Exmouth Navy Pier

Y'all. First things first I'm the realest (That's a line from a song and I can't help myself). But actually first things first: the Navy Pier in Exmouth is one of the top shore diving sites in Australia. Before Cyclone Vance hit Exmouth in 1999 (at the time it was the strongest cyclone to make landfall in Australia) and smashed it to bits the pier was one of the top 10 shore dive sites in the world. Since then it's had to re-establish its ecosystem, but it's still utterly remarkable. 

The site itself is right near the tip of the Exmouth peninsula, where the Indian Ocean meets the Exmouth Gulf. Two currents converge there, the Leeuwin and the Ningaloo. That convergence is the main reason we have such extraordinary diversity of marine life (of all sizes!) here: the Leeuwin brings warm tropical water down and the Ningaloo brings cooler water up, so both bring different marine species. The Ningaloo Reef that fringes the west side of the peninsula and continues south is the longest "fringing reef" in the world. The Barrier Reef out east gets all kinds of attention because it's so large, but you have to travel 40km off shore to see it! The Ningaloo, in comparison, is directly off the coast. At its closest point, it's only 200 meters off shore: easily accessed while snorkeling. So not only does it boast whalesharks, humpback whales, orcas, sea turtles, manta rays, etc., but you can also see all those things without having to hire a boat to take you out! So all that is to say that the Ningaloo Reef, right here in Exy, is extraordinary. But the Navy Pier is a microcosm of that diverse marine life because it provides one very protected spot for all these gorgeous critters to call home. 

My diving life down in Perth was particularly rich because of the extensive shore diving opportunities. Those were nearly all located at man-made sites that provided artificial reef: jetties, sea walls, marinas. Places where sea life can find some protection from the whims of the ocean. So those sites end up being densely populated with the kinds of creatures that already live nearby. The Navy Pier, then, is a similar structure that just happens to be located in a place that is already SO RICH in marine life. So it ends up being this absolutely extraordinary aquarium, showing a range of the diversity of life here in one small site. It's magic, y'all. 

I have been fortunate enough to spend nearly 4 hours exploring it underwater, and I can't even express how utterly inadequate that time is. There is just so much to see. Schools of fish, tiny sea slugs called nudibranchs that can be smaller than your pinky fingernail or as long as your palm, Goliath Grouper fish that can weigh 500+ pounds, sharks, octopus, fish that stand out for their nearly fluorescent colors and others that you hardly see for their camoflage. And all of it is on this man-made structure that fortunate scuba divers are allowed to visit. 

A few weeks back I got to dive it with an event called the Sea Slug Census (say that 5x fast) that was meant to try and get a snapshot, over a long weekend, of the types of nudibranchs that are currently living and thriving here. Because nudis only live for a handful of years, they're meant to be a good bellweather species for determining the health of an ecosystem and the current conditions. Varieties that prefer different food sources, temperatures, sea conditions give scientists insight into what's happening in an area; a species that was thriving a few years back might not even be present anymore, due to changes in the conditions, but other species will have come in to replace them. So the census is a way for scientists to track what's going on, and for citizen scientists to get involved with recording that info. Because I don't have an underwater camera at the moment, one of the divemasters who was working the day I dived lent me his and he just sent me some of the photos! So without further ado: some of the critters I saw on the Navy Pier two weeks ago!

White tipped Reef Sharks

Christmas Tree Worm

Wobbegong Shark (note the '70s shag carpet style!)

Nudibranch

Moray Eel

White tip

Tash and 2 groupers

Hello little friend

If you wanna see more of my photos from the day, you can check them out here:  https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/dbfc6475ba464b179cf6e6a211790496

Back to work

 It's been so much fun getting re-settled into life in Exmouth. I've listened to as much teasing about me leaving ("ya didn't last very long without us!") as I have gotten hugs to celebrate my return. I've been busy at the pub 5 days a week with Sundays/Mondays off so far. I've been out in the water a few times, whether it's been solo snorkels at Turquoise Bay (a little black tip reef shark came to visit me less than 5 minutes after I got in the water and was so curious! She swam with me for maybe 5 minutes before getting scared of me, and fair enough: I was twice as long as her), boat snorkels with friends, or more dives with co-workers. 

