A late afternoon dive in June at the Bower, Cabbage Tree Bay (NSW, Australia): Gorgeous conditions, slight milkiness, but about 12 meters visibility. Flat as a pancake.
I headed to my usual areas. Saw nothing much, so I went slowly, with some surface swimming, towards Shelley Beach, where I had heard there was some giant cuttlefish activity. From the surface I saw a medium-to-large cuttlefish in a three-quarters pose, hovering. I went down and, because my buoyancy wasn’t great (big suit and small tank), I got a bit too close to him initially. He wasn’t startled, but I think he thought I got too close.
He wandered off, and I slowly worked my way back.
After a while, he was relaxed with me close by. He was touring – foraging, perhaps – going into the shallow mystery tunnels down near Shelly and emerging very calm. No displays, just dark red.
Several times he swam in very close to me – six inches and under.
I followed him for a long time.
After a while, I thought I should head back towards the other areas and see what was going on there. I began working my way back towards where I’d entered, and I saw, again from the surface, a medium-sized cuttlefish crouched, not fully hidden but partially camouflaged, in the kelp.
I went down and he approached immediately.
He then behaved in some unusual ways. He spent a lot of time coming very close to me, staring intently, with his two first arms up a little and his eyes wide. His colors were dramatic. This certainly appeared to be an intimidatory display some of the time.
For a while he went into a pose and pattern that I’ve very rarely seen so close up, but one seen when cuttlefish are hunting. He angled himself downward, very white along the outside, just inches from me.
At one point, from a pose like this, he did do a hunting lunge into the weeds and rocks very close. I wondered if this was genuine hunting, or a demo for my benefit.
I probably spent a half hour little more than a foot away from the face of this animal. I would move, and he would follow. I would go further away, and then come back a bit.
(This next one is not cropped – straight out of the camera.)
At one point I thought he might attack my mask; we were so close, and he was looking so lethal (faux lethal). But he didn’t attack.
I brought my bare finger up close to his slightly raised first arms and and let them touch when he drifted in. They touched several times. Often, in these situations, the two of you touch once and then the cuttlefish withdrawals a little. This time, he didn’t seem to register any importance in the touch at all, but let my fingers go on touching the arms.
He continued with his staring, his big eyes, and his incredible burnt-bronze-white colors. Finally, as it was getting late and I was starting to cramp in my legs, I thought I’d have a quick look at even further up towards Manly. I said goodbye to him. Soon after I left, I was cramping too much to continue. So I came in. It was about a 95 minute, wonderful, classic Bower dive.
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June 19 2025
I went back the next day. Conditions had dropped off a lot. I went to a few different spots (around the yellow shed), then again down towards Shelley.
I wasn’t seeing anything, but as I started to head back, I found the same cuttlefish as the first one yesterday, with the protrusion on the right side of his head and a neatly snipped arm also on the right side. He was very recognizable.
I approached cautiously this time, thinking that I wasn’t going to get a lot of chances.
We went touring again.
He was fine with me swimming alongside and close – cruising along next to each other. He did no displays, or very view (like yesterday). And then he disappeared into a maze in the reef, not far from the white rocks, and I couldn’t find him.
It was interesting to find him again: same guy, same mood – very calm – cruising.
Happy to have me swim alongside. A relaxed giant cuttlefish.
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Notes: The text of this post is edited from voice memos recorded just after the dives. The photos are mostly (not wholly) chronological. The last one is from the first day.
I have a lot of video from the first dive, but I’ll put that in another post.
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