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
The Travel Bee 
