Crabs

Dive sites: Windmill Beach

A wedding at Windmill, with divers emerging (James Bond-like) from the sea in the background

It’s actually ridiculous that I haven’t written anything about Windmill Beach yet for the blog. It’s probably one of the three most popular shore entry sites on the western side of False Bay, and it’s absolutely beautiful. The beach is also a popular wedding venue – take care not to spoil the photos as you tramp past in your scuba gear!

Right next to Boulders Beach, Windmill shares the same type of topography: large, rounded boulders sheltering small inlets. On a calm day with no large swell, it’s paradise. (When there is a big swell, it’s a washing machine and not worth the walk down to the beach.) A huge variety of life colonises the granite boulders around the beach, and the patient observer will find other interesting creatures on the coarse, sandy bottom between the rocks.

Exiting the water after a dive, in the east cove

The beautiful tree at the bottom of the path to the beach

View of the dodgy public loo on site, from just above the beach

The path leading down from the parking area to the beach

The entrance to the beach, seen from the parking area

Parking is at the end of Links Crescent, so-called because it runs behind the golf course in Simon’s Town. There’s often a man in a penguin suit standing on the corner of Bellevue Road, which is where you must turn left off the main road. Links Crescent is the first road to your right after the golf course. On weekends the site teems with divers, but during the week it’s advisable to organise yourself a car guard (Happy Valley Homeless Shelter can often oblige). The parking is right next to the golf course – be warned! There are public loos on the way down to the beach, but optimistically the most they can be said to provide in terms of amenities is a modicum of privacy. The well-maintained loos at Long Beach have spoiled us in this regard!

Setting off in good visibility at Windmill

Interesting gaps between the rocks and in the kelp are fun for divers!

The two coves are very sheltered. The northernmost (left hand) one is very shallow and slopes very gently; the eastern (right hand) cove is the more popular entry point, and is ideal for skills training on the sandy bottom, as it is very protected and one can quickly get 1.5 to 2 metres of depth. There is plenty to see on the rocks around the edge of the cove, and in adverse conditions an entire dive could be conducted without leaving the protection of the rocks. At least one very large octopus lives in the shallows on the right hand side of the cove.

A red sea star... count the legs! — A red sea star… count the legs!

Healthy kelp forests with invertebrates beneath at Windmill

There is abundant life at the foot of the kelp stipes

Urchins and a sea star cling to a rock at Windmill

There is ample place to hide in the kelp

The maximum depth you’ll find at Windmill is about 8 metres – getting deeper requires quite a swim offshore. I think it involves more than a little luck as well as some navigation skils, but it’s possible to enter at the eastern cove, swim out and around the rocks, and exit at the northern cove. There is a narrow gap between the rocks (shortcut into the northern cove) that is terrible when there’s a swell – the first time I dived Windmill, with Fritz (just after I started diving) we got washed through it at a precipitous speed. If you skip the gap, knowing when to turn west and find the seaward entrance of the north cove is also quite an art, and a “surface to look around” may be required.

All that said, Windmill is an exceptionally attractive dive site. There are several passages to swim through, and the southern right whales that visit False Bay every year seem to like this spot. I have heard more than one story of divers encountering a jubilant whale in the shallow (for a whale) water. If you are one of the lucky ones who does, remember that these whales are very, very large in comparison to you, and an accidental sideswipe with its tail could well catapault you into next week.

A hottentot with two fish lice on its head

Cushion star on some Stephens' codium — Cushion star on some Stephens’ codium

A pinch-lipped marginella on some Stephens' codium — A pinch-lipped marginella on some Stephens’ codium

When we dived there recently I found a white seacatfish, but wasn’t fast enough to photograph him as he disappeared into a crack in the rocks. There are lots of klipfish, gorgeous nudibranchs, and a wealth of other invertebrate life. You won’t find a single abalone (but lots of shells) – I think they’ve been poached out. The place is crawling with alikreukel. Fortunately at Photographer’s Reef, a 400 metre swim directly out into the bay from Windmill, there is a reasonably large and healthy population. Like A Frame, we saw many false plum anemones, and the Cape rock crab population at Windmill seems particularly healthy. If you want to see kelp forests, the ones at Windmill are particularly alluring, sloping gently upwards with a vivid scattering of urchins and anemones on the rocks beneath.

