Qantas has some super hot fares on right now to get you from the US to Australia. They're so low that you'll have plenty leftover to do the internal flights once you are here!
Even the fares from the Midwest - like Chicago - are crazy low...$650 one way all the way to Perth. That is an awesome deal.
Here's the Qantas link and the date range is pretty nice.
The sale ends on the 2nd of June so don't think about it too long - just do it!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Whale Shark report - Thursday 28 May 2009
A gorgeous day today with some surprise visitors! We started our day at Central Station for a dive and snorkel and everywhere we looked there were turtles, turtles and more turtles. We also had huge schools of surgeonfish, fusiliers and golden trevally along with a smaller school of batfish.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
While looking for our first whale shark of the day we found some humpback whales making their way north along the coast so hung out with them for a little while. Later in the day we saw minke whales and then more humpbacks! At one stage a humpback came in very close to us as we were with a whale shark. Awesome!
We swam with four different whale sharks today. Our first whale shark was Chompy again - we love Chompy! Shark two was the one we saw the other day with the tag - and we saw him again as our last shark of the day. They ranged from about 4.5-6.5m today. Every whale shark was nice and slow and the water was beautifully clear and blue again. Just a magic day.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
While looking for our first whale shark of the day we found some humpback whales making their way north along the coast so hung out with them for a little while. Later in the day we saw minke whales and then more humpbacks! At one stage a humpback came in very close to us as we were with a whale shark. Awesome!
We swam with four different whale sharks today. Our first whale shark was Chompy again - we love Chompy! Shark two was the one we saw the other day with the tag - and we saw him again as our last shark of the day. They ranged from about 4.5-6.5m today. Every whale shark was nice and slow and the water was beautifully clear and blue again. Just a magic day.
CONTEST - Diver Bites - WINNERS!
We're a day late in getting our winners announced and we apologise for making you wait! It was a tough decision to choose just two winners...hopefully all of you who didn't win this time 'round or who didn't get to enter will try again in our next Diver Bites Contest coming soon! On to the winners:
Our first winners are Lee & Pete. They dived with us for 9 days in April and had stunning conditions, fabulous diving and more creatures than one could reasonably expect to see, even here! Every day they came back to the shop with rave reviews of the dives and of our crew. They're back home now but dreaming of getting another chance to revisit the outstanding Ningaloo Reef. After all of the big guys they saw (I think they went out on our Whale Shark Adventures three times!), something tells me it was our smallest jewels that captured their hearts.
Our second winner is Jon. he went out on our Muiron Islands/West Side full day on a less than ideal sea condition day - lots of swell and a bit breezy made the surface conditions a bit choppy and definitely made being under the water the preferred place to be!
Just a quickie to say a big thanks for an excellent dive under less than ideal conditions last Wednesday. I’m writing this because I’m all too aware that satisfied customers all too often vanish into the ether without giving you any ‘strokes’, and the only feedback a company gets is a kicking from those with gripes and bones to pick. Your whole team was a credit to the company; they looked after your brand beautifully, and they were approachable, enthusiastic, helpful and diligent (for me, those guys putting a top feast together in a small space, on a roiling swell surrounded by divers and gear, now that’s diligence.) They were all pretty young too, and customer service can be a skill which takes years to acquire and perfect. Your team had an excellent mix of professionalism and engaging personalities. My dive guide was Kerry [one of our dive masters in training]. She was amazing.
And to quote Forrest Gump, ‘that’s all I’ve got to say about that’ except, I will of course recommend you guys around and about.
Kind regards,
Jon
Both winners will receive one of our coveted Exmouth Diving Centre t-shirts and a gift voucher for a free diving tour with us. They can use the voucher themselves or pass it on to a friend.
Congratulations to you both and thank you to all who sent in emails. We hope to hear from even more of you for our next contest, so watch this space!
Our first winners are Lee & Pete. They dived with us for 9 days in April and had stunning conditions, fabulous diving and more creatures than one could reasonably expect to see, even here! Every day they came back to the shop with rave reviews of the dives and of our crew. They're back home now but dreaming of getting another chance to revisit the outstanding Ningaloo Reef. After all of the big guys they saw (I think they went out on our Whale Shark Adventures three times!), something tells me it was our smallest jewels that captured their hearts.
Our second winner is Jon. he went out on our Muiron Islands/West Side full day on a less than ideal sea condition day - lots of swell and a bit breezy made the surface conditions a bit choppy and definitely made being under the water the preferred place to be!
Just a quickie to say a big thanks for an excellent dive under less than ideal conditions last Wednesday. I’m writing this because I’m all too aware that satisfied customers all too often vanish into the ether without giving you any ‘strokes’, and the only feedback a company gets is a kicking from those with gripes and bones to pick. Your whole team was a credit to the company; they looked after your brand beautifully, and they were approachable, enthusiastic, helpful and diligent (for me, those guys putting a top feast together in a small space, on a roiling swell surrounded by divers and gear, now that’s diligence.) They were all pretty young too, and customer service can be a skill which takes years to acquire and perfect. Your team had an excellent mix of professionalism and engaging personalities. My dive guide was Kerry [one of our dive masters in training]. She was amazing.
And to quote Forrest Gump, ‘that’s all I’ve got to say about that’ except, I will of course recommend you guys around and about.
Kind regards,
Jon
Both winners will receive one of our coveted Exmouth Diving Centre t-shirts and a gift voucher for a free diving tour with us. They can use the voucher themselves or pass it on to a friend.
