Seal Rocks Trip - Some rear nudity!

[Shadowkiller]

Well, having read the title I'm sure half of you are hoping for female nudity... Sorry to dissapoint.

A group of my mates headed north to Seal Rocks (about 4hrs north of Sydney, Australia), for a bucks weekend. The aim was to combine spearfishing with excessive alcohol consumption and partying.

The water was nice and warm when we arrived, and three of us jumped in for a quick dive before the drinking began. The end result was a 10kg Cobia (shot by myself), a 9kg Yellowfin Tuna and a 9kg Mulloway (related to White Seabass). And all these fish were shot within a 100m of the shore!

Cobia: I had been diving on a cave in 10m which had lot of awesome fish to photograph (see next post for Pineapple fish photo). Once I got bored with that I swam off to look for dinner. I came across a Giant Groper of around 150kg, a protected species which also resisted being photographed, though I got one ok shot... While trying to follow it, I came across a large Stingray lying on the sand in 12m. Half buried next to it was a nice size Cobia! As I had never got a shot of a Cobia before, I drifted down and snapped off a pic. I then realised that this was a very nice fish indeed and decided it would do for dinner. I returned to the surface for a breath, grabbed my gun from where it was anchoring my float and dove back down. The ray had had enough and took off for deeper water, with the Cobia swimming underneath. This meant I couldnt see the fish unless I was swimming hard against the bottom. hmm.. I swam beside the ray until I had worked out the flapping sequence, and when I had a clear shot the Cobia was mine. Or so I thought.

I shot up to the surface and grabbed my rig rope, only to be dragged back down again. Time and time again the fish attempted to bury in the sand, causing massive clouds of sand to obscure my vision of it. After a good 5 minutes I finally dragged in up out of the sand cloud, only to see a shark emerge from the cloud. Bugger! Oh wait, it was the Cobia, just looked like a shark... hehehe. Then the first of 3 Whaler sharks appeared, which meant I had to get my fish asap. I managed to get a grip of its gills and swam for the shallows, the sharks following behind. Eventually they lost interest and I was able to swim to the car where I found my mates had also shot some awesome fish! We gorged on Sashimi that night!

The next day we also dived the same area, but the fish had gone. That night we all got very drunk...

[Shadowkiller]

The photo (scuba 2) speaks for itself really.. Note that the C4 fin provided the flexibility and effeciency required to turn a butt cheek really red...

The next day we dived again but viz was down and the fish had gone again... Oh well such is diving! I also got some nice shots of more interesting critters! Such as Grey Nurse Sharks (above post), Nudibranchs, Turtles, Pineapplefish and a Jellyfish with its own posse of baby fish.

All in all an awesome weekend away with the boys!

[deep thinker]

Cool storie and pics mate. Seems like it was a awesome weekend, well done on the cobia

[Adrian]

Fantastic shots Shadow! What sort of nudibranch/slug is the last one?

[Shadowkiller]

Aphelodoris varia. Also known as the "Variable Aphelodoris".

Was quite common up there, I saw one or two on every dive down to around 5-15m.

This guy is a Starry Puffer. Check out the teeth!

[podge]

Hay Shadow that’s some great picts especially the full on in yer face shark shot.
I bet your mates arse is still on fire now after that whopping with the C4.

[wet]

Incredible, but I thought you were referring to the nudi-branch, until the other nudi showed up.

Them's Aussies are a bit unusual, eh?

Heck of a party, I'm sure.

[Shadowkiller]

Originally Posted by wet

Them's Aussies are a bit unusual, eh?

Heck of a party, I'm sure.

Well... the stripper didnt show up because she was worried about driving at night, too many Kangaroos on the road...

[BennyB]

Great to be across the other side of the world and hear tales of an hour's drive from where I grew up. Nice pics Shadow.

Cheers,
Ben

ps dude, do you sleep at all?

[Shadowkiller]

Sleep is for the weak! And for those not doing night fish surveys...

Am off to do my morning survey in about 10min...

[DeepThought]

Awsome trip report and pictures!! (well, except the butt one)
You got big rays down there, seeing the cobia in your hands made me look at the cobia/ray pic from above in a different perspective.

[Shadowkiller]

That particular species, Dasyatis thetidis, also known as the Black or Thornback Stingray, can reach weights of 300kg. Big buggers, but pretty harmless.