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So much action at O's Wall today! Green turtles, huge potato cod getting cleaned, moray eels poking out from under rocks and 100s of bright yellow damsels bobbing in and out of the staghorn corals. We saw four different species of angelfish plus two different juvenile species. Too much to remember - the fish life was wonderful!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 24m
Central Station had all of its usual fish life today plus some very cool bigger creatures. Another enormous potato cod was cruising along the reef, checking everything out and then drifting off into the distance. A good sized green turtle relaxed on the reef and a very large grey reef shark cruised up and down the reef, coming into sight several times throughout the dive. We had manta rays, too. One group of divers had a manta all to themselves for over 15 minutes - just watching it gracefully circle them over and over!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
DIVER BITES JULY CONTEST starts tomorrow - don't forget to Follow or Subscribe so you don't miss out!
We're giving you all a little head's up and time to prepare for our next Diver Bites Contest starting July 1st. Get out your ID books, refresh those internet links and put your thinking caps on!
We're going to put up a group of creature images from our recent dives and all you need to do to win is tell us the name of each one. To make it even better, we're giving bonus points so you can win extra goodies so subscribe or click Follow this Blog at the top...you don't want to miss out!
Check back on Wednesday for the full scoop!
Friday's dive rocked so much we just couldn't stay away so headed back to Bundegi Bommies today. Conditions were very good again and the fish life was crazy!
Big schools of sweetlips, threadfin pearl perch, snapper, fusiliers, goatfish...they were under ledges, between bommies, on top of coralheads and hanging in the blue. Juveniles were also abundant from the teeniest baby angelfish to packs of red & yellow goatfish to shining silver streaks of fusiliers swimming a million miles an hour to the next outcrop - it was like Creche Gone Wild!
A couple of olive sea snakes, a wobbegong shark and a few turtles added some big guy stuff but our best sight of the day was...
...
...a dugong!! At first he was just a big shadow, then the tail fluke came into view as we swam to get closer and then the dugong turned so we got a lovely side view of his cute smile! We could hear squeaking and whistling through most of the dive so it was a real treat to get to see the source.
WATER TEMP: 21-22C
VISIBILITY: 10-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m
Wow, what an awesome day again! We snorkelled with five different whale sharks today. Stumpy made an appearance and hung out with us for ages - we love this whale shark, he is just the coolest ever! Our other whale sharks ranged from a small and curious 3.5m guy to just over 6m. A very nice variety indeed.
Every one of the five was swimming nice and slowly so we were able to spend a nice relaxing time with them.
Humpback whales were moving north at a good clip most of the day but we did find several who were taking a more leisurely approach to the migration so we followed along with them as they rolled, sprayed and checked things out.
We stopped at the 18m Mooring for a snorkel and the fish life was great. Stacks of parrotfish, butterflyfish and angelfish added ever-changing colours to the seascape, while big bullrays hung out in the sandy areas. Big sailfin catfish patrolled the reef edges while the smaller stripey juveniles tumbled over each other in never-ending balls of movement.
Bundegi Bommies were calling to us to come visit for a nice long dive so we obliged yesterday for the first time in over a month. Conditions couldn't have been nicer above or below...except the temperature could have been a little bit higher! The Gulf is colder than our other sites in winter and warmer in summer...it's amazing how dramatically different a couple of degrees can be.
There was so much on this site that I don't know where to start! An enormous bull ray - wing span easily 6 feet - was nosed under one of the big bommies and was completely disinterested in us. He stayed there for almost the entire dive, only swimming off when one of the plentiful olive sea snakes came down and started bothering him! He swam off with the sea snake riding right along on his back.
Speaking of olive sea snakes, they were mating today! Zooming around, twisting and curling their bodies together, rolling through the water - the action was fast and furious. I'm not sure the female was nearly as interested in the male as after taking him on a merry chase, she zipped out from under a ledge and left him confused and wondering where she'd gone. He then swam out from under the ledge and straight into the side of my buddy's fin. Hilarious!
Lots of colourful nudibranchs, fish of all shapes, sizes and colours, wobbegong sharks, moray eels, bright soft corals feeding, pretty batfish waiting for us on the mooring line - fabulous dive!
WATER TEMP: 21-22C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none; started to pick up as we were ascending
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m
Normally we try to add a photo showing something we haven't actually mentioned, but the sea snakes were just too cool not to share.
