Mount Gambier Victor Harbour Adelaide
Kangaroo Island Yorke Peninsula Spencer Gulf Port Lincoln
Eyre Peninsula - Great Australian Bight
Port macdonnell is home to the largest rock lobster fishing fleet in the state. There are no diving shops in the area ( air can be obtained at Mt. Gambier) and any diving depends on trailered boats , or scuba diving from shore, and snorkeling.
This busy seaside port is home to around 1000 people and there is a man - made breakwater with some interesting muck diving, that offers some measure of protection from the often inhospitable weather this part of the coastline is subjected to.
This jumble of boulders was full of Southern Rock Lobsters Jasus edwardsii, they were under every ledge.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Built a little to the east of Cape Northumberland on the southern - most tip of South Australia, some 495 kilometres from Adelaide, Port Macdonnell is home to the largest rock lobster fishing fleet in the state.
There are no diving shops in the area ( air can be obtained at Mt. Gambier) and any diving depends on trailered boats , or shore diving and snorkelling. This busy seaside port is home to around 1000 people and there is a man - made breakwater ( muck dive) that offers some measure of protection from the often inhospitable weather this part of the coastline is subjected to.
The harbour bottom was not exceptional, mostly soft substrate covered with algae. My most exciting find was this Multispined Sea Star Nectria multispina.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
The shallow kelp - covered reefs are rich in invertebrates, algae, molluscs, nudibranchs, soft corals, sea whips, sea fans, crabs, worms, sea stars, sea urchins, brittle stars, sponges, shrimps, sea anemones and ascidians, especially rich in rock lobsters, but the lack of fish is noticeable.
In a sandy patch between the sea grass and algae beds offshore, was this Southern Sea Mouse Aphrodite australis. The species is cosmopolitan and grows to 180 mm. Its setae (spines) are reported to sting, but I had no injury from handling it.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
The offshore reefs are obviously very productive and promise spectacular diving, but most are in fairly deep water. Reefs can easily be located by the presence of rock lobster floats BUT one would be advised to leave them alone.
Some of the rock lobsters are giants up to 36 kg and the amount of crabs and other marine life that comes up in the traps is amazing.
Living amongst the rocky reefs at 50 to 100 metres, the Giant Crab Pseudocarcinus gigas is often brought up in the craypots. Once treated as a nusiance they are now a luxury food item and are often displayed alive in fish shops and weigh in excess of 15 kg. Although the huge claws appear menacing, the crabs make no attempt to even a threaten diver.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
From Carpenters Rocks to Cape Banks there are lots of interesting shore dives with extensive sea grass meadows, giant pipefish, beautiful sea anemones, sea mice, tube worms and lots of Dusky Morwongs that are caught in traps without bait.
I lost a bet regarding the traps that did not need bait to catch fish as I had never heard or seen such a thing before.
The fish that catches itself. A Dusky Morwong Dactylophora nigricans (juvenile) peeks out of habitat amongst the sea grass.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
However, I watched the traps being set and I went out there the next day and they had Dusky Morwongs in them. Aparently the fish are so inquisitive of anything strange in their territory that they investigate, and catch themselves
Robe to Guichen Bay has a safe harbour and was once a big shipping port. Today it tis supported by fishing, mixed with tourism.The waters are clear, the sand white, with stacks of sea grass meadows and it tis a nice place to snorkel. Offshore, the Godfrey Islands would no doubt be a good diving location, but the only access is by boat.
A resident of the extensive sea grass meadows, Delwyns Tube Anemone Pachycerianthus delwynae has two sets of tentacles and feeds mostly on plankton and suspended detritus. It has nematocysts but they are too small to sting humans.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Further to the north at Cape Jaffa is a line of reefs stretching out to sea towards Margaret Brock Reef some eight kilometres west of Cape Jaffa. While the shallow reefs here offer good diving when conditions allow it, the Margaret Brock Reef becons and although I did not make it out there I understand that it is spectacuar diving, being right on the overlap of two biogeographical provinces. Margaret Brock Reef is a marine sanctuary ( all rock lobsters are protected) right at the meeting place of the western warm temperate waters and the cooler temperate zones. If it is ever surveyed someday I feel sure there will be some exciting discoveries.
Mount Gambier Victor Harbour Adelaide
Kangaroo Island Yorke Peninsula Spencer Gulf Port Lincoln
Eyre Peninsula - Great Australian Bight
Neville Coleman's diving expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys and marine life identification courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in marine life identification extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters around Port Macdonnell.
( Copyright Neville Coleman/Nigel Marsh)
