29 July 1999
We went back to the beach today and it was just as wonderful as it was the last time. Bill and I took some gillyweed, which fun fact is indigenous to the mediterranean, and explored the water. We had to swim a long way out to find bigger sea life, but the views underwater were breathtaking so it was well worth the effort. We came across a sea serpent, but unfortunately it fled before we were able to get close. We did manage to catch a hippocampus. Thankfully their hides are not very magic resistant so we were able to bring it down with a round of overpowered stunners. We had some issues figuring out what to do with it after the capture since we were still stuck underwater. In the end we transfigured it until we were able to get to the shore.
While the trip was fun, I don't think I can recommend it for material gathering. We got lucky to be able to get close enough to the hippocampus to subdue it and we didn't even have a chance to fire spells at anything else. Being under water also limited what we could cast and what we could bring. If we had somehow managed to take down the Sea Serpent I have no idea what we would have done with it since it is too magical to transfigure. Speaking of which I need to get in contact with Garrick to find out if transfiguring the components has any repercussions.