squirt water and even tube anemones (worm type creatures).
With every tide rocks and shells are forced to shore onto the sandy beach.
The ecosystem is very sensitive therefore I believe marine life should be left alone so I didn't remove or touch anything I saw. I just admired it from a distance so others get to enjoy it in the future. (Photos attached)
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