Congratulations to you both and thank you to all who sent in emails. We hope to hear from even more of you for our next contest, so watch this space!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Tuesday 26 May 2009
Today we dived at Blizzard Ridge first and it was hopping with big schools of snapper, fusiliers and sea perch. Olive sea snakes were again out in force, including a couple of extremely fat ones searching for yet more food! A couple of wobbies were soundly sleeping under a ledge together and clear dancing shrimp be-bopped their way across the heads of the snoozing sharks. A tawny nurse shark decided he didn't like us so much and swam off into the blue.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth was next up and although we didn't see our friendly tiger shark, there was tons of action. The school of batfish has increased and there must be well over 60 individuals of all sizes now. Nudibranchs were abundant, cleaning stations were busy and turtles were everywhere. The ghost pipefish is still way way back in his hole, screened by several zillion annoying little fish!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Whale Shark report - Tuesday 26 May 2009
Today started off a little overcast with a gentle 10kn south-easterly blowing. We headed to Central Station for our reef dive and were pleasantly surprised with 20m visibility and lots of action! The swell had dropped off to nothing so we had perfect dive conditions. Our best experience on the dive today was watching a manta ray hanging out on the cleaning station!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
One of our whale sharks today - a 4m female - had a CSIRO tag attached so we know she's been here on the Ningaloo Reef before, which is always cool. She was very cooperative and we had lots of nice, long, slow (more or less!) swims. The day just got better and better and was totally glassed out by the afternoon. A glorious day again!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
One of our whale sharks today - a 4m female - had a CSIRO tag attached so we know she's been here on the Ningaloo Reef before, which is always cool. She was very cooperative and we had lots of nice, long, slow (more or less!) swims. The day just got better and better and was totally glassed out by the afternoon. A glorious day again!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Dive report - Muiron Islands Monday 25 May 2009
We postponed Sunday's trip to the Muiron Islands because of the honkin' swell and big tides, so headed over today instead. It was a good decision as the crossing was pretty mild and the whole day was lovely, getting flatter and clearer as the day went on.
Our first dive site was Fraggle Rock and it was beautiful with varying colours and textures throughout the site. Lots of sailfish catfish of all sizes, including several balls of juveniles, cavorted on the sand up close to the safety of their holes. White tip reef sharks cruised back and forth along the edges. The coolest thing here today was an octopus out walking around and getting hassled by a giant potato cod! We're not sure why the cod was so insistent but he really didn't like this octopus at all.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Whalebone's colours were amazing in the streaming sunlight for dive two. There seem to be even more sea squirts, sponges and nudibranchs covering the site than normal. Green turtles swam in the shallows and nestled in under the leather corals. Lots of beautiful reef fishes cruised over the whole site and a small school of silver trevally hung out just before the entrance to a swim thru.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
Our first dive site was Fraggle Rock and it was beautiful with varying colours and textures throughout the site. Lots of sailfish catfish of all sizes, including several balls of juveniles, cavorted on the sand up close to the safety of their holes. White tip reef sharks cruised back and forth along the edges. The coolest thing here today was an octopus out walking around and getting hassled by a giant potato cod! We're not sure why the cod was so insistent but he really didn't like this octopus at all.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Whalebone's colours were amazing in the streaming sunlight for dive two. There seem to be even more sea squirts, sponges and nudibranchs covering the site than normal. Green turtles swam in the shallows and nestled in under the leather corals. Lots of beautiful reef fishes cruised over the whole site and a small school of silver trevally hung out just before the entrance to a swim thru.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
Whale Shark report - Monday 25 May 2009
Central Station was surprisingly clear and active today after a couple of days of monster swell. Massive cow tail stingrays have clearly decided to call this site home, at least temporarily, and we saw one of the biggest ones yet today. A huge green turtle swam languidly alongside of the divers. And we had a MANTA RAY!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
All of our whale sharks today were right on the surface and were swimming along nice and slowly. We swam with 4 different whale sharks from 3.5-5m and each drop was better than the last...the whale sharks seemed to get perkier as the day went on. The water isn't back to being blue blue, but it was pretty clear and really showed off the sun rays. The whale sharks looked like they were lit up when the shining rays danced around them. It was an exceptionally pretty time today!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
All of our whale sharks today were right on the surface and were swimming along nice and slowly. We swam with 4 different whale sharks from 3.5-5m and each drop was better than the last...the whale sharks seemed to get perkier as the day went on. The water isn't back to being blue blue, but it was pretty clear and really showed off the sun rays. The whale sharks looked like they were lit up when the shining rays danced around them. It was an exceptionally pretty time today!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Whale Shark report - Saturday 23 May 2009
A good sized swell came up and the surgey conditions close in on the reef saw us cancel the dive that we had planned. That didn't stop us having a fabulous day on our Whale Shark Adventure, though as the snorkelling was fabulous!
The whale sharks were again out in force and we had multiple drops on multiple whale sharks. The whale sharks seemed to enjoy the bouncy conditions and all of them had mouths open, happily sucking down all the plankton they came across. Once again we all ended up smiling, laughing and ready for a nap by the end of our swims!
The whale sharks were again out in force and we had multiple drops on multiple whale sharks. The whale sharks seemed to enjoy the bouncy conditions and all of them had mouths open, happily sucking down all the plankton they came across. Once again we all ended up smiling, laughing and ready for a nap by the end of our swims!
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Thursday 21 May 2009
Blizzard Ridge showed off its octopus population today. Everywhere we looked octopus were peeking out of holes, scurrying across the reef, standing up tall on a rocky outcrop or sneaking an arm shyly out of a hole. The olive sea snakes were also out in force. All of the usual schools of fish, wobbies, and cleaning stations were happening, too.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
We couldn't resist heading back to Labyrinth after all the exciting things we've been seeing there lately. Today we again saw elusive Mr. Tiger Shark - lucky divers!! Green turtles seem to have gathered for a convention as quite a few places along the reef had two or even three turtles hanging out together. Lots of small stuff to see, like the harlequin shrimp guarding a prized sea star leg.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
We couldn't resist heading back to Labyrinth after all the exciting things we've been seeing there lately. Today we again saw elusive Mr. Tiger Shark - lucky divers!! Green turtles seem to have gathered for a convention as quite a few places along the reef had two or even three turtles hanging out together. Lots of small stuff to see, like the harlequin shrimp guarding a prized sea star leg.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Whale Shark report - Wednesday 20 May 2009
Central Station was again buzzing with activity of all sorts - baitfish, hunting cod, swimming reef sharks, lazing turtles, schooling fishes. A great dive!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m
Today's Whale Shark Adventure had even more whale sharks! We swam with NINE different whale sharks before 1pm! Don't know what more we can say about this terrific day out.
Everywhere we looked there was another whale shark. Some sharks we had multiple drops on and others we only had a single drop on as when we'd head for another drop, another whale shark would pop up so we'd swim with it instead!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m
Today's Whale Shark Adventure had even more whale sharks! We swam with NINE different whale sharks before 1pm! Don't know what more we can say about this terrific day out.
