Meeting the weedy sea dragons.

Alexandra and I enjoyed snorkelling yesterday on a weedy sea dragon tour near and under Portsea pier. There were only two other participants in the group.The girl guiding us was adept at swimming to the bottom like a mermaid to show us our first weedy sea dragon. She also photographed one for us using Alexandra’s borrowed camera.

She brought a couple of spiny sea urchins to the surface as well as a couple of biscuit sea stars and under the jetty she tickled a puffer fish till it puffed up with its spines. She pushed a pink jellyfish away, telling us you only needed to push them on the head for them to float away. It really makes me want to study marine life, at least informally, as I could get passionate about it.

The weed above the little reef is not that interesting though we did see some fish dart about. I was lucky to see a middle sized stingray which the leader had told us lives in a harmless colony around the pier. She said they are used to snorkelers and divers and don’t take much notice.

 Against the clear sand it was easy to see my first sea dragon. It looked like seaweed with nodules and rolled over and over in the current like swaying seaweed. We then saw two babies and I later saw at least another two in different locations.

Going under the pier was a pleasant surprise as there were so many sponges, some soft coral and lilac bunch like clusters of a creature related to the sea tulip.

I wrote this as a diary entry on April 22, 2012.