Crawled out of bed and headed straight for fresh air and the deck - It was still rough out. I risked a dry slice of toast for breakfast but most people were still looking green. Midmorning we pulled into the sheltered waters around the reef. We're at Holmes reef way out in the Coral Sea - about a hundred and twenty miles off the coast - way outside the great barrier reef. There is no land visible, yet as little as three feet below in the crystal clear water the reefs starts.
The First dive was at Barra Point. The visibility was incredible more than 40 meters (130+ feet). We quickly descended to 39 meters (127 feet) - the deepest I've ever been. Then followed along the contour for a while, before turning around and leisurely ascending along a ridge back to the boat. There's tons to look at - all kinds of hard and soft corals and innumerable kinds (and sizes) of fish. My favorite was the very cool looking Clown Triggerfish. It looked like three tropical fish put together - a black belly with very clean white circles, and yellow, white, and orange striped body, and a yellow a black masked face. Back on board we moved the boat a short distance to the next dive site.
The second dive was at a place called "Nonki". A phenomenal dive. The dive was around one large pinnacle starting at 35 meters and rising to about 3 meters. We started at the bottom and did four complete circuits while spiraling to the top. The corals were incredible - the highlight was the giant coral fans back lit in some of the many tunnels and overhangs - would have been perfect for national geographic type photos. There was also tons of fish - the highlights were a giant barracuda and a big school of Big Eyed Travedy. From the bottom looking up through the school you could see the sun rays outlining the thousands of fish slowly spiraling around. When we were level with the school it was almost as if we were involved in some kind of dance the way the fish moved around us. And the spirals from the top were beautiful if not as dramatic from the bottom.
Back on the boat the generator overheated the crew was filling the tanks. No generator means no compressor which means no more air refills. Moved the boat to the site of the next two planned dives. It was decided to save the tanks we have for the night dive so we skipped the third dive and just went snorkeling. There are tons of sharks around and it takes a leap of faith to get in the water. While I have no fear of sharks while diving they make me a uncomfortable when I'm on the surface - I guess the difference is being part of their world or sort of being exposed on the edge of it. The fact that they're quite curious and sweep by inches away doesn't help. But it's all good fun and I think I got some good pictures with an underwater disposable.
The Night dive was pretty good. The visibility was so good that you could clearly see the light color shift from reddish yellow to bluish green depending on how far away it was pointed. I used to find night dives a little scary and stressful, now I find them easy and relaxing. Since this one was guided it was a very much go with the flow type experience. Not exciting or thrilling or wonderful, but nice.
The skipper spent the evening / night working on the generator. With lots of consulting over the radio he got it running again, so tomorrow it's back to diving!