Everywhere we looked there was another whale shark. Some sharks we had multiple drops on and others we only had a single drop on as when we'd head for another drop, another whale shark would pop up so we'd swim with it instead!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Whale Shark report - Tuesday 19 May 2009
Another fantastic day out on our Whale Shark Adventure. We started at Central Station first up and it was going off! There were millions of fish everywhere - on the cleaning stations, in big schools, cruising over the reef.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
The whale sharks yesterday were amazing. Today was ten times as good! We swam with five different whale sharks between 4-7m and four of them did unusual things.
Everybody poops and whale sharks are no exception. As we were swimming along, one of our whale sharks pooped for what seemed like ages, trailing a big cloud behind him. Not often we see that!
Another of our whale sharks swam straight up from the bottom and then just hung vertically in the water as we lazed on the surface and waited for him to move again. It looked exactly like he was balanced on the edge of his tail. Very cool.
Two other whale sharks decided our boat was worth closer investigation and swam right up to it. We had to wait for one of them to get out of the way before we could even get back on the boat! One of the two loved the bottom of the boat and would nuzzle right up to the hull.
Amazing amazing amazing day!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
The whale sharks yesterday were amazing. Today was ten times as good! We swam with five different whale sharks between 4-7m and four of them did unusual things.
Everybody poops and whale sharks are no exception. As we were swimming along, one of our whale sharks pooped for what seemed like ages, trailing a big cloud behind him. Not often we see that!
Another of our whale sharks swam straight up from the bottom and then just hung vertically in the water as we lazed on the surface and waited for him to move again. It looked exactly like he was balanced on the edge of his tail. Very cool.
Two other whale sharks decided our boat was worth closer investigation and swam right up to it. We had to wait for one of them to get out of the way before we could even get back on the boat! One of the two loved the bottom of the boat and would nuzzle right up to the hull.
Amazing amazing amazing day!
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Tuesday 19 May 2009
Blizzard Ridge had great cod action again today. We had more white tip reef sharks than usual and the wobbies were abundant, too. Our pair of banded pipefish are still in almost the same area, hiding behind walls of baitfish. Lots and lots of orange parrotfish chomping noisily.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth had its usual turtles, sharks, rays and batfish. There were an astounding number of fishes all over the site and we were enjoying ourselves with all of the usual suspects. And then we got two special surprises - a tiger shark! And then dolphins!! Incredible!!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth had its usual turtles, sharks, rays and batfish. There were an astounding number of fishes all over the site and we were enjoying ourselves with all of the usual suspects. And then we got two special surprises - a tiger shark! And then dolphins!! Incredible!!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Dive report - Exmouth Gulf, Monday 18 May 2009
Today we decided to stay in Exmouth Gulf and explore some areas we haven't visited in a while. Our first stop was Bundegi Bommies. All of the soft corals had their polyps open and wafting, waiting for food to glide by. They would have been waiting a while as there was no current or surge at all today! The bright yellows, reds, pinks, oranges and blues continued in the massive number of nudibranchs that dotted every surface. Lionfish were floating in blue water and bulldozer shrimp were busily cleaning the burrows they share with their goby mates. Fabulous colour and creature dive!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m
We moved a little further north for dive two at The Stag. This site is covered in what seems like millions of outcrops of staghorn corals. And every one of the branches seems to hide something special. We saw the teeniest baby coral trout ever - he was probably only as long as your finger! The coral branches provide excellent cover for all manner of juvenile fishes and everywhere we looked we saw the bright colours of juvenile angelfish and butterflyfish. Very cool dive.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m
We moved a little further north for dive two at The Stag. This site is covered in what seems like millions of outcrops of staghorn corals. And every one of the branches seems to hide something special. We saw the teeniest baby coral trout ever - he was probably only as long as your finger! The coral branches provide excellent cover for all manner of juvenile fishes and everywhere we looked we saw the bright colours of juvenile angelfish and butterflyfish. Very cool dive.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m
Whale Shark report - Monday 18 May 2009
Who could believe it but the season just keeps getting better and better this year! Today we dived on Central Station and in addition to all of the usual suspects like turtles, big cods, anemonefish, etc, we also had a leopard shark swimming around! As if that wasn't enough, we also had a manta ray join us!!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Everyone was already saying what a great day out it was before we found our first whale shark of the day. We ended up swimming with four different whale sharks ranging from 4-7m. We had a blast! And just in case anyone was feeling like maybe we hadn't had enough good fortune already, as we were swimming with our third whale shark of the day - a 7m guy - a manta ray joined us for some barrel rolls! Right beside us as we swam along with the whale shark on the other side. Amazing!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Everyone was already saying what a great day out it was before we found our first whale shark of the day. We ended up swimming with four different whale sharks ranging from 4-7m. We had a blast! And just in case anyone was feeling like maybe we hadn't had enough good fortune already, as we were swimming with our third whale shark of the day - a 7m guy - a manta ray joined us for some barrel rolls! Right beside us as we swam along with the whale shark on the other side. Amazing!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Sunday 17 May 2009
We usually head out to the Muiron Islands on Sundays, but the conditions were so rough north of the Cape that our divers took a vote and decided to head into the protection of Lighthouse Bay for diving instead.
Blizzard Ridge stepped things up to show off for us today with everything feeding, cleaning, zooming around. Lionfish were hanging out in the blue with their fins spread out to catch the rays of sunlight streaming through; cods were attacking the schools of baitfish with gusto; white tip reef sharks patrolled over the sand and wobbegong sharks swam from one nap place to the next.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's was also extremely active with huge cods lined up at the cleaning stations, a large school of snapper circling on one of the sand patches and an enormous roughback stingray that was so big he made the ones we've been seeing look like pygmies!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: very gentle
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Blizzard Ridge stepped things up to show off for us today with everything feeding, cleaning, zooming around. Lionfish were hanging out in the blue with their fins spread out to catch the rays of sunlight streaming through; cods were attacking the schools of baitfish with gusto; white tip reef sharks patrolled over the sand and wobbegong sharks swam from one nap place to the next.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's was also extremely active with huge cods lined up at the cleaning stations, a large school of snapper circling on one of the sand patches and an enormous roughback stingray that was so big he made the ones we've been seeing look like pygmies!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: very gentle
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Whale Shark report - Saturday 16 May 2009
We started our Whale Shark Adventure with a snorkel and dive on Central Station today. The marine life was very active and abundant with turtles, rays, schools of fish, parrotfish, angelfish and anemone fish all going about their business. A huge estuary cod was being cleaned and all over the reef bright red & white striped cleaner shrimp were peeking out of their holes.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
And then we found whale sharks! Lots of whale sharks! We swam with five different whale sharks ranging from a tiny 2.5m to a huge 8 meters. Our little whale shark was badly scarred, but seemed perfectly happy cruising along with the snorkellers.
