Visibility: 5m                               Water Temperature: 14 Degrees
Divers: Stuart, Mick, Trevor, Vinnie, Catherine, Mark
Surface Crew: Vikki

And so they came…. These long legged creatures from the void, rose up from the deep and crossed the bay to meet, moult and mate at Rye. The water temperature was dropping and the moon was calling to all PPB spider crabs to come to that great meeting place. And so they walked and they marched across the sea floor. Their numbers swelling until there were thousands. And at the given moment their leaders will call out to them to stack and moult their shells as in years gone past. And the Spider Crab Appreciation at Rye Pier Society (Scarps) was there to witness this great event. This secret gathering of crab seen by only the few who rise up on a Saturday morning to don neoprene and breathing apparatus and descend the murky windswept depths to run with the crabs.
Behold below what we have witnessed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_66eoos7BGY

( PS, Does any one know what the pale yellow/brown stingaree is??)

Report by Stuart Garrow

Thanks to Stuart & Mick for the great photos. V