So far the weather in November has been pretty miserable. It's been rainy day followed by rainy day followed by yet another rainy day. Poor Andrew is yet to play Ultimate Frisbee this season. The season started 4 weeks ago and each Monday it has been cancelled because of the wet weather.

As soon as I saw the forecast for last weekend, I knew that I wanted to squeeze in a visit to Clovelly. They were forecasting sunshine and temperatures in the low 30s. I'm of the opinion that you have to snorkel while the sun shines.

So, on Saturday morning, we got up early, picked up Mum and headed to Clovelly. It was just our typical Clovelly itinerary. We sat on the promenade, basked in the sun and chatted for a while. We are a bit like lizards and will only brave the water after we reach a certain temperature. The water on Saturday was a bit too cold for my liking (19 degrees) and I almost didn't make it all the way. But, you can't go to Clovelly and not swim. So I got in the water, hyperventilated from the cold for a bit and then got out about 2 minutes later.

Saturday was the first test for our new point and shoot camera. We recently bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2. The camera is part of their tough range and is waterproof up to 10 metres. Andrew got some great photos of the fish at Clovelly. I'm really happy with the quality of the photos. They look like photos taken in an aquarium.


This is one of our favourite photos even though it's a little bit blurry. Bluey the groper was very interested in the camera and swum up to take a closer look. Andrew thought he was going to try and eat the camera.

More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

We did manage a few more visits to Clovelly this season.

On our last visit, we woke up early on Sunday morning and saw that it was going to be a nice day. So we packed up the snorkelling gear and headed to Clovelly. It was a beautiful day, the air temp was 28 degrees and the water temp was 22. The visibility in the water was great and there were heaps of fish. A man was diving to the bottom and cracking open urchins for the gropers. All the fish were following him around like lost puppies.

When was this? It was last weekend... mid April. We're half way through Autumn and it's still warm enough for a swim at the beach. It's definitely one advantage of living in Sydney. (Take that European minibreak!)

One Sunday morning this summer, joined by the Bell family, we were lucky enough to experience a king tide at Clovelly.

Clovelly has an unusual layout for a beach. The beach shore is quite narrow and there are rocks and cliffs that extend for a few hundred metres out to sea. In the 30s, as a depression era project, they covered the rocks with a concrete promenade. This is where we, and the sophisticated set, usually sit. The beach is generally crawling with toddlers and covered with family sized tents. The promenade has the added bonus of no sand. I'm not a fan of sand.

On the morning of the king tide, the water was high enough to be washing over the concrete promenade. It was lovely to splash along in the impromptu wading pool. Oscar and Leo (and all the kids at Clovelly) had a fabulous time jumping off the walls of the promenade into the ocean.

The snorkelling was great too. Mum and Dad have started taking jatz crackers to feed the fishies at Clovelly. I always put a few in the pocket of my boardies. The fish follow you around even when you have run out of crackers. On the morning of the king tide even Oscar had a go at feeding the fishies. We had our underwater camera out that day and were able to snap a few photos.



I'm hoping we can fit a few more mornings in at Clovelly before autumn, and cooler weather, actually arrives. Fingers crossed for good weather this weekend...

More photos on Flickr.

Somewhere in the BW (Before Wedding) craziness, Andrew and I found a spare moment to go snorkeling at Shelly Beach to test out Andrew's newest acquisition, his underwater camera case. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, the air temperature was lovely and the water temperature was bearable. Although, once out of the water, I was the only person on the beach with a jumper on. Girls lay in their bikinis, basking in the sun; Jess shivered uncontrollably with her hoodie up.

I'm always amazed at the number of fushies you see when snorkeling at a Sydney city beach. Obviously, Sydney's water quality is ok or maybe they are the fish that have mutated to deal with the pollution. I saw the squid-like cuttlefish, for the first time. When they swim they extend their "capes" and fly through the water like Superman. (photos)

I thought I'd better post these photos before I post the 5 million fushie photos we took on our Honeymoon. You'll be thoroughly fushed out by the time we're finished with you.