Urchins

Dive sites: Atlantis Reef

One of the pinnacles of Atlantis Reef rises to near the surface

Atlantis Reef was discovered in September 2011 by Steven Benjamin of Animal Ocean. The site was named for the lost city which is (according to legend) submerged now, but was also known as the Pillars of Hercules prior to its rediscovery by Animal Ocean. Atlantis comprises two massive pinnacles that rise to within 4-5 metres of the surface, along with a jumbled collection of enormous boulders strewn about their base. We dived the site in mid-October, in conditions of almost top to bottom visibility. The topography of the site is breathtaking – huge, vertical walls and enormous rocks distinguish it from the lower rocky reef characteristics of the Roman Rock area. The sand lies at about 30 metres on the seaward (eastern) side of the reef, but the average depth is about 20 metres. With a large cylinder full of a nice Nitrox mix, you could dive here for days (water temperature permitting).

Tony over the giant arrowhead (pointing towards the top of the photo)

Fissures in the granite of the reef provide homes for fish

Huge boulders stacked one on top of the other

Massive granite boulders characterise the site

Visibility was almost top to bottom when we dived Atlantis

Lower down on the pinnacle, more sea fans and invertebrates appear

The side of the inshore pinnacle, near the surface

Redbait and urchins cover the tops of the pinnacles

Kelp in the shallow water on top of the pinnacle

Kelp growing on top of the shallower pinnacle

Fish above the redbait that crowns the pinnacles

View from above of the top of the inshore pinnacle

Cape rock crab hiding among the redbait on top of one of the pinnacles

We dropped right on top of the pinnacle closest to shore, and the boat skipper hadn’t used a shot line for fear of damaging the pristine and hardly dived reef. Tony and Justin went down to the sand in order to do a compass swim for Justin’s Deep Specialty course, and I hovered next to one of the pinnacles. The pinnacles are about 3 metres across on their tips, but widen out to a large, roughly rectangular base on the sand. Between the pinnacles is a large overhang, and large cracks in which we saw congregations of janbruin. We spotted some very large (more than 30 centimetre long) zebra and Roman between the pinnacles, as well as some white seacatfish also enjoying one of the cracks in the rock. I discovered some fascinating facts about Roman this week, but they can wait…

Massive school of hottentot, fransmadam and other fish

Fish feeding among the redbait on top of one of the pinnacles

To me, the most spectacular feature of the marine life on the reef is the large schools of fish that assemble around the pinnacles. The reef lies within the Castle Rocks Protected Area and no fishing is allowed there, and it obviously hasn’t been discovered by the fishermen – both commercial and amateur – who don’t care about protected areas and enjoy the fact that they aren’t policed at all. Hottentot, fransmadam, and zebra mill around in their hundreds – I have never seen a school of fish like this in the Cape. The strepies at Long Beach last summer were – until now – the most prolific fish I’ve seen here. The fish are quite relaxed and just reshaped their school around the divers.

Anemones, urchins, corals and sea fans cover the upper reaches of the pinnacles

A knobbly anemone among sea fans, sea cucumbers and other invertebrate bounty

There are also the usual sea fans (plus what looked like a nursery for baby sea fans), massive nudibranchs of several varieties, sea cucumbers, anemones, and a lot of other invertebrate life. The top parts of the pinnacles are covered with huge redbait, interspersed with Cape urchins and several varieties of sea anemone. Lower down on the pinnacles we found orange wall sponges and other sponge species, as well as large klipfish trying to camouflage themselves against the wall.

There was some interesting discussion about whether it is right to have an “exclusive” dive site that only you know the co-ordinates to. An argument was put forward that when one finds a pristine spot like this, it’s natural to want to protect it from careless, ignorant or inexperienced divers. Hopefully the boat charters – all of whom now know where this reef is – will put aside financial considerations when taking divers to this reef, and only allow divers who they know can manage their buoyancy and don’t engage in behaviours that are detrimental to the marine life of the locations they dive. Whether this happens will remain to be seen. (I, for one, am not optimistic… Enjoy it now, while it lasts.)

Dense invertebrate life on the pinnacles

Knobbly anemone (right) on Atlantis Reef

A red sea star among coraline algae and strawberry sea anemones

A sea star gets a grip and holds on tight

Shyshark resting inside an orange wall sponge

I want to go back to this site tomorrow, or yesterday if that’s possible. I’ve been (irritatingly) ranting about it to whoever will listen since we dived it. It’s wonderful to me that we are still finding new places to dive in our local bay of plenty, and so close to shore, too! Also, seeing how healthy and abundant the fish that call this reef home are, I’m thrilled that (it seems) the Marine Protected Areas are working, despite hopelessly inadequate support from the authorities. It made me so, so happy to see this reef. Can’t wait to go back!

Tony swims past the top of one of the pinnacles

Dive date: 15 October 2011

Air temperature: 19 degrees

Water temperature: 13 degrees

Maximum depth: 21.5 metres

Visibility: 15 metres

Dive duration: 40 minutes

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

Dive sites: SAS Pietermaritzburg

I’ve dived the SAS Pietermaritzburg once before, as part of the Wreck Specialty course I did along with Tami and Kate. The water then was distinctly green, and I was armed with a slate trying to draw a plan of the vessel. My other hand was trying to take photographs of nudibranchs. I didn’t perform either task particularly well.