We'd barely left the mooring today for our Whale Shark Adventure before we were greeted by the first humpback whales of the day. A small group was cruising north making a great show of surfacing for a breath, then dipping under the rolling sea with a flash of their tails. It was a great humpback whale day as not only did we see them steadily for the whole time but we also had a couple breaching! It's incredible how high their splashes go when those enormous bodies hit the water!
Three seems to be our lucky number and we had three different whale sharks again today. All of them were cooperative and we had multiple nice long swims with each one. It was cool as again we had a very nice size range - 3m to 7m. The smaller ones still seem to more curious and personable, often turning to check out what all the commotion is about and coming in nice and close to the boat. Today our big 7m guy was also pretty interested in us and you could see him really having a good look. They were all feeding and our mid-sized shark did some great wide open mouth posing for us.
During the day we also had dolphins playing around the boat and we snorkeled with a huge oceanic manta ray. Yellow and silver-green trumpetfish, big cods, sailfin catfish and awkward looking barramundi cods kept us company as we snorkelled a beautiful site on the Ningaloo Reef.
One of clients said "This is better than the African Safari!" High praise indeed!
Love Shack was rocking today with millions of fish darting here and there and then all trying to get as close to the reef as possible as the current started to pick up. Their shimmering and swaying made it look like the entire reef structure was moving! All of the usual suspects - octopus, moray eels, anemonefish, rankin cod, potato cod, coral trout, butterflyfish, angelfish - were keeping our eyes occupied when we started to feel vibrations in our chests. And whale songs echoed in our ears. It was an incredible, all senses experience. When we got back on the boat, the skipper told us that the humpback whales had startled him by surfacing not 5m from the boat! Turns out they were directly above us - no wonder it was such a powerful feeling!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: started as slight but picked up to strong
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 35m
Central Station was much gentler to us and many of the fish were taking advantage of the conditions to hang out a few feet above the reef and gently sway in the surge. A big turtle had found a cozy spot and was tucked in having a snooze, barely even opened his eyes to look at us. One school of threadfin pearl perch were more active than usual, jockeying for position with each other over and over - their silver bodies looked like a waterfall as the top fish tried to move down and bottom fish spread out then rose to the top. It's not behaviour we see very often from them and it was mesmerizing to watch. Alyson found an awesome anemone off in the sand all by itself - expect for the roughly 100 Clarkii anemonefish inhabiting it! From the teeniest little guys who are so small you can barely see their markings to very large adults, this anemone was full!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 5m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 17m
Wow, another fantastic day on Exmouth Diving Centre's Whale Shark Adventure filled with the Big Three - humpback whales, whale sharks and manta rays!
We snorkelled with three different whale sharks today ranging from 3m to 7m. Our 7m guy was HUGE - so big around! Obviously very well fed :) All of the whale sharks were feeding today again and they were nice and slow so we had multiple, pretty cruisey relaxed swims with each of them. As we were swimming along with one of our whale sharks, a tiger shark joined us for a few minutes - well under the whale shark and us - his stripes dazzling to watch as the sun bounced off them. It was such an awesome day again - the whale sharks were just perfect!
We also had one of the best manta ray experiences so far this season! We swam with them for almost a whole hour! They were feeding, rolling, coming back around to check us out, chasing each other - fantastic!
Humpback whales were again numerous and we watched them track up the reef. A group of three were swimming in synch, each rise to the surface and big blow perfectly timed together.
We just can't pull ourselves away from the great conditions and amazing marine life - humpbacks, manta rays, dolphins, turtles - we're experiencing down the West Side so we headed south for our full day tour today.
First up was Three Fins and it was glorious with clear blue water, stacks of fish and tons of action. Octopus were abundant and entertaining. A huge potato cod relaxed at a cleaning station for a while and then wandered off to sit at the top of the reef so he could keep an eye on everything. A curious white tip reef shark followed the divers around for part of the dive before plopping himself down in the sand.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
Second dive was at Nick's Lumps and this was a dive of big things! Manta rays were circling the site so we got to see them a few times during the course of the dive and a green turtle with a beautiful shell kept us company for a little bit. White tip reef sharks were exploring ledges and holes, much more active than usual. There were a lot of cod - rankin, coral, honeycomb, estuarine - and some of the bigger fish were pretty territorial, aggressively chasing their smaller cousins off the patch of reef they'd chosen.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
We snorkeled at Bommie Central and it was covered in fast moving fish. Big green parrotfish munched loudly on the coral and sailfin catfish gleefully kicked up sand as we tried to get closer. Humbugs and colourful damsels seem to have doubled in number, including lots of very small ones. Beautiful!
