Robert's Ramblings

A Place of Respite

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 12:32:00 +0000

It's 35 degrees C at sunset for most of Adelaide after another sweltering day. Most would be sheltering from the heat indoors, cocooned in power-hungry air-conditioned buildings.

There is a place of respite, no more than a couple of kilometres out into the gulf, where comfort costs no more than the effort it takes to get here.

The ocean was like a millpond tonight. Dolphins could be seen breaking the surface in the distance. A gorgeous sunset painted the western sky orange, while the carnival lights of the Glenelg foreshore to the east responded with colours of their own. Best of all, it is cool out here. Cool, gentle and beautiful.

Whether it is skimming across a millpond ocean or rocking gently adrift at sea, there is nowhere else when it's 35 degrees that I can imagine I'd rather be.

Above or below …

#sunset #glenelg #GoldenHour #boating #ocean #calm #tranquillity #SouthAustralia #respite

Aldinga Washpool

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:17:00 +0000

For nearly 20 years of my young adult life I made my way down Button Road, through the middle of the Wangkuntila Aldinga Conservation Park (Aldinga Washpool), to get to Silver Sands Beach. In all that time I never noticed the natural treasure all around me.

At the time, windsurfing was everything to me and the ocean in the distance created a kind of tunnel vision, making me blind to anything other than the beach and the sea beyond. In fairness, my visits were invariably in summer, when the ephemeral wetlands appeared as parched grass and dry spinifex. From the road, the dried-out lagoon basins were simply not visible.

Today I wandered through that very same parched grass and dry spinifex and, for the first time, I noticed the meandering course of Silver Sands Creek. I noticed the pools of brackish water persisting through the dry heat. I noticed the juxtaposition of waterless salt pans alongside the green of sapphire.

Now that I know the treasure I have been missing out on, I will make the effort to visit again when South Australian winter rains fill the lagoons and Aldinga Washpool shows its wetland beauty.

#aerial #Aldinga #AldingaWashpool #WangkuntilaConservationPark #drought #saltpans #abstract #texture #AerialPhotography

Close Focus Wide Angle

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 23:07:00 +0000

It's such a conundrum for me diving here at Port Hughes with both gorgeous mega and macro photography opportunities. I love big underwater vistas, so almost always I will go wide angle in the hope of capturing the huge schools of scad amid soft coral-adorned pylons.

On occasion I have dived with divers carrying two full DSLR rigs (I'm looking at you, Yorko), but short of my own personal caddy, I think I'll stick with just one for simplicity. Still, I continuously keep missing out on the gorgeous macro life down here.

When I found this beautiful short-tailed nudibranch, Ceratosoma brevicaudatum, on one of the pylons, my frustration was the same as always, leading to the thought, 'next time I'll dive macro'.

Still, all was not lost as this little critter had positioned himself such that I could get my huge dome within a couple of centimetres and capture this image.

This style of image is called 'close focus wide angle', and when a macro subject offers this, it is a wonderful opportunity to show them in the context of their surroundings. Perhaps it's the best of both worlds, keeping the sense of connection between critter and the environment it lives in.

So will I go macro next time I dive Port Hughes jetty? I'm sure I'll consider it, but I'll probably go wide again as always.

#CeratosomaBrevicaudatum #critters #scuba #diving #PortHughes #macro #CloseFocusWideAngle #nudibranch #seaslug #underwater #SouthAustralia #ShorttailedNudibranch #UnderwaterPhotography #ScubaDiving #UnderwaterMacro #MarineLife

Wall of Scad

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:13:00 +0000

Underneath Port Hughes jetty there is a school of yellowtail scad, the scale of which rivals any location in South Australia I've ever dived. I distinctly remember my very first dive here many years ago and how it took my breath away.

This is one of those locations full of amazing tiny creatures which draw you into the world of macro photography. It also has the large vistas of soft coral-covered pylons and those amazing schools of yellowtail scad cruising through them, demanding wide angles.

The first time I dived here I was focused on the macro and the little things and spent much of the dive ignoring the nudibranchs and following the scad, wishing I had a wide angle lens instead. Most dives since I've gone for wide angle.

Capturing good images of highly reflective fish is really challenging. It's like trying to photograph the dust on an old mirror in the dark. Too much strobe light and all you get is a blast of light right back at you with no detail. Too little strobe light and the details disappear into blue-green monochrome.

Perhaps I should make my next dive here a macro dive and explore all the amazing tiny creatures that live here, but I just know that FOMO will get the better of me and that wall of yellowtail scad will just tease me for the entire dive.