On one of our drops with a 6m whale shark, a SECOND whale shark joined our group for a few moments. He came in, kind of circled within about 5m of us and the first whale shark, then cruised off alone. It was AWESOME!
And we saw the first humpback whales of the year, too.
Just a tremendously fabulous day!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
And then we found whale sharks! Lots of whale sharks! We swam with five different whale sharks ranging from a tiny 2.5m to a huge 8 meters. Our little whale shark was badly scarred, but seemed perfectly happy cruising along with the snorkellers.
On one of our drops with a 6m whale shark, a SECOND whale shark joined our group for a few moments. He came in, kind of circled within about 5m of us and the first whale shark, then cruised off alone. It was AWESOME!
And we saw the first humpback whales of the year, too.
Just a tremendously fabulous day!
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Friday 15 May 2009
Beautiful morning to head out for some diving in Lighthouse Bay. Unfortunately, the top of the Cape was extremely rough so it took a little fortitude to actually get there! But the dives were well worth the adventure.
Blizzard Ridge's cleaning stations were very active today with small fusiliers, batfish and large cods all lining up and each station had multiple cleaner wrasse working on each fish. Wobbegong reef sharks were tucked under ledges and one of the huge moray eels was covered in tiny, clear cleaner shrimp.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's also had very active cleaning stations and many of the cods had wide open mouths and flared gills. A big school of five lined sea perch merged with a school of yellow goatfish, not sure who was confused! White tip reef sharks circled each other on the sand patches.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Blizzard Ridge's cleaning stations were very active today with small fusiliers, batfish and large cods all lining up and each station had multiple cleaner wrasse working on each fish. Wobbegong reef sharks were tucked under ledges and one of the huge moray eels was covered in tiny, clear cleaner shrimp.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's also had very active cleaning stations and many of the cods had wide open mouths and flared gills. A big school of five lined sea perch merged with a school of yellow goatfish, not sure who was confused! White tip reef sharks circled each other on the sand patches.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Whale Shark report - Thursday 14 May 2009
More gorgeousness today!
Central Station had tons of action today again. Two big cowtail stingrays, a disinterested green turtle, a big school of threadfin pearl perch and some big, pale cods rocking in the sand were highlights. Our best few minutes were spent watching an octopus apparently feasting on the arm of a big green sea star. None of us had seen that before!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12-5m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
The whale sharks were amazing yet again. We had multiple whale sharks and multiple drops on each one. All of them were swimming slowly so we were able to get awesome views from all angles again. Some of the whale sharks looked to be feeding while others just seemed happy cruising along in the sunshine. Excellent day out on our Whale Shark Adventure!
Central Station had tons of action today again. Two big cowtail stingrays, a disinterested green turtle, a big school of threadfin pearl perch and some big, pale cods rocking in the sand were highlights. Our best few minutes were spent watching an octopus apparently feasting on the arm of a big green sea star. None of us had seen that before!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12-5m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
The whale sharks were amazing yet again. We had multiple whale sharks and multiple drops on each one. All of them were swimming slowly so we were able to get awesome views from all angles again. Some of the whale sharks looked to be feeding while others just seemed happy cruising along in the sunshine. Excellent day out on our Whale Shark Adventure!
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Thursday 14 May 2009
Two fabulous dives again today in Lighthouse Bay.
Blizzard Ridge was first up and it was as active as always. Huge school of five lined sea perch, cleaner wrasse working busily on fusiliers, olive sea snakes curled up under small ledges and wobbegong sharks lazing in the most uncomfortable looking positions. The two banded pipefish are still hanging out in front of their little hole - hopefully they'll stick around for a long while.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth was next and the turtles were abundant again. Some were hanging on the surface, others were snoozing on the reef and some were chomping on red bell jellies. Big batfish were getting cleaned at all the main cleaning stations and many spotted sweetlips hung out under ledges and over the big plate coral. Our best find today was a ghost pipefish!!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Blizzard Ridge was first up and it was as active as always. Huge school of five lined sea perch, cleaner wrasse working busily on fusiliers, olive sea snakes curled up under small ledges and wobbegong sharks lazing in the most uncomfortable looking positions. The two banded pipefish are still hanging out in front of their little hole - hopefully they'll stick around for a long while.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth was next and the turtles were abundant again. Some were hanging on the surface, others were snoozing on the reef and some were chomping on red bell jellies. Big batfish were getting cleaned at all the main cleaning stations and many spotted sweetlips hung out under ledges and over the big plate coral. Our best find today was a ghost pipefish!!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Friday, May 15, 2009
CONTEST - Diver Bites - ends today but there's still time!
Our HOT blog contest ends tonight at midnight so there's still time for those last minute submissions!
It's easy - I had an awesome time on the Ningaloo Reef - just tell us what you loved about your visit or send us a photo. Win a great prize! Couldn't be simpler.
Don't keep putting it off - get your submission in to us now: Enter here!
It's easy - I had an awesome time on the Ningaloo Reef - just tell us what you loved about your visit or send us a photo. Win a great prize! Couldn't be simpler.
Don't keep putting it off - get your submission in to us now: Enter here!
Whale Shark report - Wednesday 13 May 2009
Central Station was awesome for our dive today. Huge cowtail stingray kicking up a bunch of sand as he foraged for some tasty morsels in the sand. Grey reef shark patrolling - we saw him several times. Sailfin catfish zipping around. Plus all of the normal colourful reef fish, schools of threadfin pearl perch, anemone fish, eels...great dive!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m & blue blue
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m
The whale sharks were awesome yet again today. We had multiple sharks and so many drops that our legs were wobbly! Thankfully one of the whale sharks took pity on us and slowed way down so we could just float on the surface and watch him...we barely had to fin at all. He would swim a little, then do a big gently banking turn and curve around back to us. He even followed us right back to the boat! Loving it!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m & blue blue
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m
The whale sharks were awesome yet again today. We had multiple sharks and so many drops that our legs were wobbly! Thankfully one of the whale sharks took pity on us and slowed way down so we could just float on the surface and watch him...we barely had to fin at all. He would swim a little, then do a big gently banking turn and curve around back to us. He even followed us right back to the boat! Loving it!
