The Waters Around Rottnest Island - Snorkeling Little Salmon Bay

Little Salmon Bay is such a fantastic little gem hidden on the south side of Rottnest Island. The beach is tiny, which might be the reason for the relative modest number of visitors you will encounter when you go there. You are quite well protected at the beach with rock structures surrounding the sandy beach and extending out into the water creating a little lagoon. As you have probably already guessed, it is not the sand that is the reason why you go to Little Salmon Bay, but rather the water, or more specifically what is under the water!


Little Salmon Bay delivers some of the easiest and best snorkeling I have done in Australia. A shallow sandy entry into crystal clear water and you have a bathtub the size of a cricket ground full of fish, corals and rich water. As long as you stay inside the lagoon you will be well protected by the rocky structures and maximum dept is not much more than 5m, with 80% of the area at less than 3 meters.


Rottnest should geographically be too far south to support corals and many of the exotic fish we saw. However, similar to how the Gulf stream warms western Europe, the Leeuwin current brings down warm tropical water from the north keeping winter water temperatures at Rottnest significantly higher than what you can expect just 18km east at the mainland, typically 19°C versus 15°C. Along with the warm water comes a variety of tropical marine larvae of which the pink corals have established a foothold in Little Salmon Bay.


Lots of exciting fish! I think the one above is a Yellow Moon Wrasse and the little green fish below is Pretty Polly Dotalabrus aurantiacus, it was pure luck that I managed to spot it in the middle of some green algae. Afterwards it was very easy getting the photo, since the PP was so confident in its camouflage that it did not flee when I came in for a closer look. We also saw numerous Western King Wrasse - there should be a photo in the Picasa album.


Great stuff! Every time I visit Perth and Rottnest I use a bit of time standing in Sydney looking at my suitcase considering if it is really worth bringing snorkel, mask and flippers - it is quite an extra load to transport 4200km west and on your back while biking around the island, however, as soon as you get your head under the surface you know it is all worth the extra hassle! :-) Driving back towards the ferry we managed to get another quick little dip around The Basin before heading back towards Perth.

The Great Barrier Reef - Hallelujah! :-)

After many years of snorkeling here in Australia, I finally made it to the Great Barrier Reef - the most famous diving and snorkeling destination in Australia - if not in the world?..! Not bad at all! :-) There is really no way around going to the reef while being in Cairns, every single street down town Cairns will have a good collection of (dive) shops advertising the possibility of taking you out to the reef on more or less anything that can float. From super fast luxury ships that will do the trip out to the reef so fast that you will hardly have time to get your stinger suit on and find a matching pair of flippers, to equally expensive wooden sailboats that will make the travel a part of the experience.

We went for the cost efficient compromise, about $100 per person (including $15 reef tax). That gave us medium travel speed, the trip took about 1h30m each way - excellent opportunity to see a few new pelagic species - and snorkeling at two destinations on Moore Reef. In between dives the trip even included a decent attempt of serving up lunch, all in all clocking up nearly a full day at the reef.

Finally we managed to have a bit of luck with the weather, it was not raining! Apparently we were also lucky with the amount of wind and surf, chatting a bit to some of the more experienced looking members of our fellow participants revealed that we had chosen the best day of the week for going to the reef. The last 3 days in particular had been quite rough, apparently culminating in nearly 100% of participants from the trip the day before having to "feed the fish" .. we quickly decided to buy the motion Sickness tablets.

The Great Barrier Reef is indeed quite "great" i.e. big, so when the ship stopped and it was announced that we had reach our first destination, I could not help having a funny feeling of is this really it? Yeah, well you could see a few boats in the distance, but otherwise there was nothing except water and eagerly gazing into the water revealed non of all the excitement that had given the reefs its reputation.


Before getting into the water we had to sit through a briefing with the captain of the ship, his first question surprised me a bit, but the reaction was even more confusing. He asked, "is there anyone that cannot swim?" and a couple of fellow snorkelers raised their hands!!..??

Such is the attractive powers of the Great Barrier Reef! Even tourists without swimming capabilities will volunteer, even pay money, to be ferried 1h30m away from the safety of solid land and be dumped into 20-30m deep water to see "the largest structure in the world to have been built by living creatures". Fantastic stuff and I take my hat off for those who decided that they needed a float, it takes a lot of courage to swim in deep waters, even for experienced (pool-)swimmers.

Getting into the water it all started to make sense. We were given direction to an underwater Atoll a good stone throw away from the ship. While swimming there there was nothing to see, but as we got closer you suddenly saw this enormous structure rise from deep below, a large nearly perfectly cylindrical reef probably 50m diameter with the top at a perfect 1m below the surface - perfect for just floating around in the surface looking at the thousands of fish darting around between the corals.


To be continued ..

A Quick Dip in Clovelly Pool

Saturday was little G's last full day in Sydney for a while so we had to concentrate all the usual excitement that you expect for a weekend into a super duper action packed Saturday.
Once again Sydney produced one of these absolutely amazing sunny late winter/early spring days with high blue sky and very comfortable mid twenties temperature - great guns! We decided to start the day by getting the wetsuits wet doing a bit of snorkeling. Walking towards good old Gordon's bay we realized that conditions were not exactly optimal and decided to relocate the snorkeling business to the neighboring Clovelly pool.