#YellowtailScad #scad #yellowtail #yakka #TrachurusNovaezelandiae #scuba #diving #PortHughes #SouthAustralia #underwater

There be Dragons

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:01:00 +0000

We entered the water eager to see the condition of the headland reef and buoyed by recent reports of other divers who had seen the dragons.

Snorkelling across the bay, we encountered a returning group of divers. Their disappointed question was, "Do you know where the dragons are?" We simply did not know, so we never made the returning group feel like they had missed out.

We explored the very healthy-looking sea grass. We investigated the headland and into the western bay beyond. No dragons.

We looped back again to explore the ledges and caves of the headland. Still no dragons.

Then I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look but only saw Andy offering wild gesticulations. He had found something. And then, there they were, not one but two beautiful weedy seadragons on the edge of the reef.

South Australia is world-renowned as a destination for observing leafy seadragons, but the weedies, or common seadragons, are by far my favourites. Their striking patterns and gorgeous colours make them spectacular. It was a joy and a privilege to see and get to photograph these amazing critters.

Despite the algal bloom, the two dragons we found seemed alert, happy, and only slightly annoyed at my paparazzi presence. Thank you, Andy, for your keen eye.

There be dragons indeed.

#PhyllopteryxTtaeniolatus #CommonSeadragon #WeedySeadragon #SecondValley #SouthAustralia #scuba #diving #underwater #photography

New Blue

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:13:00 +0000

While looking for seadragons at Second Valley, we took the time to explore the deep undercuts and caves of the headland. You never know what you might find lurking in the shadows.

Andy found the first one. I found the second. Two perfect, beautiful, juvenile blue devils within a few metres of each other. Both no larger than 10 centimetres in length, they looked in every way like miniature versions of the adults they will hopefully become.

The usual behaviour of local juvenile South Australian reef fish is for them to flit and cavort in the shallows, carefree of their future lives. They are always a delight to see and correspondingly hard to photograph.

Blue devils, as exotic and gorgeous as they are, seem to have been born in the same beautiful and grumpy skin that they will inhabit for their entire lives.

Blue devils begin life as pelagic larval travellers. At some point – probably when they start looking grumpy – they find a nice little cave, ledge or wreck, and settle in for life. It is not uncommon to see the same individual over decades of diving if the environment has been kind.

Given the precarious state of our gulf, and the toll the algal bloom has extracted, it was an absolute delight to see two brand new blue devils taking up residence and bringing colour back to Second Valley.

#BlueDevils #fish #SecondValley #SouthAustralia #scuba #diving #ParaplesiopsMeleagris #recovery #underwater #photography

Spotted Piper

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 05:05:00 +0000

Despite the algal bloom, Second Valley has had some fantastic conditions for diving lately, with images and video circulating of crystal clear water and weedy seadragons. So Second Valley was yesterday's diving destination with my long-time dive buddy Andy.

It was a hot day – South Australian heatwave kind of hot – which made the wetsuit donning something akin to being reforged in the fires of Orodruin. On surviving Mount Doom, the cool 22°C waters off the jetty were an exquisite delight!

We tracked around the headland, noting how healthy the marine life seemed compared to deeper north into the gulf. Andy found two weedy seadragons, which made the dive perfect. We found two tiny little juvenile blue devils a few centimetres in length.

My delight for the dive was this spotted pipefish – one of the syngnathids I rarely see and have never really captured a good image of.

And I am still trying…

#diving #pipefish #scuba #SecondValley #southaustralia #SpottedPipeFish #underwater

Cows and Crabmeat

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was my first time back in the water here in South Australia this year, and boy did I experience a juxtaposition of diving worlds. From an Irish winter off the south-west coast of Kerry, where 9-degree water was the warmest place to be, to an Adelaide heatwave in the low to mid-40s and an ocean like bathwater.

Yesterday's dive under Port Hughes jetty was like taking a 2-hour leisurely soak in a spa filled with beautiful marine life.

As Port Hughes is part of Spencer Gulf, it has so far been able to escape the algal bloom currently ravaging our local Gulf of St Vincent. Thank you, Diana and Amanda, for such a wonderful start to diving here in South Australia again.

Port Hughes has long been a favourite of local Adelaide divers and has one of the most prolific communities of cowfish that I know about. Here, both Shaw's and ornate cowfish are lining up for a seafood dish of their own.

#cowfish #diving #OrnateCowfish #porthughes #scuba #shawscowfish #southaustralia #underwater