| Firestone_Bay
We arrived early enough the evening before the course to join Sally for a shore
dive in Firestone Bay. We didn't find it first time but were talked in and
enjoyed a gentle warm up which let us test our repaired macro port - which is
why all the pictures are taken with our wide angle lens... We saw some really
interesting stuff, aside from my unhealthy interest in thong weed there were
several types of slug about, a cuttlefish and a greater pipefish. The
alternative entry to the site gives a better rocky dive but we'll try that next
time - it gives easier access to depth we only got as far as 10m as we spent
ages chasing little stuff on the sandy side of the site.. |
| Sponge course dives
The course fitted in a dive each day, from Fort Bovisand on Saturday and Phoenix
quay on Sunday. We were searching out sponge samples but there was plenty of
time to see other good stuff. What we mostly found out was how hard it is to
tell sponges apart, many appear in lots of widely different shapes and lots look
very similar and can only be told apart by microscopic analysis of their tiny
'spicules' - which are extremely attractive but invisible to the naked eye. So
really the most important discovery was how little we knew. |
| Sponges
In the hope of helping out here's a gallery of the sponges we were fairly sure
of... surprisingly few I thought once we'd gathered them together. Mostly
repeats from the main gallery |
| Sponge_a _likes
There was no shortage of spongey things - here's 'what not to ID' when it comes
to sponges - Porifera. Mostly repeats from the main gallery |