Fantastic manta rays today!
We dropped in with a group of four manta rays who seemed to be playing an exuberant game of Chasey with each other. They swam off, then decided to come back to us to see why we couldn't keep up! Then they circled us and played right underneath us for ages - it was definitely a superior manta ray encounter!
The humpbacks today were in cruising mode so we motored along with them, watching them blow high sprays before languidly sinking a few feet below the surface only to pop up again 50m further along the reef. Beautiful!
Our divers got to visit one of my personal favourite sites today and it was wonderful! The Love Shack was busy with octopus walking over the reef, peeking out of holes and putting on a psychedelic show of colours & textures. A huge potato cod was curious and came in quite close. Moray eels were abundant and very cool dancing banded cleaner shrimp jitterbugged on ledges.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 30m
Central Station had a beautiful manta ray gliding through the cleaning station and also cruising casually along the reef. Tiny nudibranchs in a great variety of colours were out and about, while more of the very small dice-like boxfish bobbed around. It was a very nice dive today!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
OK, I know we've been gushing about our Whale Shark Adventures a lot this season what with our beautiful blue water most days, multiple whale sharks to ourselves, long swims and fabulous encounters but we just can't seem to stop! And it seems like every other day we're getting something really special happen that causes us to gush more - Monday was one of the best yet.
We started with a nice dive on Central Station where we watched all of the usual suspects including dolphins, bull rays, blue spotted stingrays, eels, scorpionfish, threadfin pearl perch. There were also lots of big sailfish catfish foraging in the sand all along the bottom edge of the reef.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Then it was off to the whale sharks! We swam with three different whale sharks throughout the day. We had another very large 8m whale shark hanging out with us and the other two were just a bit smaller. They were all very cooperative and we had excellent multiple long swims.
Although we had awesome whale sharks, the favourite experience of the whole day was snorkelling with a group of four manta rays chasing each other. doing fly-bys next to us as we watched from the surface and barrel-rolling right underneath us. Not impressive enough? How about the mom and bub humpback whales that swam right under us as we were with the mantas??? WOW - a definitely unique experience that none of us expected!
Later in the day we also got to hang out with some humpbacks on the surface and then another fabulous unexpected encounter - a pod of 200+ spinner dolphins! They played in the bow, jumped the wake and generally seemed to have a great time playing around the boat.
Fantastic, amazing, stupendous day!
Here's a little low-res video of our mantas & humpbacks just to rub it in!
The Floats was active with schooling fish passing back and forth over the reef fingers again. We also have a return to really pretty deep blue water after a few days of slightly greyer blues. A good sized school of 40 or so pilot fish topped our list of cool things seen followed closely by an enormous moray eel waving from his hole. We haven't seen this huge moray here before, so hopefully he's moved in for a while!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: mild to moderate
DEPTH: 16m
Central Station had more cool scorpionfish covering the reef. We also found the complete opposite moray eel to the one from dive one - he was so teensy, none of the divers had ever seen such a tiny one before. Octopus were abundant and a little less shy than they were the other day. We had a green turtle come and check us out and trumpetfish shadowing cod as they hunted. Favourite find today was another small critter - a little blue boxfish buzzing in and out of the coral heads, too cute!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Big schools were the name of the game today at the Floats. There must have been at least 100 trevally cruising by in one school and several schools of 30 or so individuals were dotted here and there. A school of dark silver batfish outlined in bright yellow bobbed up and down the side of one canyon and many spotted sweetlips pivoted at the top of the reef in the surge.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: moderate to strong
DEPTH: 16m
Central Station was a camouflaged critter hunter's dream today. Scorpionfish were everywhere and we saw four or five different colour variations. A couple of different kinds of moray eels peeked out from holes in the reef and octopus tried a wide variety of textures and colours to try to escape notice. Our favourite creature was a massive black bullray who was missing most of his tail.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 5m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 15m
