<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" We are about to enter summer here in Adelaide, in the the driest state on the driest continent (according to popular folklore). During winter I would have been washed away attempting to stand here in the outflow of the River Torrens. Today this parched mud floodway suggests just how dry our … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" Dive the shallows of the old Rapid Bay Jetty at the moment and you can expect to be stalked. This school of Zebra Fish (Girella zebra) started following me around as I searched the general area for other critters. Soon I was so caught up in their antics and carry on … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" The wonderful thing about sunsets is we get a brand new and completely unique one every single day. The sad thing about sunsets is you will never see another one just like the one you saw tonight. So many times I find myself watching an amazing sunset unfold and not being … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" I am not sure which location I prefer for Leafy Seadragons, The Bluff or Rapid Bay. Rapid Bay has an incredible diversity of sea life and never disappoints even if I do not see the critters I have come to photograph. It is a safe bet for a great dive even … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" The iridescent blue eyes of the Doughboy Scallop, Mimachlamys asperrima, are little optical marvels. They are in fact more like tiny Schmidt telescopes than conventional eyeballs. The back surface of the scallop’s eye is like a mirror which reflects the incoming light back towards the lens opening. The light sensitive cells … Read more
This Leafy Seadragon headshot was taken during a recent daytime dive at Rapid Bay. This is another example of extreme separation normally associated with a night shot but instead done through strong strobes and removal of the blue luminance. I expect he’ll be wearing dark sunglasses next time I return. Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Headshot’, 1/200s … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" These yellowtail seemed so regimented into their ‘march on by’ that I could not help but imagine they had been given their marching orders. Although this looks like a night shot it was actually created in full daylight by using a combination of bright strobe lighting to ‘drown out the daylight’ … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" A few weeks ago I first noticed the behavior of a male toadifsh (Omegophora armilla) collecting objects and filling a discarded bucket with them. On this dive I found another toadfish behaving in a similar way but this time filling a large sponge. I wonder if they have completed their collections … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" Imagine for a moment that going to heaven for a fish might have something to do with that strange sunlit world above? Twenty years ago, ‘up there’, would have been teaming with amateur fishers angling for a piece of undersea action. From the fishes perspective the last place they might wish … Read more
<a href="/serendipity/" title="Robert's Ramblings" Sepia apama, the Giant Cuttlefish, is the largest of the cuttlefish and a South Australian draw-card critter. Thousands of cuttlefish congregate to mate in the shallows at the top of Spencer Gulf each winter creating amazing opportunities for divers and snorkelers to observe their antics in only metres of water. This … Read more