This morning’s adventure.
Loving the GoPro.
Time to get that scuba ticket I think!!
https://thetravelbee.blog/2021/03/21/lost-in-another-world-busselton-jetty-with-a-snorkel/
TTB
Tag: fish
Yallingup Lagoon in pictures – Western Australia
Playing with my new GoPro today. Need to make some adjustments but not bad for a first attempt!
The eyes of Yallingup Lagoon – WA
This morning as I drove around the hill at the top of Yallingup, I knew I was in for a treat. The water was a milky millpond, with small sets rolling in across the bay and not a breath of wind. I felt myself smile and muttered to myself “wahoo, look at that!” (yes…..sometimes I do talk to myself).
As I approached the bottom of the hill, I realised someone had, as my friend likes to say, ‘pulled the plug out’ in the lagoon. The tide was exceptionally low. The reef was clearly visible, and I could see several surfers and stand-up paddle boarders walking out to the breaks beyond. A low tide for lagoon swimmers means two things; altered swim technique and closer proximity to the bottom dwelling wildlife.
With the car telling us the outside temperature was 14 degrees, my friend and I quickly decided it was still wetsuit weather and I am certainly glad we made that decision. As we waded out into the lagoon, I was again questioning my own sanity. It was freezing. For the first time in ages, as I dived under the water, my lungs seemed to shrink and I had to do some stern talking to myself to prevent the onset of panic as my body fought to adjust to the conditions. ‘The rock’ seemed a long way out on that first lap.
By lap three, we were warming up and settling into a rhythm when my swimming partner abruptly stopped. When she pointed at the bottom it took me a while to see what she was pointing at. But there nestled into the sand and almost completely covered, was an enormous flathead. Only it’s outline and eyes were visible, and those eyes were intently watching us. I suspect he was as interested in the strange, wetsuit clad, bright coloured swim capped ladies peering at him from above, as we were of him. Unfortunately, I had no camera but hopefully the image I found below gives you some idea of what we were looking at (although our sand is much finer and lighter in colour).
After watching Mr flathead for a little while, we carried on to complete lap three. On lap four, we were surprised to see all that was left of Mr flathead was his imprint in the sand. Seemingly bored by us, he had dashed off in search of his next meal or to watch one of the unsuspecting swimmers floating around nearby. By the end of lap four we were sufficiently warm and much to my horror, my friend announced; not only were we going to go for lap five (a feat reserved for only the best lagoon days) but we were going to do it without our wetsuits!! In an act akin to ripping off a band-aid, I decided the only way was quick.
We stripped off and set off on our way. At this stage I quickly realised that although it felt very strange to be swimming in only bathers after a wetsuit, I actually much prefer to swim this way. Unrestricted and free! On our final leg, swimming parallel to the beach, my friend again stopped abruptly. It turns out our other friend had graced us with his presence, Mr Octopus. Unfortunately for me, by the time she had alerted me, he had quickly retracted into his hidey hole. However, I was able to dive down and see his eyes, stalk like, looking out at me.
These wonderful encounters got me wondering…….
Who else was watching us today? Of course, we saw plenty of fish and enjoyed their show as the schools saw us and dashed off in unison. They were watching, but who else? We know there is also Mr Wobbegong living in the lagoon. We didn’t see him, but I am willing to bet he saw us.
Today also made me think, perhaps my next hobby should be underwater photography! Unfortunately, today’s images are not mine and taken from the internet. Thank you to those photographers, whoever you are. Websites below the pictures for credit.
TTB
Lunchtime at the lagoon – Yallingup WA
No, thank goodness neither my friend nor I were anyone’s lunch! But, for our last lagoon adventure we did unusually go for our swim at lunchtime and true to Yallingup Lagoon’s form, we saw something we had never seen there before…
It was a stunning day as we wandered down the path with a big swell running in the background and a low tide in the lagoon. There were no surfers around, but plenty of people watching the wild and untidy sets roll in.
My friend and I squeezed into our wetsuits and picked our way across the moss covered rocks and into the water. It was cold. That trickle of cold water as it enters the zip of your wetsuit and runs down your back makes you wonder every time if you have gone completely mad!!
We began our swim. The water was quite clear and through the channel we saw plenty of fish including a few big salmon and the usual bream and herring. I also noticed a few little gar fish near the surface and schools of small unidentifiable fish gathering around the rocks. Always something to look at!
A short time later we were joined by another fellow lagoon swimmer. Someone else who appeared to know all our secrets! He too, was swimming the triangular route and as the photo below shows we gave him a wave when he reached ‘the rock’ (a sign of a proper lagoon swimmer).
But, it was between laps three and four that we watched in awe as a nearby cormorant decided it was his lunchtime. He took a deep dive down into the water and came up with a fish, that to our eyes, looked like he had bitten off more than he could chew. It was rather large!
Mr Cormorant then proceeded to bash the fish around causing quite a splash and commotion, now drawing attention from beach walkers and wave watchers alike. After a few minutes of fierce thrashing, the bird tried to swallow the fish in one gulp. Except, as we suspected, it really was too big. Last we saw, the fish tail was still sticking out of his beak as he made his way out of the lagoon. I am left wondering what happened. Did he choke? Did he manage to get it down? Did it come back up?!
With that, we were also getting peckish and headed around the lagoon for one final lap before heading to the Yallingup General Store for lunch. We were disappointed to discover that our favourite spinach and feta rolls were sold out but a hot coffee and slice of frittata hit the spot.
Another successful and interesting lagoon adventure.
TTB
It’s a secret: Yallingup Lagoon – Western Australia
Yallingup lagoon is my happy place. Each week I make a thirty minute drive to met my friend here for a swim. Whether in a wetsuit, in bathers and once….. in our underwear (sshhh!), it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing, we do it anyway.
Usually we try and do four laps of our triangular route. We head out to what is affectionately known as ‘the rock’, swim diagonally through ‘the channel’ to the corner and then back parallel to the beach. One must always attempt to get at least a foot on ‘the rock’ or it isn’t a proper swim!
On a calm day, we have been known to stretch to five laps. If it is rough, it is three. If it is really rough, we might only get wet after taking a brisk walk along the coast (now the underwear makes sense). Whatever we do, it makes us feel alive. It blows the cobwebs out, it grounds us. It is like our own private reset button.
There is something very special about this place. To be honest, I am not sure whether I should tell too many people for fear of our tranquility being disturbed!! But here goes….
Yallingup lagoon is an area protected from the wild Indian Ocean by reef. Just beyond its boundaries are the well known surf breaks of Yallingup and well…… yes sharks. But, inside the reef, is a sheltered safe haven.
Fish use it as a resting spot, a nursery and a hospital. This means you never know what you might see in there. You also never know what will be happening with the swell and current. Even us regulars are often fooled by the weather forecast. Essentially, it has its own microclimate. It is potluck, you don’t know until you get there what it will be like.
I thought I might write a small series of blogs to describe what we see and what happens at the lagoon. Some call us mad, but I think you will soon see, we are just in love with the lagoon and all the adventure it brings (plus the hot coffee and a chat at the end). The black line in a swimming pool is just so boring now!
TTB
The Travel Bee 