Labyrinth was first up for us and conditions topside were pretty nice. There was tons of activity all over the site, but the western edge definitely had an unbelievable number of fish including several huge schools. White tip reef sharks were zooming everywhere, coming in very close before abruptly turning and circling around again. Turtles put the white tip reef shark numbers to shame, though. I stopped counting at 17 different turtles! The big school of big batfish went from the bottom almost to the top, with the ones on the bottom rubbing their sides along the sand then rising up to let the next group in for a scratch. It was pretty sandy and the visibility varied a lot throughout the site so taking photos was a challenge, but sightseeing was awesome!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 4-10m
CURRENT: slight to moderate
SURGE: moderate to strong
DEPTH: 12m
Gulliver's was up next and there were lots of big cods swimming around and laying on the sand. Some of the ones on the bottom were so covered in sand you could barely see their spots! The white tip reef sharks here weren't interested in us at all and wouldn't allow us as close as normal. All of the anemonefish on the exposed anemones were hunkered in tight but the pink anemonefish in the hole were out and about as normal. A mid-sized barracuda was hanging out on the surface when we pulled up to the mooring and he just hung out there for the entire time we were on the dive. Not sure if he was sick or just relaxing.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 4-8m
CURRENT: moderate to strong
SURGE: strong
DEPTH: 12m
Still a big swell, but the Floats didn't have any current today, just surge. We had a manta ray do a leisurely swim-by but he didn't stick around to show off. Big groups of sweetlips huddled at the top of the reef and drifted back and forth in the surge as if they were attached to each other, always in the same formation. It was pretty cool to just glide with them. Tons of bullseyes shielded the entrances and exits to the swim-throughs and made shimmery curtains along almost the entire edge of the reef. The bright blue water made everything stand out and it was a very pretty dive.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: moderate to strong
DEPTH: 16m
Central Station was next up and it was chilly! We had surprisingly low visibility on this dive site, too. There was next to no current or surge, but the stirred up sand and the tremendous amount of food in the water really cut the viz. On the upside, it seems like every cod, coral trout, trevally, barracuda, parrotfish, squirrelfish, angelfish and butterflyfish was out and about doing something - the reef was crazily active! You just had to get pretty close to appreciate it. There were also about 10 zillion big, black sea cucumbers around - we've never seen so many scattered over the reef before.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 2-5m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 16m
A big swell was hammering the reef so we knew we were in for a little more current and surge than usual today. Our first dive was at O's Wall and most of the little colourful reef fish were hunkered down inside coral heads, under ledges or as close to the reef as they could get! The bigger guys, like trevally and parrotfish, were more adventurous riding the surge and seeminly oblivious to the current. Our best sighting on this dive was a massive loggerhead turtle swimming out from the reef, along the divers and then off into the distance.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: strong
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 22m
Central Station had a weaker current running and all of the usual suspects were going about their daily business. Several large rays were buried in the sand, only their googly eyes giving them away as the sand had drifted in so deep over them that their outlines were completely obscured. A lone olive sea snake came over to us for some company before deciding we weren't interesting enough and heading into the reef to snuffle around for a late morning snack. One of our dive groups hung out at one of the cleaning stations with a giant manta ray for almost the whole dive!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: moderate
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 16m
Another magnificent day whale sharking! We began our day by getting ready for a dive, but then got distracted by a very young humpback whale - he was still grey - doing huge leaps and splashes a little further up the coast. So we cruised up to watch him cavort for 30 minutes before he decided he'd had enough and just starting swimming peacefully. He was awesome to watch.
We decided to head back down south and do the dive later in the afternoon so we could start looking for whale sharks before the planes got in the air. Along the coast we saw lots of turtles, more humpback whales then a group of manta rays. Of course we had to stop and have a snorkel with this active group of four manta rays circling and weaving their way through a food rich lane. After the mantas, we resumed looking for whale sharks with two people up on the roof of the boat to get a better vantage point.
Our skipper, Craig, extended his winning streak of finding whale sharks before the plane does and we had already had two good swims before the first plane reported spotting more sharks further south. We ended up swimming with eight different whale sharks today, including two with tags. One of the tagged sharks was our old friend, Stumpy - he was by far the mellowest of all the sharks today and swam so slowly that we were able to change sides easily and even stop to have a little chat about how awesome he was without getting left behind!