A large false plum anemone in the shallow water at Windmill

A false plum anemone with tentacles retracted

Dive date: 15 October 2011

Air temperature: 19 degrees

Water temperature: 15 degrees

Maximum depth: 6.6 metres

Visibility: 10 metres

Dive duration: 40 minutes

Gregarious fanworms next to a teat sponge

Series: Deadliest Catch, Season 3

I’m still completely addicted to this show. After wishing for more underwater footage after Season 2, we were rewarded with a ten second shot of a crab pot lying on the Bering seafloor, surrounded by sea pens and mud. We could still do with more. This season features some epic weather – ten plus metre waves breaking over the boats, colossal storms, and thick pack ice that threatens to crush one of the vessels.

There are US Coastguard rescues and high drama at sea. The boats are plagued with mechanical breakdowns, and we get to see a bit of drysuit diving in Dutch Harbour in order to clear fouled propellors and replace broken ones.

There’s also a bit more humour, fighting and honest interaction – I think some of the captains and crew are loosening up a bit toward the cameras at this stage. This season follows two greenhorn crew members in particular – one a 40-something year old professional rodeo rider who barely lasts 24 hours of the two week Opilio crab season, despite being an all-round tough guy. His meltdown is spectacular. The physicality and mental strength required to do this job is something else.

Tony and I missed Hiram Johnson, a crazy-eyed crewmember of one of the boats who featured in both of the first two seasons and came up with gems like the fact that he never has woman problems because he buys his ladies! There are a couple of new boats in this season, a couple of new crewmembers on the existing boats, but for the most part there’s continuity. We enjoy Edgar Hansen (on the cover of the DVD box set) and his dry, brutal humour, his genius captain brother Sig on the Northwestern, and the Harris family (Captain Phil and his two sons) on the Cornelia Marie. The Hillstrand brothers on the Time Bandit are also full of character, with Johnathan laughing like a pirate at every opportunity.

I am impressed by the Alaskan crab fisheries. The primary ones covered in Deadliest Catch are Alaskan Red King Crab and Opilio or Tanner crab. There’s almost no bycatch – a couple of codfish here and there, which are promptly repurposed for bait. It’s clearly a heavily regulated industry – the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game dishes out quotas according to abundance estimates and closes the fishing season if the quotas have been met.

I am also impressed by the US Coastguard, who hold pre-emptive drills on all the boats before they are allowed to set out. The men must demonstrate their prowess donning a survival suit, and respond to a simulated fire or other emergency on board the ship. There’s also a LOT of paperwork.

I think we enjoyed this season most out of the three we’ve watched so far – the show keeps improving.

The DVD box set is available here. If you’re not in South Africa, you can purchase a copy here.

Dive sites: MFV Orotava

The MFV Orotava was part of the I&J fishing fleet, and was scuttled in Smitswinkel Bay in 1983. She lies alongside the SAS Transvaal, and within a few hundred metres of the SAS Good Hope, the MV Rockeater, and the MFV Princess Elizabeth. She is a steel trawler, 50 metres long and just over 9 metres wide. It’s possible to see the entire wreck in a single dive; she rests on the sand at 34 metres, leaning at a slight angle, and the top of her superstructure is at about 23 metres.

Encrusted wreckage, looking like a garden

We dived this wreck two weekends in a row. The first time we had very good visibility, and to me the ship looked as though it was festooned with flowers. There are lots of steel pipes and other bits sticking up, with arches and door frames and other framing devices that make for wonderful photographic opportunities. The wreck is overgrown with feather stars, sea fans, soft corals, and other invertebrate life.

A masked crab evades my flash on the sand

Most notable to me was the presence of multiple frilled nudibranchs. I saw these for the first time on the MV Rockeater, also in Smitswinkel Bay, but the profusion of these beautiful little creatures on the Orotava has to be seen to be believed. I probably photographed 20 unique specimens on each dive, whilst swimming over several others (with regret).

The interior of the wreck is small, tight and not really suitable for penetration. The next two photos are horrible and have no artistic merit whatsoever (even by my standards), but they are of a hole in the deck. There are vertical steel plates visibile inside the hole that were moving several feet back and forth with each wash of the surge – you can see them in two distinct positions in the pictures. Take care.

Dive date: 27 August 2011

Air temperature: 17 degrees

Water temperature: 14 degrees

Maximum depth: 30.3 metres

Visibility: 12 metres

Dive duration: 33 minutes

We returned to the MFV Orotava the following week to look for a GoPro camera lost by one of the other divers on the boat the previous week. No luck finding it, unfortunately!