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Tuesday 12 May 2009
Blizzard Ridge was first up and we descended with some friendly snapper following us all the way down the mooring line. Just off the mooring line, two tiny banded pipefish flitted in and out of their ledge. They're so thin that if they aren't sideways, you can almost not see them even though you know they are there! All of the usual creatures were hanging out along the site...once again, just too much happening to record it all!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
For dive two we started at one end of Labyrinth and ended up at Gulliver's. It's very cool to get a small glimpse of each of these sites during a single dive and the ground we cover in between the sites always has some cool stuff - sharks, rays, big turtles, schools of barracuda, odd sand anemones with pretty shrimps, soft & leather corals - to see that we don't get to when we concentrate on a single site. Labyrinth portion of today's dive was covered in turtles and Gulliver's looked like it was having a white tip reef shark convention. Fantastic diving!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
For dive two we started at one end of Labyrinth and ended up at Gulliver's. It's very cool to get a small glimpse of each of these sites during a single dive and the ground we cover in between the sites always has some cool stuff - sharks, rays, big turtles, schools of barracuda, odd sand anemones with pretty shrimps, soft & leather corals - to see that we don't get to when we concentrate on a single site. Labyrinth portion of today's dive was covered in turtles and Gulliver's looked like it was having a white tip reef shark convention. Fantastic diving!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Whale Shark report - Tuesday 12 May 2009
We stopped at Central Station for our reef dive & snorkel today and it was amazingly active. We saw the biggest green turtles we have ever seen just cruising along. His shell was almost totally covered in barnacle. He was huge! There were stingrays of all sizes along the site - in the sand, under ledges, flying along the reef edge. Every cleaning station was doing brisk business with every imaginable type of fish waiting for a scrub.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
There were whale sharks everywhere again today and we had two pretty much all to ourselves. We hit the water with the first one at 10am and we snorkelled with our whale sharks until just after 1pm when no one could fin another stroke! We all collapsed on the deck laughing and telling stories of what we'd just done. It was awesome.
Our first whale shark was a 3.5-4m guy with a tag and he was completely surrounded by little fishes. Our second whale shark was a larger female - about 6.5m. She had lots of fish around her, too, and was very happy to swim along with us. At one point she did the whale shark glide towards the bottom and then came straight up underneath us, mouth open. We were all trying to snorkel backwards to give her room!
Fabulous day!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
There were whale sharks everywhere again today and we had two pretty much all to ourselves. We hit the water with the first one at 10am and we snorkelled with our whale sharks until just after 1pm when no one could fin another stroke! We all collapsed on the deck laughing and telling stories of what we'd just done. It was awesome.
Our first whale shark was a 3.5-4m guy with a tag and he was completely surrounded by little fishes. Our second whale shark was a larger female - about 6.5m. She had lots of fish around her, too, and was very happy to swim along with us. At one point she did the whale shark glide towards the bottom and then came straight up underneath us, mouth open. We were all trying to snorkel backwards to give her room!
Fabulous day!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Dive report - West Side, Monday 11 May 2009
We decided to do our half day, two morning reef dives on the West Side today since the conditions have been so good and the marine life so active lately.
Our first stop was O's Wall where we found lionfish, flutemouths, trevally, batfish, bannerfish, parrotfish and about 100 other different types of fish patrolling. The anemone fish were active and many would dart a long way away from their host before shooting back into the safety of the tentacles at about a zillion miles an hour. This site was really active from the shallows in about 12m to the deeper end of the site in 22m.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 22m
Central Station had both big and little action today. We had two huge cowtail stingrays, a big loggerhead turtle and several huge cods. Along the reef ledge, cleaner shrimp were sitting right out in the open, waving their tentacles, waiting for business.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
Our first stop was O's Wall where we found lionfish, flutemouths, trevally, batfish, bannerfish, parrotfish and about 100 other different types of fish patrolling. The anemone fish were active and many would dart a long way away from their host before shooting back into the safety of the tentacles at about a zillion miles an hour. This site was really active from the shallows in about 12m to the deeper end of the site in 22m.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 22m
Central Station had both big and little action today. We had two huge cowtail stingrays, a big loggerhead turtle and several huge cods. Along the reef ledge, cleaner shrimp were sitting right out in the open, waving their tentacles, waiting for business.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
Dive report - West Side, Sunday 10 May 2009
Sunday took us south of Tantabiddi on the West Side of the Nor'West Cape for our full day tour instead of to the more usual Muiron Islands. The conditions looked like the Muirons would be decidedly average with a punishing trip across, so we opted for the better diving on the day! It turned out to be an excellent decision.
On the way to our first dive site - Hole in the Wall - we came across a 7m whale shark! He nosed up to the side of the boat, then sank down, meandered to the other side, checked things out and then went on his merry way. Not a bad start!
Hole in the Wall was excellent with tons of fish, turtles munching away on the red bell jellies and gorgeous anemones filled to bursting with anemone fish and attendant damsels & porcelain crabs. This site is named for the large "cave" and this cave was densely packed with glassfish; the entrance and exits were totally obscured there were so many glistening fish. As we came out, the curtain would shimmer, then part and immediately close again after each diver. The soft corals along the wall here were glowing with colour.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
We hit Bowzer's Castle for our second dive and it's many coral fingers & valleys were filled with schooling fish. There were also quite a few white tip reef sharks cruising around. Inside many of the staghorn coral outcrops, leopard blennies hid out and tried to blend in. This site has some great overhangs and each had groups of fish just hovering underneath. Nudibranchs, eels, shrimp and other small critters populated every square inch of the walls along the fingers of limestone. Great dive!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
On the way to our first dive site - Hole in the Wall - we came across a 7m whale shark! He nosed up to the side of the boat, then sank down, meandered to the other side, checked things out and then went on his merry way. Not a bad start!
