Divers: Javier & Mark

Javier had travelled to Australia from the US to photograph two things, Great Whites & Weedy Sea Dragons. A world-renowned wildlife photographer, Javier didn’t have a lot of luck in SA finding a Great White, the best they could do was a couple of Seven Gills. So it was with much trepidation that we drove down to Flinders in the hope of finding a Weedy for Javier to photograph. After preparing our equipment & a quick site briefing, we were ready to enter the water. We did a giant stride off the new concrete landing & after a few minutes of acclimatising to the conditions & a weight check, we were ready to swim off in search of the very elusive Sea Dragons. The one thing at the back of my mind was that Javier had come all this way for two creatures & his time in Port Lincoln had produced no worthwhile results, this put extra pressure on Victoria to come up with the goods & get him the results he needed. It was seven minutes into the dive when I spot a Weedy. If nothing else we had produced something for him to photograph, which meant, in a small way, we had achieved our goal. Javier spent 10 minutes photographing just this one Weedy, then swimming towards the end of the pier, I find another one, I can not tell you how elated I was to find this second Weedy. ‘Job done’ I thought to myself as we now amble our way to the very end of the pier. I thought I would swim him out off the end & show him the remains of the little wreck out there, & therefore, at least we get to see some rust, that’ll make for a good dive I thought.

So just as we approach the old engine, I find another Weedy, and then another, and then another. The end of the pier was teeming with Weedies, it was hard to swim anywhere without seeing several at the one time. Javier was in heaven & I knew then I wasn’t going to get out to the wreck :(. 

After 60 minutes Bottom Time & hundreds of photos, we make our way back to exit point, both of us (?) were very excited about the dive & the amount of Weedy Sea Dragons out there. After we get change I run in to Ian Scholey in the carpark, after explaining to Javier what a great photographer Ian is, Javier asked if he could meet the fellow photographer. “We’re here to photograph the Weedy Sea Dragons” Javier explains to Ian. “ This is the place to find them” says Ian, “in fact even Mark can find here!” comments Ian. There’s my bubble burst thinking I was some kind of a special wild life guide :).  

Mark