On our second visit to the wreck, Tony was below me on the sand with a student doing skills for a Deep Specialty course. I hung about near the top of the hull, trying to take shelter from the surge, which was particularly violent that day. Next to me, on some small sea fans, were two baby basket stars. This is the first time I’ve seen them in False Bay (I think they are found at several of the deeper reefs towards the southern end of the bay, such as Rocky Bank) – we usually see them on deep Atlantic dives such as on Klein Tafelberg Reef.

I thought the Orotava was a very pretty wreck, and look forward to returning there. Anywhere I can see my frilled nudibranchs or basket stars (!!!!) is a happy place for me.

Dive date: 4 September 2011

Air temperature: 15 degrees

Water temperature: 14 degrees

Maximum depth: 32.9 metres

Visibility: 5 metres

Dive duration: 36 minutes

Swimming worm at the safety stop (species ID pending!)

These two heavily-laden divers were busy with an advanced Nitrox course

Invertebrates of Malta

We found the marine life of Malta strikingly different to what we are used to at home. I like to think that we are pretty good at finding things, because diving in Cape Town sometimes requires a beady eye, patience, and willingness to stare at what seems like barren sand. To both me and Tony the marine life of Malta seemed far less prolific than we are accustomed to in South Africa, and certainly there are not many invertebrates – in terms of both number of species and biomass – at all. The warm, clean water, which is devoid of plankton, probably does not support the dense aggregations of life that we are used to in the Cape.

Here is a summary of pretty much all the different invertebrates we did see. (You should note that I didn’t have twenty pictures of each creature to choose from… In the ten dives, I saw one hermit crab, one sea squirt, and ONE sea cucumber. Not one sea anemone – though apparently they are there somewhere. Imagine that!)

Nudibranchs

A nudibranch (Flabellina affinis) that we saw often on the deeper wrecks

Worms

We saw lots of fireworms, which have erectile bristles that will break off in your skin if you touch them, and cause irritation because they contain a toxic substance. They move just like centipedes, and occasionally form feeding aggregations – I didn’t get a photo of one, but Tony has some on video.

We also saw a lot of tube worms, some even inside the cave and tunnels we swam through. On the deeper wrecks and less disturbed sites we found very large specimens.

Tubeworms (Serpula vermicularis) inside a cave under Gozo's Blue Hole

The tube worm Serpula vermicularis retracting into its tube

Spinous spider crab (Maja squinado) hiding from the camera

Hermit crab (Dardanus arrosor) on the wreck of the P29 patrol boat

Urchins

We saw a few different kinds of sea urchin, but I don’t have scientific names for them…

Sea urchins are light sensitive, so use shells and bits of seaweed as hats

Sea cucumbers

A sea cucumber inside the cave leading to the inland sea at L'Ahrax Point

Sea stars

We can’t move an inch in Cape waters without landing on a sea star, whereas in Malta I think I saw five starfish (individual specimens, not kinds) in ten dives. I was thus disproportionately excited when I did find them!

Irregular starfish (Coscinasteria tenuispina)

This next one is interesting – we find huge numbers of spiny sea stars at home, and I seem to recall reading that they are in fact a European “import”.

Spiny sea star (Marthasterias glacialis)

Ascidians

I say “ascidians”, but this is the only one I saw.

Series: Deadliest Catch, Season 2

Tony and I loved the first season of Deadliest Catch – watching men pit themselves against the might of the ocean and the wiliness of its creatures was kind of thrilling.

Season two dishes up more of the same – the boats and captains are largely the same as in the first season, and it also covers the Alaskan king crab and opilio crab seasons. As a bonus, we get to see one of the captains (Sig and the Northwestern) fishing for cod at the start of the season, because the weather was too violent to go far out to sea in search of crab.

In this season we see the effects of rogue waves and ice on a ship (both very scary!). Some of the captains fished uncomfortably close to the Bering Sea ice pack, and while it looks very beautiful, it’s incredibly dangerous. The build up of ice on the boats is also quite awe-inspiring… I really enjoy chipping ice out of my freezer at home, but this is in another league entirely! There is also a bit of humour as two of the captains (Sig and Phil) mess with each other’s gear.

The cameramen do an incredible job – it’s easy to forget that they have to stand on an icy deck that is heaving and tipping, periodically swamped by waves, with the crewmen, in order to capture the action. We both felt, however, that we’d like to see a little more of the action underwater. What does the bottom of the Bering Sea look like? How do the crabs move about – in packs? Singly? What other things live down there? There was a computer animation depicting the fishing strategy of one of the captains, who favours soft, muddy sandbanks for opilio crab and met with roaring success, and a couple of brief shots of the crab pot as it was lifted up through the water against the side of the boat, but there’s scope for a lot more here.

