Winter snorkelling on our reef — Norfolk Island's Reef

Out on A Swim

‘Out on a swim’ is a coral reef blog that tells the stories of the characters who live under the waves and what has caught my eye when ‘out on a swim’ in the lagoons of Norfolk Island. It is also a record of the difficulties Norfolk Island’s reef faces, like many others around the world, as a result of the poor water quality that has been allowed to flow onto it.

This page shows the most recent blog posts. For the complete catalogue, visit the ‘Out on a swim index’ page.

This blog is rated in the Top 20 Coral Reef Blogs in the world.

This week there has been some amazing, settled winter weather, the kind that makes Norfolk Island just sparkle and sing. And underwater was no different. Low, low tides associated with a new moon and quite good visibility have meant that my swims have been a delight.

This week, I was fortunate enough to see the male snubnose dart, Trachinotus blochii, cruising with his two female companions off the Salt House with a school of mullet. I am hoping this bodes well for some bubba darts in the coming summer season!

Snubnose dart - Trachinotus blochii

Other highlights included the bluespine unicornfish, Naso unicornis, posing for me in the early morning light, as only these fish can, before charging at me in a game of ‘call my bluff’. These guys are such show ponies! You can read about how unicornfish are so important to the health of a reef in an earlier blog post.

I also came nose to nose with our old resident female southern eagle ray, Myliobatis tenuicaudatus, with her distinctive stumpy tail, along with a brand new juvenile that I haven’t seen before in the shallows of Emily Bay. I photographed a pair courting inside Emily Bay back in December 2020. I wonder if this juvenile is the result (photos below).

But the one sighting that excited me beyond anything else was a teeny tiny juvenile blacktip morwong, Cheilodactylus francisi, on the Lone Pine side of the bay. This little fish, barely 1.5 to 2 cm in length, seemed unconcerned as I hovered over it trying to get a decent photo. I have only seen one of this species of fish in the bay, an adult, that lives in a very defined area, so it was a real treat to see what I have to assume is one of its progeny.

Southern eagle ray - Myliobatis tenuicaudatus

The new juvenile southern eagle ray

This was taken in December 2020

Blacktip morwong - Cheilodactylus francisi

Atagema spongiosa

I found a new species (to me) of sea slug in the bay as well, which is always exciting (photo above right), Atagema spongiosa.

And each time I was out I saw both resident green sea turtles snoozing in the channel, a couple of times within just a few metres of each other. They seem happy to take life in the slow lane for the time being and don’t swim off when I pause to observe them.

Today the weather has turned, with plenty of rain and blustery winds – more like the weather you would normally associate with winter.

That’s a wrap.

October 30, 2026

The slow disappearance – disease on the reef

What happens after coral disease has run its course? In the fourth article of my six-part photographic series, I revisit colonies I've watched lose living tissue, sometimes alarmingly quickly. From a potentially century-old brain coral that lost most of its living tissue in less than 100 days to the algae-covered skeletons left years later, these photographs reveal the longer-term consequences of coral disease on Norfolk Island's reef.

October 28, 2026

When storms rearrange the reef

Sometimes the sea rearranges a reef in a matter of hours! In the third article of my six-part photographic series, I revisit corals broken, overturned or swept away by powerful swells and storm surges. Some disappeared altogether, while others found surprising ways to survive. Five photographic sequences reveal just how dramatically Norfolk Island's reef can change.

October 26, 2026

When the reef fights back – coral growth and recovery

Not every coral story ends badly! Among six years of underwater photographs are some wonderful examples of growth, survival and recovery. From corals that have grown spectacularly to others that have survived bleaching, breakage or even being turned upside down, this second article in my photographic series celebrates some of the reef's more encouraging stories.

October 24, 2026

The neighbours – six years of watching the same reef

When I began photographing Norfolk Island's reef in 2020, I simply recorded whatever caught my eye. Six years later, those photographs have become a record of individual corals and their changing fortunes – growth, competition, survival and loss. This is the first of six articles looking back at what I've seen, and sometimes what I wish I hadn't.

October 10, 2026

Pulling the rugosity from out of the reef

What do ‘rugosity’, structural complexity and channeling your inner fish have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out. This week I’m looking at how all the lumps, bumps, branches, holes and ledges on a reef create habitat – with a brief detour into one of my long-standing tricks for navigating tertiary study: write down the jargon until it starts to make sense.

September 27, 2026

How does a sea slug smell?

It started with a close-up of a little Elysia and two rhinophores that looked like tiny rolled-up scrolls. Once I noticed them, I started going back through years of sea-slug photos and realised just how wildly different these sensory organs can be – ridged, rolled, curled, tubular and, in sea hares, distinctly rabbit-eared. So this week’s rabbit hole is all about how sea slugs ‘smell’ underwater, and why their noses come in so many different shapes.

September 19, 2026

The Elite Fleet sails in

Nearly six years ago, my very first blog post was about the strange blue and violet creatures that live at the ocean’s surface – a group I christened Norfolk Island’s ‘Elite Fleet’. Since then I’ve seen plenty of bluebottles and the occasional violet sea snail, but never a by-the-wind sailor. Until this morning. Velella velella is not a true jellyfish, but a colonial hydrozoan with a transparent sail that lets the wind help carry it across the ocean. So what exactly is this extraordinary little creature, how does it ‘sail’, and what connects it to the rest of the fleet?

September 18, 2026

In a nutshell – where I stand on the proposed Norfolk Island Marine Park

I support the proposed expansion of Norfolk Marine Park and its renaming as Norfolk Island Marine Park. There is much to welcome – strong offshore protection, no mining, and recognition of the importance of sustainable local fishing. But I also have some reservations. Why does Cascade need to be removed from the Marine Park at all? How will more than 430,000 km² actually be monitored and enforced? How do we make sure Norfolk people have a genuine role in management? And, above all, how do we ensure that the enormous new park does not draw attention away from the small, stressed reef immediately beside us?

September 13, 2026

No seagrass, but plenty of turtles

Norfolk Island does not have seagrass, although one of our most conspicuous green algae is often mistaken for it. Feather and grape Caulerpa can both form striking patches across the lagoon. I take a closer look at what Caulerpa actually is, why it is so easily confused with seagrass, and where our green turtles fit into the story.

September 6, 2026

Watching El Niño from Norfolk Island

El Niño is strengthening across the Pacific, but that does not tell us exactly what the coming months will bring to Norfolk Island. After a long wet spell, I am watching our rainfall and water supplies more closely again – and, underwater, keeping an eye on sea temperature, algae, coral recruits and the fish that turn up on the reef.