After swimming our hearts out with so many whale sharks, we headed back north along the coast to do our dive. There were quite a few whales keeping us entertained on the drive back but none were as exuberant as the first one!
Central Station was suffering from the huge swell that's currently around so the visibility was lower than it has been, but there was a lot of fish action. Sometimes we think the predators like the lower visibility for hunting! The best part of the dive was at the very end when we were joined by a very friendly manta ray who swept around and over us for more than five minutes. He'd glide in so close we could feel the water rolling off his wings. Gorgeous!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 16m
Here's a little video of one of our whale sharks taken on the FlipVideo camera that we have for hire. Pretty awesome for a camera smaller than a deck of cards! Ask us how you can hire this or one of our other cameras for your tours!
Wow, the season has zoomed by so fast and we haven't introduced all of our crew yet! We're getting back to the introductions with one of the most important members of Exmouth Diving Centre - Davo.
He's multi-talented and in charge of all things that float, have wheels or require mechanical attention. Dave also has his Master Class V skipper's ticket so takes his turn driving our boats for our Whale Shark Adventure, Ningaloo Reef diving, Manta & Humpback Explorers and Turtle Tours.
Dave isn't just about the machines. You won't meet a nicer, friendlier or more genuine guy anywhere so he also does a lot of our promotion both day to day locally, inter & intra state and overseas at dive shows such as Boot in Germany.
He's been diving since the 80s and holds a PADI Master Instructor rating along with a dozen or so Specialty Instructor ratings. He's dived all over the Ningaloo Reef, the Coral Sea & Great Barrier Reef, Byron Bay, Cozumel, Perth, Rottnest and Christmas Island. Lately most of his diving is fun diving and one of his passions is free diving. He loves to get out for a spear now and then so we're often supplied with delicious fresh fish for dinner (I'm spoiled since he's my hubby!)
Dave has been president of Whale Sharks WA Inc for over four years and is extremely active in working towards the best policies to protect the whale sharks, grow the tourism opportunities and provide the best possible information to visitors and those interested in the mighty whale sharks. His position takes him outside of just a single industry member so he works for the greater good of the entire Ningaloo Reef area.
When he's not wearing one of his many work hats, he's working on his beach buggy, rebuiling boats or just heading out to the water for some relaxing fishing - often with our two Rhodesian Ridgebacks along (so not many fish get caught!)
Whale sharks everywhere! Our plane saw over 20 and we spent the day jumping in and out of the water with a nice number of them. Almost all of the whale sharks we saw today were just under 5m and the smaller they were the more curious, it seems.
The little ones like to bank around and swim right back at the snorkellers, forcing us to try to swim backwards to get out of their way! They also like to circle us and round us up into a small group; it's great fun as they do all the work while we just float along watching!
We started the day by snorkelling with some gorgeous manta rays who were taking advantage of all of the food the swell has kicked up. We also had a huge pod of dolphins playing just off the boat.
Could it get better? Yes! The surprise guest of the day was a big hammerhead that joined us while we were snorkelling along. So cool and so rare!!
We did our dive in the afternoon after all of the excitement of manta rays, dolphins, hammerhead shark and whale sharks. We stopped at the Coral Gardens and thoroughly enjoyed all of the smaller, very brightly coloured fishes. It was a great end to a lovely day.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 6m
Enormous swell kept us inside the reef for our two dives today but the dive sites sure spoiled us for variety and numbers of fish! Coral Gardens was first up with its beautiful coral formations and hundreds of staghorn outcrops - all filled with black & white humbugs. Nudibranchs have been busy laying eggs and their beautiful bright red, pink and orange egg spirals adorned rocks, coral outcrops and big shells stuck in crevices. Usually it's the big things that catch our attention but today it was one of the smallest baby reef sharks we've ever seen that was the gem of the dive!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: mild to moderate
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 6m
Ranger Bommies is always teeming with damsels in a huge rainbow of colours, brightly coloured parrotfish and deep red-orange Tomato Anemonefish. Today we also had stingrays of all sorts all over the site - huge bull rays, big roughback rays and bright blue spotted lagoon rays. Two banded sea snakes checked us out before resuming their forage for morsels in the deep cracks of the bommies and a big green turtle came right up to us, looked us over, decided we were unworthy and pointedly swam very slowly away from us - he was a total character!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 120m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
We've slipped on keeping the blog updated recently so please forgive us!