I adore this show – the power of the sea and the character of the individuals who work it are fascinating to me. There’s a lot more that future seasons can deliver, and I hope Discovery Channel keeps developing the show.

You can get the DVD box set here if you’re in South Africa, and here if you’re not.

Sea life: False plum anemone

This anemone's body is as thick as my leg — This anemone’s body is as thick as my leg

False plum anemone with tentacles retracted and some spherules showing

The false plum anemone (Pseudactina flagellifera) is one of the larger and most venomous anemones found in Cape waters. That said, it won’t hurt you unless you have an open wound that you somehow manage to get in contact with its tentacles! They can grow to prodigious sizes. Like all anemones, the prey is captured with the tentacles (which are sticky and cause paralysis in the molluscs and crustaceans that it feeds on) and stuffed into the central mouth cavity.

The anemone has spherules, which are small bead-shaped protrusions, at the base of its tentacles, as well as vesicles filled with toxins, which are used for defence. They contain nematocysts or stinging cells. These anemones can move about slowly, and will attack other, unrelated anemones with its vesicles. We often see Cape rock crabs sheltering next to large false plum anemones.

Their tentacles frequently have mauve tips, which I think are very pretty. They apparently do not readily retract their tentacles (according to Two Oceans), and I was surprised to see several at A Frame recently with their tentacles completely hidden.

Disappearing acts

The open ocean is a wild and dangerous place – even more so than Long Street on a Saturday morning. Many of the creatures that live there have specific techniques to avoid detection by predators. Some of these techniques involve sophisticated patterning that breaks up the creature’s body profile against its environment… Some of them involve keeping very still or finding dark places to hide… And some creatures just hide under a big pile of sand. Here are a few of my favourites.

Sand sea stars hide themselves under the sand (hence their name, I assume). We came across this one just after he’d buried himself at Long Beach, and it put me in mind of Christmastime!

On a dive at the Clan Stuart we were very fortunate to see a onefin electric ray. These rays bury themselves completely in the sand, with only eyes sticking out. They can deliver a fierce electric shock, so it’s worth looking carefully at sandy patches before resting your knees on them!

Onefin electric ray completely hidden under the sand

I’ve been frightened many times by three spotted swimming crabs leaping out of the sand beneath me in defensive posture when I swim over them in the shallows. These crabs are sometimes huge, and when you’re not expecting an attack from below you can get a huge fright! They’re almost indistinguishable from the sand when they’re completely buried – only their eyes protrude.

A three spotted swimming crab's eyes sticking out of the sand

Crown crabs are coloured so similarly to the sand that they hardly need additional camouflage, but they also bury themselves for protection. Here’s one emerging from his hiding place with pincers at the ready!

This last picture is of a tiny Cape sole, resting on the sand at Long Beach. He is in the middle to upper right of this photo. Look carefully and you’ll see his frilly edged body on the sand.

The sand is a wonderful and fascinating place, and countless creatures make their homes there. Next time you’re waiting for your fellow divers to descend, or passing over a sandy patch, look closely and see what you can find…

Newsletter: Animals also have something to say

Hello everyone

For those with awesome gardens the rain has probably been welcomed. There has been plenty of rain, so for many, diving has been scarce, why I don’t know because you get wet anyway! The wind on the other hand does chase divers away, me included. Despite the wind we did have some good diving last weekend.

I spent Saturday in the pool because it was too windy for the ocean, but the pool is still diving for me. Sunday morning we woke up to this view from the beach and decided we would navigate out to the concrete wreck and pay a visit to the chained buoy.

How can you not dive when the morning starts like this?

Three spotted swimming crab at Long Beach

This three spotted swimming crab was quite aggressive.

Clare on the surface after a Long Beach dive

Some days, when there is no diving, but if the weather is good I just jump in my drysuit and turn on the hose…

Just kidding… This is me doing a leak test on my drysuit (which is commonly referred to as a dampsuit at home).

Weekend diving

This weekend Grant is away diving a wreck in East London. On Saturday I will be at Long Beach with students and Discover Scuba Candidates but Sunday we plan do do an early launch with a different boat charter, weather permitting.