The interior of the wreck is visible through the deck

The metal of the deck is very buckled in places

Looking down off the wreck at some bollards

Heavily encrusted remains of the gunwales

Tony investigates the bow of the SAS Pietermaritzburg

There's brass under the urchins and sea cucumbers... — There’s brass under the urchins and sea cucumbers…

Lovely rusty deck plates with rivet holes

Tony and I dived the Pietermaritzburg again on 9 July, as part of the OMSAC Treasure Hunt. We were on the Dive Action boat, and they dropped anchor on the wreck so the boat was over us throughout the dive. While I’m not sure about dropping shotlines and anchoring directly on wrecks, it’s universally practiced in Cape Town and does give a sense of security when one surfaces (assuming you’ve managed to stay on the dive site!).

The Pietermaritzburg was scuttled in 1994. She’s an old minesweeper, and actually participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy as the lead minesweeping vessel. Having this little piece of history right in False Bay is quite awe-inspiring, particularly to someone like me who gets quite weepy (literally) if you mention the war. She was sold to the SA Navy in 1947, and was used as a training vessel and minesweeper until the mid-1960’s.

Klipfish sheltering behind a Cape urchin

Spot the fish face... — Spot the fish face…

Cuttlefish cycling through his colour palette

There's a cuttlefish hiding here... — There’s a cuttlefish hiding here…

One of the many speckled klipfish on the wreck

One of the cuttlefish we found next to the wreck

Located a very short distance (less than 1 kilometre) from the slipway at Miller’s Point, the SAS Pietermaritzburg is in quite an exposed position in the bay and as a result looks as bad or worse than the Smitswinkel Bay wrecks. The vessel is resting on its keel with a very pronounced tilt to one side (it was originally sitting upright, but storm damage has caused large portions of the vessel to collapse). The decks have mostly buckled and tilted, making for some vertiginous angles and possible head-bumping scenarios for the unwary photographer (i.e. me). The wreck used to be suitable for penetration, but it’s far too unstable and fallen in on itself now.

The hawse-holes are clearly visible, as well as several hatches. Tony found a toilet, and I located three very respectable looking kitchen sinks. Some kind of pressure vessel (looks like a boiler, but I don’t think it is and for once Tony isn’t sure either!) pushed up through the deck when the decking subsided. There’s also a very large anchor winch on the foredeck which is a cool shape – I kept coming back to look at it.

Last time I dived this wreck I was knee deep in gas-flame nudibranchs; this time I saw only one, but spotted a large number of shy little klipfish, curled up unobtrusively among the encrustations on the wreck (lots and lots of urchins and sea cucumbers). Tony found three cuttlefish, all napping together – what beautiful creatures! There are some interesting bits of the wreck that have fallen off onto the sand on the port side, and I found these to be more colourful than much of the rest of the vessel.

Beautiful resting cuttlefish next to the wreck

Visibility on this site is rarely much to write home about because of its exposed position, and we were extremely fortunate to have about 10 metres horizontal visiblity when we dived it – even after a week of southeasterly breezes.

Looking across the top of the SAS Pietermaritzburg's deck

Dive date: 9 July 2011

Air temperature: 21 degrees

Water temperature: 14 degrees

Maximum depth: 21.2 metres

Visibility: 10 metres

Dive duration: 43 minutes

Walking anemone engaged in eating its favourite food (multicoloured sea fan)

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

Crabs

Spinous spider crab (Maja squinado) hiding from the camera

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

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.

Dive sites: SS Clan Stuart

If you’ve ever driven to Simon’s Town along the False Bay coastal road, you’ll have passed the wreck of the SS Clan Stuart on your left. The engine block sticks out of the water at low tide, and only the highest spring tides come close to covering it. The steamer ran aground during a summer gale in late 1914 after dragging her anchor. She was carrying a cargo of coal, all of which was salvaged I think.

Tony getting the gear ready before the dive

The site is quite exposed, and will never boast 20 metre visibility, but on a good day with a calm sea, low swell and the correct prevailing wind direction you can be very lucky (as we were)! The entry is quite hard work. The one we usually use is to park on the roadside outside the old oil refinery and naval graveyard, and kit up there. Walk across the road, climb the low brick wall and find a route down the dunes to the railway line. Take care as the railway line is now in use. Cross the tracks and use the large cement walkway/staircase to get down to the beach. The last step is high – I found it easier to go left over the big boulders on the way down, but on the way up this is too difficult.

Tony films fish under the boiler (his light on the right)

Once on the beach, you can walk to opposite the engine block. The wreck runs nearly parallel with the shore about 40 metres in each direction from the engine block, so you’ll actually hit it almost certainly, wherever you get in. Watch out for the wave on the beach – sometimes it looks small, but with scuba kit on your back you’re heavy and unstable and in a big swell you can get nicely tumbled. Make sure your BCD is inflated before you brave the breakers – you might even want to go so far as to put your regulator in your mouth before you set out. As soon as you are through the waves, put your fins on and swim out into deeper water away from the surf zone. Don’t mess around here – it can spoil (or prematurely terminate) your dive!