Two weekends ago I went out with my friend Mitch and a guy, Will, who was staying in the area for a bit during his sailing circumnavigation of Australia. They went spear fishing and I snorkeled and it was a beautiful day on the water. 

Mitch

Ten-ish days ago my workmates at the dive shop did a group training day out on the water to prep for the season. We practiced fire drills, man overboard drills, rescue scenarios, and did some in-water work "practicing" swimming with whalesharks. Man, how good is that!? It was a gorgeous day to be out and it was really fun to meet some of the new staff we've hired for the season. 

EDC boat crew

Lindsay

Last weekend my friend Paul, one of the chefs at the Pub, was having a party to celebrate the (probable) victory of his soccer team, the Glasgow Rangers, as they fought for their first league championship title in a decade. Statistically it was nearly clinched, but he figured they would get it for sure in their game last weekend. So last Saturday I was made an honorary Rangers fan (I now have my own jersey, courtesy of Paul who buys new ones EVERY YEAR) and got to participate in the celebrations, complete with champagne and blue & red smoke bombs (the team colors). 

The lighting of the smoke bombs

Scottish Paul

Sunday afternoon I went with Jess and her twin sister, Bri, to look for sea turtle hatchlings along the coast. We weren't successful, but I was invited to join the girls at Bri's in-laws house for Sunday roast dinner! Andy and Martha are a VERY kind Scottish couple who've lived all over the world, but have been in Australia for 45 years. I had my first Yorkshire pudding and was reminded of that many Slop Dinners at home with M&D - homesickness strikes at the strangest times. They're so beautiful and Martha sent me home with a selection of books from her personal library to read and Andy reminded me that their door is always open, whether or not they're actually home. They both pointed out that they keep chocolates on the bottom shelf of the fridge, so I should help myself if I'm there when they aren't. Absolute legends.

Monday I tried again for turtles, round two, with Corinne and Gabi from EDC. Again, no luck, but a lovely evening spent walking along the coast, watching the sun set and catching up with lovely humans. 

Corinne and Gabi

Monday morning was actually spent diving the Navy Pier again! I don't want to get too much into it because I borrowed a camera and (fingers crossed!) should have photos coming that I took that day! I never did a proper Navy Pier post from the first time, but really really really hoping that I can this go around. 

The rest of this past week has been spent at the Pub, working and training new hires. Western Australia's biggest fishing competition, GameX, happens in Exmouth and most of the competitors trickled into town throughout the week so by Friday there were lots and lots of folks about. It was our first properly busy Friday in some time and I was reminded how much I'm enjoying being a bar tender. Some of my EDC friends came through and several remarked how happy I looked behind the bar. It's so cool having not one but TWO jobs that I enjoy in entirely different ways. I am so extraordinarily fortunate to be living this incredible life, meeting beautiful people, and learning new things about myself every day. 

I got to catch up with some of my geefies (girlfriends) from home a couple of days ago and it made me so incredibly happy to see their faces and make the same old jokes. Then yesterday was Dad's birthday and this comic, by an artist called Nathan Pyle,  popped up on my Facebook:

As happy as I am here, and I truly, truly am, I sure do wish I could be aggravated by my distant beings again. Until that day comes around, I'm just gonna soak up every magical thing this place has to offer! Today that meant having some breakfast with my friend Tash; chatting and laughing with Glenda, one of my neighbors and a long-time employee at the Pub that I had to work hard to win over; getting ready to meet up with Stewie at the Trussy (the local RSL [Returned and Services League] which is Australia's version of a VFW post) for a cheeky drink; making plans with Jess and Sophie to get dinner before going to a comedy show at Froth tonight with them as well as Corinne and Tash. The richness of my community here is honestly mind-blowing when I stop and give it any thought at all. I'm gonna get all sappy here and Stewie, my gray hair twin, will only tease me if I show up late because I've been moping about, so I'd better get going! Fingers crossed for cool underwater sealife photos in the next few days!!!