OMSAC False Bay Treasure Hunt

On 9 July Old Mutual Sub Aqua Club (OMSAC) is running a False Bay Treasure Hunt based at the Cape Boat and Ski Club at Miller’s Point. Clare and I will be checking it out and doing some boat dives – the registration fee is R75 per person if you book in advance (this also entitles you to a goodie bag, a boerie roll and a cool drink). They are running boat dives every hour on the hour for R100, and a couple of treasure hunt dives, a beach clean-up, and some other interesting-sounding stuff with nice prizes on offer. If you’re keen to join in, mail info@omsac.co.za or check out their website.

Notifications of weekend dives

I’m not sure whether you prefer email or text message notification of weekend dive plans. If you’d like to get a text message, please either reply to this mail or text me to let me know that is what you’d like. Thanks!

I'd rather stick my head in the sand — I’d rather stick my head in the sand

regards

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog

Leave me alone, I'm busy! — Leave me alone, I’m busy!

Diving is addictive!

Sodwana rockpools

At the corner of Sodwana Bay is Jesser’s Point, where the dive operator we use in Sodwana, Coral Divers, has a gazebo and launch spot. There’s a little reef here that is completely covered at high tide, but at low tide is exposed with some beautiful rockpools inhabited by many juvenile fish, urchins and crabs.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j2tjYkhq0g&w=540]

Clare went exploring here between dives, taking advantage of the fact that she was wearing a wetsuit to kneel down in the pools with her underwater camera. I soon followed her with my video camera, and the footage above was all shot in water less than a metre deep. It’s warm and crystal clear. Look out for Clare in a red shirt, floppy hat and half a wetsuit.

Dive sites: A Frame

Shore diving in Cape Town can feel quite adventurous, often requiring as much mountaineering skill (with 20 kilograms of kit on your back) as it does buoyancy control! A Frame (also called Oatlands Point) is one of the most special shore entries on the western False Bay coast, and we visited it on a recent cloudy Sunday with perfect sea conditions. It requires a bit of walking and a tiny bit of climbing, but it’s nowhere near as strenuous as a shore entry at Shark Alley, for example.

To reach A Frame, drive past Simon’s Town golf course and Fisherman’s Beach, and park – almost immediately after the beach – on the left hand side of the road between the two houses with interesting roof features (one has a solarium vibe going with some British flags, the other has a clock). One used to be able to cross the grass of an empty plot and walk straight down to the rocks, but that plot has been fenced off (with a white picket fence!) now, so one has to use the little path to the right of it, under the No Parking sign.

The path down to the entry point starts below the No Parking sign

Walking towards the slippery rock (northern) entrance

Accidental photo of us at the slippery rock entrance

The entry that we usually use (the northern entry) is over a large piece of rough granite known as “slippery rock”. There’s a conveniently placed rock to hold onto when entering and exiting – basically you inflate your BCD, hold onto your fins, put your mask around your neck, and walk in as far as you can. Then either giant stride off the edge of the rock, or slide down on your bottom until you’re in the water (warning: this can be hard on your suit!). Put your fins on as soon as you are floating – you’ll be in 3 metres of water already so you won’t be able to stand. There’s a lot of kelp there so use it to keep still, and move slowly and steadily. The exit is similar – come as far as you can with fins on, take them off, stand up, watch the waves (if any) and grab onto the rock by the exit as soon as you can reach it.

When you climb in at A Frame you’ll be landing in a sandy basin surrounded by rocks. The depth is about 4 metres, and there’s not a lot on the sand, but it has a peculiar beauty to it and it’s very sheltered. The rocks are to the south and east are where your primary interest will lie, however.

Blue gas flame nudibranch in the swim through

The site is rich with invertebrate life – massive anemones of all colours of the rainbow, abalone, urchins, sea stars, nudibranchs and fairly prolific fish life characterise the area. A Frame is partly inside the Castle Rocks restricted zone which means no fishing or harvesting of marine life is allowed.

There are kelp forests around most of the rocks, and on the day we dived this site in May we had spectacular top to bottom visibility. My favourite part of A Frame is the large swim-through to the north of the big white rock that breaks the surface. This is a dog-leg cave formed by three or four huge rocks that almost meet at the top. There’s a narrow gap where your bubbles can escape (which I am grateful for, because none of the creatures in the cave are drowned in air then!) and three entrances/exits. Inside the swimthrough you’ll find urchins, anemones, nudibranchs, sea fans and lots of fish taking shelter. A torch is recommended. It’s short, not scary, and spectacularly beautiful. A huge orange wall sponge can be found at the spot we prefer to use as an exit – the opening opposite goes out into quite shallow water where you can get tossed about by the surge.