There are still lots and lots of whale sharks around every day, the mantas are plentiful and the humpback whales are everywhere - we'll get back to better reporting this week!
The diving has been great until today when conditions were not great and we canned the dives after reaching the bottom and finding no visibility at all. The wind and swell are expected to start dropping overnight so we'll be out there tomorrow, enjoying all the cool stuff...stay tuned!
Gorgeous clear blue water at the Floats for our first dive of the day. The swim throughs were filled with baitfish and we had to sweep our arms in front of us in places so we could see where we were going. A big potato cod hung out above the site for the whole dive but wasn't interested in coming down; even at a distance he looked larger than any of us! Manta rays cruised off the back of the site. A huge school of convict surgeons completely covered the reef and roiled over each other to the next peak, their yellow bodies flashes vividly against the deep blue water. The biggest ever eagle ray with an amazing pattern on his back buzzed several of the divers; he was so huge that at first they thought he was a massive manta ray!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 16m
Central Station had some very cool treats for us. A school of at least 100 stripey pufferfish greeted us at the base of the mooring line before turning as one and drifting off. There were quite a few turtles including a very large guy who only has three flippers - his front right one is missing and is just a stump. Doesn't seem to bother him too much at all! The lovely blue water really made the small sea fans and soft coral outcrops stand out in their purples, reds, oranges and yellows. Beautiful!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15-20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
The first day of our superb Manta & Humpback Explorer tour was awesome. Humpbacks greeted us as soon as we came through the passage and we watched some in the distance until we came across a huge manta ray to snorkel with.
He was about 4m from wingtip to wingtip and just gorgeous. Solid white belly and solid black back - classic manta ray. He was feeding in crystal clear water so we'd snorkel with him for a few meters then simply lay on the surface watching him until he got to the end of his run. Then he'd bank around right onto the same path, open his mouth W-I-D-E and swim right past us again. AWESOME.
After we were tuckered out from lazing on the surface with our manta ray, we hopped back on the boat for some snacks and to cruise with some more humpback whales. A group of three adopted us and hung out for over an hour. Just resting on the surface or swimming slowly for a short distance or diving down, waving their tails before surfacing just in front of us with a big loud blow again. Magical day on the water.
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Again with the humpback whales today! We started seeing them as soon as we came out of the passage and kept seeing them the whole time we were on the boat all morning!
We dived at the Floats first and the swim throughs were packed with baitfish. As we'd emerge they'd sparkle like a million fairy lights. The water was so clear and blue today all of the colours POPPED. Huge schools of bullseyes hung at every ledge, some of the biggest sweetlips we've ever seen kept watch from lofty perches high on the bommie and sleek bright yellow trumpetfish stood on their heads, turning 360 degrees ever so slowly. On the surface, over our happy babbling about all we'd seen, we heard the call "Look west now! Quick" as two humpback whales moseyed past us not 30m away! WOW!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 30+m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 16m
More humpback whales swam along spouting as we headed back north to Central Station. The water here was even clearer and bluer and you could see everything for miles underwater. It made everything feel like you could reach out and touch it, but the fish would actually be dancing 20m away. A friendly manta ray came in to check out the divers before starting a slow circuit down the reef, around the cleaning station and back again. Each time it would pause for a few moments the cleaners would dart up and give the manta their full attention. With a flick of its wings the manta would send them scurrying back to the safety of their ledges while the manta banked to start the process all over again.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 30+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Central Station was buzzing today! We had a great manta just hanging out, doing a straight line, then banking and repeating in the other direction. The snorkellers saw a few mantas doing the same thing in a single spot, too! We also had a lazy turtle, three sharks, a million octopus and zillions of fish. OK, maybe we exaggerate a teensy bit but the reef was going off today!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Unbelievable how many humpback whales were around today. They were everywhere we went. Most of them were simply cruising north, blowing every now and again, but some were popping their heads out and waving tails around.
We had two awesome whale sharks today. The cutest ever 2.5m little one who was curious and eager to check out what all the fuss was about. We could have just given him a big cuddle and taken him home with us he was so sweet! Our other whale shark was a 6m whale shark who's definitely been eating well - it was bigger around than some of the longer sharks we've seen this season! Again, just amazing to be able to snorkel with these guys.