The fish in Clovelly pool are exceptional curious and very relaxed about having divers/snorkelers around, which also makes the pool one of the best places around Sydney to start training for an underwater photography career - do not know how well Mado pictures sell though :-D

The trick is to dive down and grab onto something solid like a rock and then stay still. The fish will move away because of the suspicious looking intruder, but curiosity or the fact that big fish eating generates lot of food particles in the water for smaller fish to eat, means that if you can just hold on for a while and wait you will be surrounded by underwater wildlife soon after. The variable in that statement is the amount of time you have to hold on before you get company. In Clovelly pool this is a matter of approximately 10 seconds, elsewhere it can be much much longer.

Little G showed some amazing acrobatic skill when it came to holding on and despite of the wetsuit being slightly on the tight side she managed to somehow hide a sufficient amount of air to stay down below well beyond the time needed to get a close encounter with the the fishes of the pool.

Highlight of the day was probably an octopus hiding under a rock. They are super intelligent creatures! As you can see on the picture, octopuses will utilize shells and rocks as a shield in front of them if they feel too exposed - convenient having 8 arms!

Picture is not best ever, it was taken quite deep down and there was not much light - I actually think I used the flash on this one. My old Olympus 725SW has done well for years - approaching 3 I think - but it might be up for an upgrade soon. It looks like the market for underwater P&S cameras has truly taken off and that there is actually a choice nowadays. www.dpreview.com has tested the contestants in a Waterproof Camera Group Test so next time we go snorkeling I might not be the only one taking pictures? :-)

Gordon's bay down under

Sunday morning and once again the gang gathered around the waters of Gordon's bay for a little bit of underwater excitement. Walking to the bay we had already started anticipating a treat, the water was mirror flat and so clear that you could (nearly) perv on the fish standing on land :-)

Little G was, however, super eager to get into the cold water to try out one of her Christmas gifts - a wetsuit - so no beating around the bush, brain freeze here we go' ;-)

Being in the portrait mode little G decided to test the camouflage rating of my wetsuit, it is actually first time ever I see the suit under water and boy does that camouflage function work wonders! Now I understand why the fish never notice me ;-)

Water was crystal clear, sun was shining and there was quite a bit of wildlife to look at, actually we were incredible lucky and ticked 3 of the more exciting species:

Under good old "shark-rock" we found a sleeping Crested Horn shark, close by a Wobbegong was relaxing under a ledge and on the sand in the middle of the bay we saw an enormous Eagle Ray.


Fantastic winter day down under! Gordon's bay is very much alive at the moment and the winter species are still around, so in combo with crystal clear cold water and the slightly easier task of getting a table at the café afterwards it is nearly worth the brain freeze to have a dip.

Clovelly Bay Revisited

It is not that often we snorkel in Clovelly bay, guess it feels a bit less "natural" than the neighboring Gordon's bay due to the concrete walls. However, there is no doubt that it is excellent snorkeling and if the surf is really rough your best chance for some snorkeling in the Eastern suburbs is Clovelly ... or Little Bay, but that is another story ;-)

Saturday proved to be one of these absolutely amazing Sydney winter days that reminds you of a Danish summer equivalent. Surf was a bit rough though and while walking North for a bit of snorkeling I decided that I was probably more likely to get good visibility in Clovelly rather than anywhere else in walking distance.

Water temperature has started dropping fast and I should probably have brought my wetsuit ... guess I am getting soft :-) Well, cold water is clear water and despite some really rough conditions outside the protective walls of the bay I had some decent clear water to take pictures in.

I had made a serious beginner mistake when preparing for my snorkel! I had left my bag, clothes and apartment key(!) in what I expected to be safe distance from the water, approximately 5 meters away but still on the flat concrete, while I was in snorkeling the waves increased in strength and actually managed to flood the entire concrete area on the South side of the bay. While I was happily "whaling" around my bits and pieces where in imminent danger of being wash out to sea!

I realized all this when I came back to the spot where my stuff was supposed to be only finding wet concrete, instead all my stuff, including sour socks, shoes, my bag and a pair of knickers (luckily not as sour as the socks) was gently moved another meter inland up on a little rock into safety :-) How good is that? In some countries you cannot leave stuff unattended without it being stolen - in Australia people will save your gear when you recklessly put it at risk - Thank you! :-)

Snorkeling The Wild Waters of Gordon's Bay

Finally back in Sydney the gang was up for a bit of water sport. Excellent opportunity to test if the wetsuit would still fit or if the gnocchi meals had slimmed me down a size or two. Happy to announce that the suit was as nice and tight as ever and made swimming around in the 20 degrees hot/cold water a joy.

Snorkeling Gordon's bay during winter is very different from doing it during the 9 summer months that we are blessed with down here. It is quieter and it can be argued that the amount of light penetrating the surface is reduced. However water quality is amazing and you can easily expect double the visibility of what you get during a summer day afternoon.

As stated the quantity of wildlife seen is reduced when the water goes cold, but what you see is more exciting. We have yet to see the first Port Jackson sharks this winter, but we were very lucky to get some intimate interaction with a Giant Cuttlefish.

The usual Ludericks and a couple of rays were hanging around and even a dive school gave good views ... apart from algae attached to rocks, divers are probably the slowest moving life form in the water :-D

No doubt the Giant Cuttlefish was the highligt of the day .. only rivaled by the big breakfast consumed afterward at our new hangout on Coogee Bay Road.

Snorkeling in Gordon's bay

3gbj9zxptq