My ears pricked up when the conversation turned to dragons. We were at a shiraz tasting in the Barossa Valley, but it wasn’t the wine talking, it was a couple of locals, recounting their experiences of diving with the creatures — leafy sea dragons, to be precise. The official marine emblem for the state of South Australia, sea dragons are easily found at dive sites a couple of hours’ drive from Adelaide city centre.
I was thrilled to hear it. Divers regard a sighting of one as a good omen, and David Attenborough counts sea dragons as one of his favourite animals — at least that’s what he told a class of schoolchildren who asked him via email in 2019. Leafy sea dragons are covered with ornate appendages that resemble the rounded leaves of the weeds in which they hide, and they can change their usually yellow-brown bodies to different colours, further helping them to blend in.
I drove south from Adelaide, down the west coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Rapid Bay, having arranged to meet Dave Zakarias, a dive instructor and Adelaide native who has been exploring the underwater world in this area since he was 13.
“We won’t be going more than about 10 metres down,” he said as we pulled on our thick wetsuits; it was July, winter in Australia, and the water was only 20C. “Pay close attention to the seagrass beds around the legs of the jetty and along the sea wall. That’s where leafies tend to hang out.”
Sea dragons are no monsters. They grow to no more than 35cm long, and they’re not strong or fast swimmers, so they tend to seek the protection of seaweed clustered in crevices between rocks, Zakarias said.
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Wading into the cool water from the beach, at first all I could see was sand shifting rhythmically with the waves. Then came patches of sea grass, and the odd long, thin pipefish — relatives of the dragons we were seeking. I kept my eyes peeled, reacting to every swish of the vegetation, but could see no other forms of life. The dragons’ camouflage was working — on me, anyway.
Luckily, Zakarias had a sharper eye, and when I heard him tap on his air tank I looked to see him gesticulate towards the sea wall. I could see nothing but grass and shadows. He pointed again, to a spot right in front of me. I stared; still nothing. Then, like in one of those 1990s Magic Eye images, a 3D critter emerged magnificently from the flat surface of the wall.
What had looked at first like a floating piece of brown seaweed changed before my eyes. As I studied its orange-edged leaves, they changed colour — chameleon-like — to a bright yellow. Now I could see its dorsal fin, whizzing like a tiny fan on its back to propel it along. Its elongated, trumpet-shaped nose pointed towards me from between round eyes that looked as curious as I felt. I grinned so widely that the regulator nearly fell from my mouth. I gave Zakarias a massive thumbs-up.
From then on it was as though my macro-vision had been switched on. I spotted another three dragons floating through the grass, as well as fingernail-sized, brightly coloured nudibranchs (sea slugs), black-and-white striped harlequin fish and five-finger sea stars.
I was delighted to have seen so much. Wanting somewhere near by to toast my success I found a local restaurant with views of paperbark trees and the wild, crowdless coastline. I was ready for my shiraz — though I didn’t need any encouragement to tell the waiter all about my underwater sightings.
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Then he asked if I’d also seen the leafy sea dragon’s even-harder-to-spot cousin, the weedy sea dragon. I sighed. Then smiled. With another dragon to seek out, I’d just have to come back.
Phoebe Smith was a guest of Diving Adelaide (dives from £150), the Mayfair Hotel in Adelaide (room-only doubles from £112) and Singapore Airlines. For more see southaustralia.com and australia.com
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