First up was the Floats and with no surge or current today, everything was hanging in suspended animation. The little groups of sweetlips hung almost motionless at the top of the bommies as we swam past, completely disinterested in the divers. A few turtles pecked at the reef before drifting away to the next peak or ascending for a breath and some sun. Two very cool, if odd looking, barramundi cod played a game of hide and seek with us - they'd peek out, let us get almost close then pop back under their ledge, before reappearing from another exit. I have to admit that the barras won the game! Manta rays cruised along the surface, feeding and taking no notice of the divers & their bubbles. As we came to the surface, two humpback whales were cruising past not 30m from where we were bobbing!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Humpback whales escorted to dive two at Central Station. Manta rays were circling at the cleaning station and a few big mackerel were patrolling just on the edge of vision. A big green turtle was tucked down under a bommie having a snooze while small butterflyfish and cleaner wrasse scrubbed his shell. Eels, shrimps and little crabs were hiding in every hole and outcrop of staghorn coral. We also had pygmy manta rays and "normal" manta rays!! It was a neat dive!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! No wait, that's wrong! It should be...
Whale sharks and manta rays and humpback whales and turtles and dolphins, oh YEAH!
Yes, another fabulous day out on our Whale Shark Adventure with multiple whale sharks checking us out and spending lots and lots of time just cruising along next to us. We also had the pleasure of snorkeling with manta rays and watching humpback whales journey up the coast, some coming in pretty close to the boat for a peek!
We dived at Wobby's Wall and saw just everything: trevally, barracuda, big cod, little cod, anemeonefish, turtles, rays, parrotfish...excellent dive with just so much to see everywhere!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
Stellar day with out of this world clear conditions everywhere we went!
It was another multiple whale shark day today on our Whale Shark Adventure here in Exmouth including another fantastic unique encounter! Our first whale shark was a big boy coming it at about 8m. He was huge - really wide and really rotund.
As we were swimming with one whale shark, a second whale shark came up behind the snorkellers! The second shark rocked back and forth, swam straight for the first whale shark as we all scrambled to get out of the way, and then they both kind of circled us for a bit until the second one veered casually to the right and simply wandered off into the blue! Breathtaking!
Our last whale shark of the day was another big one and he was very content to just slowly meander along. He was extremely easy to keep up with and let us stay with him for ages.
We ended our day with a dive at Coral Island. This is another of our new sites this season (see Cam's Canyon from Sunday 7 June) and it's filled with all manner of fishes & marine creatures. We had turtles, rays, sharks, schooling fish, baitfish, angelfish...it was a very active site and the hard coral formations are incredible, too.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
Beverly Hills was crazy with action today again. Numerous cod were in fighter plane attack mode and dive bombing the big school of baitfish over and over again. Sparkly remnants from their frenzied feeding made you feel like there was a disco ball hanging over the site. The wobbegong sharks were much more mellow - three of them were hunkered down in the same hole together. A lovely variety of reef and pelagic fish covered the whole area. It was a bit of visual overload at times!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 22m
Nick's Lumps had lots of hunter action, too. Coral trout and various cod species were checking out their next meal while small schools of trevally and barracuda silently waited for an opportunity while they hung in the blue. A green turtle checked us out and white tip reef sharks ignored us. We also had moblows (pygmy mantas)! These little guys are so amazing - they fly in formation and it's a truly impressive spectacle.
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
On the way back to the mooring, a humpback whale breached THREE times not more than 30m from the back of the boat. WOW!
We cannot drag ourselves away from diving on the West Side right now so took our full day tour a little further south for two awesome sites, one brand new!
Milyering Wall is always good and today it was fantastic. Some of the largest coral trout ever were showing off their bright blue spotted orange bodies - blinding in the bright sun & clear waters! Groups of trevally patrolled the edge of the reef and every crevice and swim through was filled with baitfish and small cods. Batfish bobbed up and down along the site. Best sight today? A big group of moblos - pygmy mantas - cruising past! Woohooo!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 26m
We're always looking for more dive sites to add to our repertoire and we found an awesome one with help from one of our pilots - Cam's Canyon. The site is a collection of incredible valleys, lumps, gullies, ledges and other reef structures. It comes all the way up to 5m and the snorkellers had a stunning time, too. The hard corals here are simply outstanding in their variety, size and number. The marine life is outstanding, too. A massive Queensland Grouper, a chunky bronze whaler shark, manta rays, turtles and wobbegong sharks were just some of the biggest creatures on the day. This site has already become a favourite and we can't wait to head back!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 30+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 22m
A large school of manta rays cavorted on the surface as we were cruising the reef - their wings flicking out of the water as they'd bank in steep turns to suck up more of the rich takings from the tide line they were in. Humpback whales were everywhere, their blows creating miniature rainbows. A stunner of a day.