Hole in the Wall was excellent with tons of fish, turtles munching away on the red bell jellies and gorgeous anemones filled to bursting with anemone fish and attendant damsels & porcelain crabs. This site is named for the large "cave" and this cave was densely packed with glassfish; the entrance and exits were totally obscured there were so many glistening fish. As we came out, the curtain would shimmer, then part and immediately close again after each diver. The soft corals along the wall here were glowing with colour.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
We hit Bowzer's Castle for our second dive and it's many coral fingers & valleys were filled with schooling fish. There were also quite a few white tip reef sharks cruising around. Inside many of the staghorn coral outcrops, leopard blennies hid out and tried to blend in. This site has some great overhangs and each had groups of fish just hovering underneath. Nudibranchs, eels, shrimp and other small critters populated every square inch of the walls along the fingers of limestone. Great dive!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Monday, May 11, 2009
Whale Shark report - Sunday 10 May 2009
Another terrific day out on our Whale Shark Adventure! We swam with five different whale sharks and of course each one was pretty cool.
But we also had a very special whale shark today, a bit of a rarity here on the Ningaloo Reef...a NINE metre whale shark. Yup, 9m. He was gargantuan. Again we are amazed at the difference a little bit of length can make...this guy looked to be about twice the size of the 7m & 8m whale sharks we see.
There were also lots of schools of fish - like trevally and barracuda - swimming along a few meters underneath us for most of our swims.
But we also had a very special whale shark today, a bit of a rarity here on the Ningaloo Reef...a NINE metre whale shark. Yup, 9m. He was gargantuan. Again we are amazed at the difference a little bit of length can make...this guy looked to be about twice the size of the 7m & 8m whale sharks we see.
There were also lots of schools of fish - like trevally and barracuda - swimming along a few meters underneath us for most of our swims.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Only 5 more days in our Divers Bites Contest!
Time is flying by and we now have less than a week left in our first ever blog contest - I had an awesome time on the Ningaloo Reef!
So don't put it off any longer - get your submission in ASAP for your chance for fame and great prizes! We're accepting your stories and photos for this contest until 15 May, that's only five more days, so what are you waiting for?!
Whale Shark report - Saturday 9 May 2009
Incredible action on our Whale Shark Adventure today! We started off with a dive at Three Fins. Big school action was the name of the game today with huge schools of drummers, darts, trevally and surgeonfish. Turtles were out munching on the jellies drifting by. Juvenile batfish hung out near the tops of the reef. Our snorkellers were treated to a beautiful tiger shark who swam right under them.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
Whale sharks were all over today! We swam with 5 different whale sharks ranging from 3m to 6.5m long. It was great to be able to hop from one shark to another - they were in such a small area that we'd swim with one, then get picked up and move to another one! Fun! The water was blue and the sea was calm. Simply a fantastic day.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
Whale sharks were all over today! We swam with 5 different whale sharks ranging from 3m to 6.5m long. It was great to be able to hop from one shark to another - they were in such a small area that we'd swim with one, then get picked up and move to another one! Fun! The water was blue and the sea was calm. Simply a fantastic day.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Whale Shark report - Friday 8 May 2009
It's Chompy! One of our regular visitors to Ningaloo Reef put in an appearance as our third whale shark of the day. Chompy was very mellow and let us swim with him until we were all so tired we couldn't swim any more.
Our other two whale sharks also gave us some nice long swims, if a little faster! The second shark was a big 6.5m male - very rotund!
Excellent day to be out on our Whale Shark Adventure!
Our other two whale sharks also gave us some nice long swims, if a little faster! The second shark was a big 6.5m male - very rotund!
Excellent day to be out on our Whale Shark Adventure!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Thursday 7 May 2009
Lighthouse Bay was clear and active again today. We hit two favourites with a boatload of first time Lighthouse Bay visitors. Blizzard Ridge was first up and all the usual suspects were out and about: whitetip reef sharks, rays, olive sea snakes, schools of threadfin pearl perch, snappers and cardinalfish, big cod, bullseyes, lionfish, nudibranchs. We also saw quite a few large unicornfish and a nice school of yellow fin tuna.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
The cleaning stations at Gulliver's were super busy with multiple cleaner wrasse working on each fish as it came in and with lines of fish hanging out waiting for a turn. Another big bull ray lay resting on the sand while a number of blue spotted rays puffed sand all over the place, looking for food. The mantis shrimp are still being brave on the southern end of the site. We also found another razorfish doing his weaving, waving dance across the sand.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
The cleaning stations at Gulliver's were super busy with multiple cleaner wrasse working on each fish as it came in and with lines of fish hanging out waiting for a turn. Another big bull ray lay resting on the sand while a number of blue spotted rays puffed sand all over the place, looking for food. The mantis shrimp are still being brave on the southern end of the site. We also found another razorfish doing his weaving, waving dance across the sand.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Whale Shark report - Wednesday 6 May 2009
Wow, what a way to start our Whale Shark Adventure today! We had a whale shark even before the planes got in the air. This 5m whale shark was completely surrounded by fish - very cool!
We shared this first whale shark for a little while before moving a little bit down the reef to a whale shark the plane found. We had our second whale shark all to ourselves and had so many drops we lost count! He was a bit smaller - 3.5m or so - but very fat. Clearly he was ready to grow! This whale shark was more than content to let us swim and swim and swim...we're sure that was laughter we were seeing as he bobbed his head, mouth wide open as he swam along!
Chalk up another amazing day!
We shared this first whale shark for a little while before moving a little bit down the reef to a whale shark the plane found. We had our second whale shark all to ourselves and had so many drops we lost count! He was a bit smaller - 3.5m or so - but very fat. Clearly he was ready to grow! This whale shark was more than content to let us swim and swim and swim...we're sure that was laughter we were seeing as he bobbed his head, mouth wide open as he swam along!
Chalk up another amazing day!
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Tuesday 5 May 2009
Fabulous day to just enjoy all of the variety the Ningaloo Reef has to offer. Blizzard Ridge had it all out on view: wobbegong sharks, olive sea snakes, anemonefish, lionfish, turtles, white tip reef sharks, big schools, nudibranchs, rankin cod, cleaning stations.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
100s & 1000s had a bunch of big guys as well as stacks of reef fish. We had a huge bull ray hanging out on the sand before he lifted off in a cloud of sand, swam a bit of a circle and plopped back down in the sand again. We also had turtles totally unconcerned about us as they lay snoozing and swimming lazily up to the surface for a breath.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
100s & 1000s had a bunch of big guys as well as stacks of reef fish. We had a huge bull ray hanging out on the sand before he lifted off in a cloud of sand, swam a bit of a circle and plopped back down in the sand again. We also had turtles totally unconcerned about us as they lay snoozing and swimming lazily up to the surface for a breath.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
Whale Shark report - Tuesday 5 May 2009
I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot this season, but we are just having wonderful Whale Shark Adventures so far! Today we had two different whale sharks, both were about 4m long and both were reasonably slow moving.
