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South Australia: Mission Leafy Seadragon
By Nigel Motyer, January 26, 2025 @ 07:00 AM (EST)

The world’s most unique and spectacular seahorse, the leafy seadragon: Their exceptional camouflage can make them a challenge to find in the wild, but they reward those who search with incredible beauty
 

Long before I ever learned to dive, I used to think of Australia as “the” dive destination to get to. The legendary filmmakers Ron and Valerie Taylor made spectacular films around the Great Barrier Reef, but in fact, for me, it was when they brought their boats and cameras down to the southern coast and dived those cooler waters that my attention was really captured. They filmed great white sharks at exotic locations with dramatic names like Dangerous Reef and the Neptune Islands, and cemented this region as a destination that I absolutely had to visit.

Many years later, at the tail end of 2024, I joined a group of friends on a charter with Rodney Fox Expeditions. The goal of this liveaboard trip was to try to see as many of the headline-grabbing local species as possible—that this part of the world is famous for, from great whites, to Australian sea lions, to pajama squid, to, of course, seadragons.
 

Rapid Bay Jetty as seen from above: This world-class dive site can be done from shore or by boat and is one of the best places to find leafy seadragons
 

While best known for its leafy seadragons, Rapid Bay hosts a huge diversity and abundance of marine life. The pilings of the jetty are a riot of color from various encrusting aglaes, sponges, corals, and other invertebrates
 

The trip kicked off in the city of Adelaide in South Australia. We headed south overnight to Rapid Bay for our first stop, the world-famous Rapid Bay Jetty. This long-since-disused jetty now provides shelter for a staggering variety of colorful marine life. The undoubted star of the show, and the reason this humble pier is so well known, is the leafy seadragon.

While this extraordinary fish can be exceptionally difficult to find, we were unbelievably lucky, and despite their effective camouflage, found five or six different individuals in our three dives around the jetty. The seagrass meadows in the chilly but shallow water out in front of the jetty were the hotspot for these remarkable creatures. Once located, we found the leafies to be obliging subjects, and I was able to come away with some portraits that I was quite happy with.
 

A leafy seadragon in motion: It is hard to believe you are looking at a real animal when you encounter one of these fantastic fish
 

After our leafy escapades, we had another overnight steam to Kangaroo Island. While located not too far from Rapid Bay, Kangaroo Island is a world apart, and the underwater ecosystem is distinctly different. However, the goal here was to see the leafies again so we headed for another jetty, this one at Kingcote on the northern coast of the island. Here, amongst the incredible abundance of marine life, not only did we find more seadragons, but we also located the world’s most venomous cephalopod, the southern blue-ringed octopus. After a day’s diving Kingcote, we packed up and moved out across rough waters to Grindle Island, located south of Port Lincoln, in the Spencer Gulf. We had a date with the endangered Australian sea lion.

While all sea lions are fantastic, one would be hard-pressed to argue that the Australian sea lion doesn’t possess a bit more charisma and beauty. Their light colored, almost golden coats are unique and seem to shimmer when they move. We got lucky and had fantastic conditions for our day of diving and snorkeling with them. Australian sea lions are very active and playful, and being able to engage with them on their terms was a wonderful experience. Grindle remains a stronghold for this species, which is facing serious declines, largely due to commercial fishing. The sea lions get caught in gillnets and by trawlers. While the entire boat enjoyed our time with them, the sea lions were ostensibly a prelude to the trip’s main attraction, the great white sharks of the Neptune Islands.
 

Several colonies of endangered Australian sea lions can be found in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf
 

Australian sea lions are among the most playful and curious sea lion species you will ever encounter
 

Our trip was timed in December, as this is one of the best times of year to photograph the great whites of the Neptunes. However, despite four full days at the islands, at a time of year when good shark numbers are typical, we only had a very brief encounter with one extremely shy great white shark who came in for a quick look before vanishing, never reappearing. While it was a brief encounter, it was a thrill to see such a majestic animal in its natural habitat. While we were busy not seeing sharks, I occupied myself with the hundreds of large, silvery jacks that surrounded the shark cages. We were already there and in the water, so I had to make the most of the time with what I had available!
 

