Robert's Ramblings

This beautiful nudibranch, Chromodoris elisabethina, or possibly , Chromodoris annae, was one of several different species we found at Pixie Pinnacle during our Minke trip.

The distinctive broken black stripe down the back is usually associated with ... elisabethina. See my previous entry for Chromodoris annae which clearly has no black markings. Please let me know your thoughts on the identification.

Pixie Pinnacle is an amazing site near Ribbon Reef #10. The pinnacle itself presents an amazing array of life and will often be the most attractive part of the dive. It is worthwhile though exploring the scree and rubble at the pinnacle's first base where we found a diverse world of small critters including Nudibranchs and Mantis Shrimps.

This little guy was down in the scree and rubble at 20m and reminded me of PNG "Muck Diving".

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath C5060 1/90s at f/4.8 ISO200 Inon UCL165AD Macro Lens and D2000 Strobe

We have just returned from an absolutely wonderful trip to the Ribbon Reefs on the Great Barrier Reef. Three days of diving with Minke whales, reef fish, pelagics, sea turtles and even the odd diver have left us longing for the warm seas again now that we are back in Adelaide.

This one particular Minke swam straight towards me on several occasions, each time coming a little closer before bearing away. It was a magical experience, and at times I felt I almost wasted it being behind a camera!

Minke whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, visit the Ribbon Reefs every year during June and early July on their yearly migration. They are beautiful, inquisitive animals and actually seek out encounters with snorkellers and divers alike.

We dived from Mike Ball's Spoilsport and were impressed with their Minke education program as well as their adherence to a strict protocol used for Minke encounters.

For more information about Minke whales please visit http://www.minkewhaleproject.org/

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath C5060 1/90s at f/4.0 ISO200 Lens UWL100-28AD

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since my last post! This last weekend we were in Edithburgh again with a group of nine Open Water students. Even with 11 degrees, wetsuits and less than 2m visibility, they were a fantastic and enthusiastic group. Well done!

Despite the teaching, the cold and poor visibility, we still managed a few "fun" dives and captured some lovely images. The photo for this post is a very awesomely cute Southern Dumpling Squid, Euprymna tasmanicas.

The amazing thing about the Southern Dumpling squid is that it produces light from an organ in its gill cavity. This organ contains bacteria that glow in the dark, and the dumpling squid uses this light to hide its silhouette from below by exactly matching the light from above. Very impressive camouflage technology!

On Sunday afternoon, my old mate David Bryant from Seapics http://www.seapics.com.au/ joined us for a dusk dive after having driven non-stop from Melbourne that morning.

David and some of his friends have come over to dive with the Whyalla cuttlefish, so it was a great chance to catch up and dive together again after some 12 or more years.

Until the next post, take care out there, keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath C5060 1/45s at f/8 ISO200 Lens UCL165AD Macro, Inon D2000 Strobe