Last Tuesday, (16 March) Perth put on absolutely superb weather for our Year 10 Snorkelling expedition. Beautiful calm easterlies blew from the hills and collaborated with a small 1-metre swell to create idyllic snorkelling conditions all around the Marmion Marine Park. Whilst it was warm throughout the day and sunscreen was regularly applied, the water was glassy and made for fantastic visibility for our students to explore the reefs.
The students had their first brief at Mettams Pool in North Beach at 8AM before hitting the water soon after. Students utilised the skills they have learned so far this term, including: Duck Diving, Snorkel/Mask Clears, Equalisation, Finning and many more to reach depths of over 6 metres. Students were active in the water for many hours. They were quick to spot thriving marine life such as Sting Rays, large Snapper, Buffalo Bream and even Octopuses. Many students challenged themselves and performed swim-throughs under natural limestone caves/gullies.
After a lovely lunch break on the white sand of North Beach, our students were particularly impressive in their implementation of the Leave No Trace Principles. The Year 10 students were committed to leaving the Marine Park and Beaches cleaner than they were before we had got there.
On the bus at 10.30AM, we then ventured 2km North to another famous Perth reef within the Marine Park at the Marmion Angling and Aquatic Club (MAAC). Here once again, students utilised their skills and initial experiences in open water at Mettamโs to their advantage, continuing to explore large areas of the reef from beneath the surface.
Our snorkelling trip to Mettamโs Pool and MAAC Club was thrilling and enjoyable. My favourite part of the day was the swim-throughs and seeing the beautiful marine life. This experience has taught me many things, and I want to experiment with my new snorkelling skills outside of school. We could not have chosen a better day as the weather was perfect. Mr Hatch taught us how to read the weather, and from those class lessons, we were all able to work out that we had easterly winds which are perfect for snorkelling in WA. The water was clear, which made it perfect to see flora and fauna. We saw a cool stingray that we were able to watch swim around us. The day was amazing, and I couldnโt have asked for a better class to go with.
Alkira Mogridge (Year 10)