Our second whale shark was engulfed in millions of fish - tiny sparkling baitfish, bright yellow juvenile trevally, big remoras and a whole bunch of others, too. Sometimes this big ball of action would almost block out the view of the whale shark it would become so dense...and then it would expand again and we could see the whale shark emerge. Incredible to think that a whale shark's camouflage works so well when we are only 3m away from it and the water is clear & blue! It was also pretty amazing to suddenly have a big group of the school surround you as you snorkelled along.
Our second whale shark was engulfed in millions of fish - tiny sparkling baitfish, bright yellow juvenile trevally, big remoras and a whole bunch of others, too. Sometimes this big ball of action would almost block out the view of the whale shark it would become so dense...and then it would expand again and we could see the whale shark emerge. Incredible to think that a whale shark's camouflage works so well when we are only 3m away from it and the water is clear & blue! It was also pretty amazing to suddenly have a big group of the school surround you as you snorkelled along.
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Monday 4 May 2009
Blizzard Ridge was rockin' - baitfish, predators, sea snakes, sharks. There was so much action it was hard to tear our attention away to appreciate the smaller pretties - anemonefish, nudibranchs, juvenile angelfishes, shrimps...everyone LOVED this dive today!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth had a good sized school of baitfish being harassed by rankin cod and various snappers again today. There were turtles everywhere - if you looked down at the reef they were snoozing, if you looked up they were bobbing on the surface taking in some sun & a fresh breath, if you looked midwater they were languidly swimming to the next stop on their turtle daily rounds. We saw even more nudibranchs today than we have been seeing, especially Nembrotha kubaryanas in a variety of colour variations.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Time is flying by ... there's only a little over a week to get your submissions in for our first Divers Bites contest!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth had a good sized school of baitfish being harassed by rankin cod and various snappers again today. There were turtles everywhere - if you looked down at the reef they were snoozing, if you looked up they were bobbing on the surface taking in some sun & a fresh breath, if you looked midwater they were languidly swimming to the next stop on their turtle daily rounds. We saw even more nudibranchs today than we have been seeing, especially Nembrotha kubaryanas in a variety of colour variations.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Time is flying by ... there's only a little over a week to get your submissions in for our first Divers Bites contest!
Dive report - Muiron Islands Sunday 3 May 2009
Today we had a bit of a choppy, rolly crossing from the Cape to the Muiron Islands but the temporary discomfort was soon forgotten once we got in at Cod Spot for our first dive. There were so many cods - rankin, potato, estuary - it was crazy. Just when we thought we'd seen the biggest one, another bigger one would appear. Half of the site had a swarm of baitfish, but the predator fish were keeping station just off in the blue...they must have been full already! Turtles, rays, parrotfish, butterflyfish, nudibranchs - great dive.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Colour, amazing colour! Keyhole looked like a whole treasure chest filled with every possible jewel today. The sunlight streamed down making everything sparkle and glow - it was amazing. We must have seen every colour variation of parrotfish and angelfish on this dive - bright purple, blue, green, orange, pink, yellow. A true kaleidoscope. Gorgeous.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Colour, amazing colour! Keyhole looked like a whole treasure chest filled with every possible jewel today. The sunlight streamed down making everything sparkle and glow - it was amazing. We must have seen every colour variation of parrotfish and angelfish on this dive - bright purple, blue, green, orange, pink, yellow. A true kaleidoscope. Gorgeous.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
Whale Shark report - Sunday 3 May 2009
Amazingly clear water again today. We jumped in on the main Ningaloo Reef for a drift snorkel before we found the whale sharks and it was incredible. There were schools of huge trevally, sleek barracuda and bream showing off their silver. Turtles cruised along in midwater and reef sharks swam along the bottom. The best time of the snorkel was the two dolphins that swam right under us!
We swam with four different whale sharks today ranging in size from 4 - 6m. We hit the water with our first whale shark at about 1215 and didn't finish swimming with them until just after 3pm. It was another fabulous day with these gentle giants!
We swam with four different whale sharks today ranging in size from 4 - 6m. We hit the water with our first whale shark at about 1215 and didn't finish swimming with them until just after 3pm. It was another fabulous day with these gentle giants!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Whale Shark report - Saturday 2 May 2009
What an incredible season we are having. Today again we found our whale shark very early in the day and the water was clear & blue. We shared our whale shark with another boat for about 15 minutes before spending another 75 minutes with it all by ourselves.
The whale shark was beautiful with its markings glimmering in the rays of sunlight streaming through the crystal clear water. It was feeding along a rich line and would descend a few meters, then tilt up and slowly rise to the surface, swim along with the snorkellers for a while, then gently glide down and back up. We had awesome swims!
We stayed inside the reef for our dive today so went to Ranger Bommies. As always there were stacks of fish circling the bommies and lots of rays hanging out in the sand. The tomato anemonefish were very active - darting way away from their anemones and then snuggling right down in to the middle. Hiding in the tentacles were some very teeny babies. School of very large trevally buzzed the divers. Very active dive site.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 7m
The whale shark was beautiful with its markings glimmering in the rays of sunlight streaming through the crystal clear water. It was feeding along a rich line and would descend a few meters, then tilt up and slowly rise to the surface, swim along with the snorkellers for a while, then gently glide down and back up. We had awesome swims!