The Clan Stuart was made of iron, and although she’s very broken up, much of her remains. The remains of boilers can be seen next to the engine block, and the ribs of the ship are clearly visible as you swim along her length. There are ragged bits of metal decking, and some bollards are clearly visible on the edges of the wreckage.

Blacktail seabream schooling above the wreck

There is a lot to see here – beautiful invertebrate life – abalone, mussels, sea cucumbers, nudibranchs, worms – schools of fish (we saw blacktail seabream), shysharks, and of course the pleasure of swimming the length of a shipwreck! There are also ridges of sandstone to explore, and kelp covers parts of the wreck. Particularly around the engine block, the growth is very dense.

This is a good site for night dives, and seals are often spotted here which is very entertaining. The entry and exit can be a bit of hard work, but it’s well worth it and the depth (maximim 9 metres at high tide) makes it very suitable for training dives.

Kate with the buoy line in top to bottom visibility

Dive date: 22 May 2011

Air temperature: 20 degrees

Water temperature: 14 degrees

Maximum depth: 7.6 metres

Visibility: 10 metres

Dive duration: 48 minutes

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.

Top to bottom visibility in the kelp forest

Air escapes through this gap at the top of the swim through

Tony inside the swim through with his camera and video light

Close to one of the exits/entrances to the swim through

Dive date: 22 May 2011

Air temperature: 20 degrees

Water temperature: 14 degrees

Maximum depth: 7.3 metres

Visibility: 12 metres

Dive duration: 37 minutes

Exploring: Ark Rock Boiler Wreck #3

We did two short exploration dives around Ark Rock on 21 March. The first was to a small wreck roughly east of the rock itself, and the second one was to check out a pair of boilers lying on the sand s short distance apart. There’s nothing else around except for some rocky reef, which Tony and I explored for a while after we were done with the boiler.

The boiler looks quite imposing – for the technicalities on fire boxes and things visit the Wikivoyage page for Ark Rock, but it’s solitary and impressive. There are no other bits of wreckage lying around. Most of the boiler is very overgrown, and we found a huge roman hiding in one of the holes in the boiler.

Front of the boiler with holes at the bottom

The rocky reef close to the boiler is covered with sea cucumbers, Stephens codium, brittle stars and feather stars.

Tony and I were fascinated with the sea pens sticking out of the sand, and I spent quite a while watching a warty pleurobranch trying to walk over a brittle star (who fought back).

Warty pleurobranch walking over a brittle star

We took a slow swim around the reef and back to the boiler and the shot line, which was on the sand nearby. The water was very green, but the visibility was fairly respectable!

Dive date: 21 March 2011

Air temperature: 25 degrees

Water temperature: degrees

Maximum depth: 16.4 metres

Visibility: 6 metres

Dive duration: 21 minutes

Exploring: Ark Rock Eastern Wreck

Ark Rock is a roughly rectangular flat topped rock (surprise!) off Seaforth beach. On the navy charts it’s marked as Noah’s Ark – its distinctive shape gave rise to the name – and divers typically refer to it as Ark Rock. There is an assortment of small wrecks and other interesting underwater features surrounding it.

Tony and I were fortunate enough to join a small group of divers who planned to explore two undived features that had been spotted on the sidescan sonar attached to the dive boat. Two short dives were planned, so that we could explore more than one site in the area. It was the first weekend since summer started departing that allowed for good False Bay diving – until then, we’d been flailing around in pea soup.

The first site we were to visit is about 85 metres from Ark Rock, roughly to the east – hence the name “Eastern Wreck”. It’s a smallish iron or steel vessel that has been down there for some time. Its actual identity is not known. As we descended through a murky surface layer, we could see almost the entire ship before us.

It’s probably about 15 metres long, only a hull, with some gaps and holes large enough to admit a diver. Even though there were only six of us in the group, it felt pretty crowded on the wreck at times because it’s so small. It might be a fishing boat or similar vessel.

Tony swimming through a hole in the stern of the vessel

The wreck is lying on the sand and is heavily grown over with lovely sea life. There’s no interior structure and no deck or other bits and pieces lying around. I found it really pretty and of an appealingly manageable size to explore in one dive. We only spent 20 minutes on the wreck, which was long enough to survey the structure, but I could have stayed longer and checked out more of the life encrusting the metal remains!

All that remains of the interior structure of the wreck

My photos from this dive aren’t great. I was a bit enamoured of the shape of the wreck – so easily identifiable as a ship – and the good (comparatively!) visibility, so I took too few macro shots and too many green water pictures of indistinct shapes!

Dive date: 21 March 2011

Air temperature: 25 degrees

Water temperature: 8 degrees

Maximum depth: 10.1 metres

Visibility: 6 metres

Dive duration: 21 minutes

Lights on… Lights off!

On a recent dive to the SAS Good Hope, I performed an experiment I’ve long intended to do. I photographed (roughly – allowing for drifting!) the same thing, with and without the flash on my camera turned on.