A jack erupts through a cloud of bubbles at the surface near the Neptune Islands. I had a blast photographing these predators using various techniques, especially slow shutter. While typically the jacks around the shark cages can be a nuisance and get in the way of photographing the sharks, with the lack of sharks we had, the jacks became the photographic stars
 

After our largely shark-less trip to the Neptunes, we crossed the Spencer Gulf again, into the Gulf of St. Vincent, and headed for perhaps one of the greatest critter dives on Earth: Edithburgh Jetty. This site is famous for all sorts of rare, unusual and sought-after marine life. Leafy seadragons, strange anglerfish, pajama squid, and blue-ringed octopuses are just a few of the remarkable animals to be found beneath the jetty’s pylons. Edithburgh didn’t disappoint and this became my favorite site of the trip. The number of photographic subjects was extraordinary, if not a bit overwhelming! The best part? The entire dive was conducted in less than 20 feet of water. While the day dives at Edithburgh were spectacular in their own right, it is at night where this place really shines. We encountered rays, stargazers, seahorses, cuttlefish, and, my favorite, the comical and adorable pajama squid!
 

While Edithburgh is first and foremost a critter dive, the structures of the jetty are plastered with colorful marine life
 

While they can be found at other spots around South Australia, Edithburgh Jetty is probably the best place to photograph pajama squid. Replete with its zebra striping and possessing a similar toxin to the blue-ringed octopus, the pajama squid is fantastically cute and charismatic
 

A diminutive, and pregnant, short-snouted seahorse. This seahorse species is relatively widespread around southern Australia but at Edithburgh it is not unheard of to find 20 to 30 individuals on a single dive!
 

A beautiful filefish posed up against some of the sponge growth at Edithburgh Jetty
 

After our fantastic dives at Edithburgh, we crossed the Gulf of St. Vincent one final time and pulled in to Second Valley. This rocky headland is also well-known for leafy seadragons. However, the star of the show at Second Valley is the southern blue devil. Like so many of the popular underwater subjects in South Australia, these electric blue fish are endemic to the region. They can be a difficult species to photograph as they spend the vast majority of their time hanging out in cracks and crevices or under overhangs along the rocky shores. Fortunately, we had some cooperative individuals, and I was able to make some nice portraits of this enigmatic fish.
 

The southern blue devil, an iconic fish of South Australia, and a major photographic target for the trip: I was happy to come away with a few pictures of this sometimes reclusive species
 

While every cowfish is cute and photogenic, none can quite match the aesthetics of the ornate cowfish!
 

We had exceptional luck with leafy seadragons on our trip, and it was truly a privilege to get to photograph these most magical of marine beasties
 

When our time with Rodney Fox Expeditions came to an end, we disembarked the liveaboard, rented a car, weighed it down with tanks, and drove ourselves right back to Rapid Bay! We hadn’t quite had our fill of leafy seadragons just yet and wanted as many opportunities as possible to photograph them. Being shore-based also gave us more time to explore the jetty at our own pace and really dig into all the cracks and crevices.

South Australia gave us a wonderful send-off with beautiful conditions at Rapid Bay and several more leafy seadragons for good measure. I don’t think it is actually possible to tire of photographing them, and my memory cards came back loaded with images. We only just scratched the surface of what South Australia has to offer, and as we headed back to the airport to start the long journey home, we had already begun planning a return trip.
 

It is impossible to pass up photographing a leafy seadragon! Our shore dives at Rapid Bay gave extra opportunities to photograph them in a number of different styles with several different gear setups
 

A school of old wives, a wackily named fish, gathered under Rapid Bay Jetty. Schools of this South Australian endemic can often be found in the shadow of piers
 

A diver inspects a squareback butterflyfish as it hangs on a piling beneath Rapid Bay Jetty
 



To follow along with Nigel’s adventures and to see more of his fantastic underwater work, please give him a follow on Instagram.

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