We had a great weekend at Portland, about a four hour drive west of Melbs. We primarily went to dive, specifically to see leafy sea dragons as we only get weedy sea dragons this far east. We didn’t see any but we saw so many other cool and unexpected animals!
Staff at the Portland dive shop were friendly and directed us to several dive sites. The first dive was along the Lee breakwater. It is a short clamber on the rocks to get in (and out) of the water, and fishing line and hooks (both active and old snagged ones) are a hazard. I was snagged while getting into the water and twice along the dive; once the hook actually caught my fin and the fisherman was yanking hard probably hoping for a large snapper. Having got in without a dive knife, I was lucky enough to find one on the bottom and was able to use it to free myself.
Visibility was pretty poor after the north winds last week that left thousands across the state without power. Still, we saw lots of fish, nudibranchs, plenty of rock lobster and best of all a giant cuttlefish that developed quite a crush on my very bright fins. It hung around changing colour and texture and followed us for quite some time.