Steep Point Trip Part 3

Part 3.
After chasing fish around in the shallows for a few hours in the afternoon we headed back to camp to get dry and cleaned up for dinner.

The Girls cooked a wonderful feast of Curried fish, Rice and vegetables with chocolate for desert. We then sat around telling stories for a while before drifting off to bed. In typical Steep Point style the wind howled all night before backing off around sunrise. Jack and I had breakfast and slowly packed up all our gear making sure we left nothing behind. We then refueled the boat and packed all the gear and fish into the boat for the long trip back across Shark Bay to Denham. Right on cue the wind dropped to nothing more than a faint breeze and we set off. First up the channel behind Dirk Hartog Island then through the markers across Bellfin Flats then on into Denham. It was the most pleasant trip I have had home in a long time. We loaded the boat onto the trailer and began the long 9 hour drive back to Perth all the way discussing what we would do for our next trip.

Steep Point Trip Part 2

Part 2.
After exploring the shallows we decided to call it a day and get back to camp. We put the fish on ice and cleaned our gear and the boat before anchoring it in the bay for the night. Then some of the fish was filleted and cooked as were the Crayfish and a feast prepared. The kids all tucked into the fish and the adults devoured the crayfish and wonderful salad the women produced. A bottle of wine was produced and shared out and a good night was had by all. After a reasonable night's sleep we headed out once again to the deep water to the North of the Point and were met with some amazing Visibility. This was a real treat for one of our friends, Roy who is relatively new to spearfishing. In fact Roy had been quite sick in the previous months with an undiagnosed Thyroid problem and has now taken up the sport to regain his fittnes and learn to relax.
Steep Point turned it on for Roy and he saw many firsts, with a Whale Shark making a brief appearance within minutes of us entering the water, then a Sailfish snuck up behind us and took us all by surprise.

The Whale Shark.

There were numerous Turtles and Manta Rays, Sea Snakes and Sharks which all stayed down on the bottom and didn't bother us at all. We took a few fish and Danny lost a Nice Cobia after shooting it off the back of a large Bronze Whaler Shark.

Manta Ray.

Danny shooting a Cobia from the back of a large shark.

It was good to see Roy relaxing and enjoying himself once again, he was so thrilled he didn't even notice his new fins had worn the skin off his feet, and didn't complain when he did. We headed back to the camp for some lunch and then hit the shallows with the kids for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Steep Point Trip

Part 1.
My Back is aching a little and it is good, It means I am done filleting all the fish we got on our short trip to Steep Point. Jack and I drove up to Denham and left the car and trailer at a friends house while we took the boat across the bay to the Point. We met up with some friends that were camped in Shelter bay and spent a relaxing 3 days diving. The water was a stoking hot 30c in the bay and dropped to a balmy 25c off the Cliffs.
The visibility was pristine at 30+ meters, the down side being it was extremely hard to get close to the fish.
We managed to get some very large Baldchin and a Cobia, Jack shot himself a Blackspot Tusk fish over 11kg and I am sure it is a Junior Record. We saw Whale Sharks, normal Sharks, Turtles, Sailfish, Dolphins and Sea Snakes.We dived a few places I have not been before and caught 2 crayfish that were so big they fed 8 adults!!!.

Jack landing his first fish of the trip a Somber Sweetlips.

                                          

Me bagging a Baldchin in 20+ meters.

We arrived late on the Monday afternoon and set up camp with some help and settled down to some dinner and a beer or 2 then had an early night. We woke at around 6 and after breakfast we set off for the day, first diving around the base of the cliffs and then coming back inside the bay around midday and grabbing the Crayfish in the shallows. We returned to camp for a bite to eat and then headed out to explore the shallows to the Southeast. It was while cruising the shallows I spotted a big ray with 2 Cobia in tow so having never shot a Cobia before I decided to take one of them. I was surprised at how soft the flesh was and needed a second shot to ensure I didn't loose the fish.