We stayed inside the reef for our dive today so went to Ranger Bommies. As always there were stacks of fish circling the bommies and lots of rays hanging out in the sand. The tomato anemonefish were very active - darting way away from their anemones and then snuggling right down in to the middle. Hiding in the tentacles were some very teeny babies. School of very large trevally buzzed the divers. Very active dive site.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 7m
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Friday 01 May 2009
We headed out to one of our deeper sites for dive one today - Hilton's. The swell is up a bit so there was a little current on the decent line, but none at the bottom. The whole site is covered in masses of baitfish and there were lionfish both flared out in the blue and tucked up under ledges. The coolest creature on this dive was one the divers didn't see - a pilot whale swam right over their heads! They heard it but weren't looking in the right direction.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 6m
CURRENT: moderate on the line; none at the bottom
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 29m
We came back to Blizzard Ridge and found a bit better viz. Rankin cod of all sizes were making meals out of all the baitfish, zooming in and out of sight. There now seem to be two eensy Clarkii anemonefish on their anemone out in the sand. Once again the olive sea snakes were abundant and curious.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's is clearly the preferred mantis shrimp party area lately. Today they were everywhere we looked and many don't seem as timid as usual, letting divers get very good looks at them before they'd shoot back into a hidey hole. The cleaning stations were active today with big cods and little damsels all taking turns for the cleaner wrasse.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
There are only two weeks left in our first ever Diver Bites contest! Don't keep putting it off, drop us an email with your story and/or photos now -> just click here to send the mail.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 6m
CURRENT: moderate on the line; none at the bottom
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 29m
We came back to Blizzard Ridge and found a bit better viz. Rankin cod of all sizes were making meals out of all the baitfish, zooming in and out of sight. There now seem to be two eensy Clarkii anemonefish on their anemone out in the sand. Once again the olive sea snakes were abundant and curious.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's is clearly the preferred mantis shrimp party area lately. Today they were everywhere we looked and many don't seem as timid as usual, letting divers get very good looks at them before they'd shoot back into a hidey hole. The cleaning stations were active today with big cods and little damsels all taking turns for the cleaner wrasse.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
There are only two weeks left in our first ever Diver Bites contest! Don't keep putting it off, drop us an email with your story and/or photos now -> just click here to send the mail.
Whale Shark report - Thursday 30 April 2009
We started our day off with a gorgeous dive at 3 Fins. There were huge schools of surgeonfish spilling over the edges of the reef, a massive ball of baitfish choked one of the swim throughs and big potato cod just hanging out keeping an eye on things.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15-20m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
We swam with four whale sharks today. The first two we snorkelled with decided to wander off to the depths, so we popped over to numbers three and four and they were very cooperative. Everyone had tons of drops with the whale sharks and some of our swims were so long we couldn't swim any more and had to have the boat come get us to give us a little rest before the next drop. Fabulous.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15-20m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
We swam with four whale sharks today. The first two we snorkelled with decided to wander off to the depths, so we popped over to numbers three and four and they were very cooperative. Everyone had tons of drops with the whale sharks and some of our swims were so long we couldn't swim any more and had to have the boat come get us to give us a little rest before the next drop. Fabulous.
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Thursday 30 April 2009
Woohoo! What an incredible day! Blizzard Ridge was rocking with feeding action - big and little predators darting through the billions of silvery baitfish along most of the ridge. A giant cowtail stingray hung out in the sand, olive sea snakes stuck their noses in every little crack & crevice with their forked tongues poking in and out.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's had lots of baitfish action, too. The octopus were out and about again and there seemed to be more colourful nudibranchs dotted the reef and one huge sea cucumber. The tiny sea apple had its arms out, trying to catch a little snack as bits drifted by on the gentle current.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's had lots of baitfish action, too. The octopus were out and about again and there seemed to be more colourful nudibranchs dotted the reef and one huge sea cucumber. The tiny sea apple had its arms out, trying to catch a little snack as bits drifted by on the gentle current.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Dive report - Muiron Islands Wednesday 29 April 2009
Super day out to the Muiron Islands today. We did Jaws first and were treated to a tawny nurse shark and a big loggerhead turtle in addition to all of the zillions of fish darting around the colourful corals. It was one of those perfect dives.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Our second dive was at Keyhole and again we were in for a special treat...an eagle ray joined us! There were also multitudes of angelfish, bannerfish, moorish idols and other beautiful reef fish. A nice sized painted cray peeked out from deep in a hole.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
Snorkelling at Turtle Bay was incredible with a light current, blue water for miles and so many fish and turtles it was hard to keep track!
A simply perfect day out.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Our second dive was at Keyhole and again we were in for a special treat...an eagle ray joined us! There were also multitudes of angelfish, bannerfish, moorish idols and other beautiful reef fish. A nice sized painted cray peeked out from deep in a hole.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
Snorkelling at Turtle Bay was incredible with a light current, blue water for miles and so many fish and turtles it was hard to keep track!
A simply perfect day out.
Whale Shark report - Wednesday 29 April, 2009
Crystal clear, warm blue water and so many whale sharks! We swam with six different whale sharks today and each one was incredible. They were swimming slowly, right at the surface and a couple of them were actively feeding.
We dived at Nick's Lumps again and it seems the schools of surgeonfish are growing. There were also even more baitfish at the entrance to the swim through. The coolest creature today was an enormous remora swimming around, looking for something bigger than he was to hang out with!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
We dived at Nick's Lumps again and it seems the schools of surgeonfish are growing. There were also even more baitfish at the entrance to the swim through. The coolest creature today was an enormous remora swimming around, looking for something bigger than he was to hang out with!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
Dive report - Lighthouse Bay, Monday 27 April 2009
We're a little out of date order, but that's OK!
Blizzard Ridge was very active again today with hunting golden trevally (some huge) shooting through the renewed huge curtains of baitfish. Olive sea snakes were numerous as were the wobbegong sharks. There's also more teeny stuff being noticed like the two Hypselodoris maculosa nudibranchs that were each only about a centimeter long! There was also a loggerhead turtle hanging around.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's had some of the biggest white tip reef sharks we've seen in quite a while cruising around. Several mantis shrimp were out of their holes and scooting from one place to another, antennae waving. Octopus were changing colours and textures.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m; slightly milky
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Blizzard Ridge was very active again today with hunting golden trevally (some huge) shooting through the renewed huge curtains of baitfish. Olive sea snakes were numerous as were the wobbegong sharks. There's also more teeny stuff being noticed like the two Hypselodoris maculosa nudibranchs that were each only about a centimeter long! There was also a loggerhead turtle hanging around.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's had some of the biggest white tip reef sharks we've seen in quite a while cruising around. Several mantis shrimp were out of their holes and scooting from one place to another, antennae waving. Octopus were changing colours and textures.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m; slightly milky
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
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