Another fabulous Whale Shark Adventure here on the Ningaloo Reef! We started with a scuba dive and snorkel at Central Station. All of our expected fishes and marine creatures were waiting to greet us, including more sailfin catfish than we could count. A loggerhead turtle had his eyes half closed in ecstasy as he rubbed his shell back and forth under a ledge and a cool eagle ray was out over the sand. Some of the divers were lucky enough to see the tail end of a very large shark just before it disappeared into the distance.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Snorkelling today was awesome. We got to snorkel with four different whale sharks, including one super big guy coming in at 9m who decided to swim lazy circles around us while we scrambled to keep our distance! We spent a ton of time in the water with whale sharks, half surfing up and down the swells like we were on an amusement park ride.
We also played with a group of 25 manta rays - though we could only keep five or six in sight at any one time it seemed! They are always so cool - very animated and sometimes quite curious. Totally not bothered by those of us who are more uncoordinated than they are - often it looks like they're showing off with their easy movements!
And then there were dolphins playing as we cruised back to the mooring. Fabulous June day!
Whoops, how could I miss the report from this day?! We did the Floats first and it was fabulously active again. The two best sights on the day:
1 -a big loggerhead turtle mimicing a rock and then languidly lifting himself up and oh so slowly swimming away.
2 - a grey nurse shark checking out the top of the site!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m
Central Station had all of it's usual suspects: turtles, rays, big cods, eels, schools of fish, anemonefish & procelain crabs, parrotfish. We also had a very inquisitive olive sea snake trying to figure out what we were and what we were doing there. A good dive for seeing a lot of different fish, for sure!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m
Boy is the West Side rocking! We're taking advantage of it while we can as some of these sites are only comfortably accessible for a few months each year. Dive one was at the Floats and we didn't know where to look first! Schools of sweetlips hung out at the peak of one of the hills, a big school of surgeonfish tumbled over the side of the hill into one of the canyons before repeating it on the next lump and baitfish choked every nook & cranny. Two top sights today were - a manta ray and an eagle ray that swam by the divers!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Central Station was slightly quieter but there was a terrific variety of creatures along our dive and most of them were content to just hang out with us without swimming away. The cod population here is growing and we couldn't go 10m without seeing more of these big guys. Best sight on this dive - massively huge loggerhead turtle. Hard to believe how big these guys can get!
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
We couldn't resist trying our luck at Central Station for the dive today and we were treated to all the usual suspects plus a couple of very big guys. An enormous bull ray - what are these guys eating this season?! - was laying quietly in the sand. As we watched him, he'd puff a bit more sand over himself or roll his wings a little bit. He was still there when we came back to check over 20 minutes later so clearly he was enjoying his naptime! Another cool sighting was a very large estuary cod. When we first saw him, he was just hanging around, doing a little cicular circuit over the reef. On the way back to the achor line we saw him again and he had his mouth wide open with cleaner wrasse darting up from the reef to have a scrub.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 17m
We had two whale sharks of opposite size today - one enormous 8m+ (some of the crew reckon he was over 9m!) and one small 3.5m whale shark. The smaller one was out wide in pretty deep water and as he'd rise up on the swell he'd almost disappear from view until the swell passed! The big guy was up closer to the reef in shallow water and he stayed with us for a good long time.
Two of our clients - Carlo & Marilena - submitted some of their photos to Ecocean's Whale Shark Photo ID Library and have already been notified that our large whale shark from the tour is a new sighting to these waters! He's now Whale Shark #A-537 and you can see photos from their encounter by clicking. How cool is that?
We also swam with manta rays today again, including one stunning almost all black manta ray. Awesomeness!
Another fabulous Whale Shark Adventure today! Central Station was buzzing with life including manta rays, turtles and huge cods. A small group of inquisitive bannerfish decided to follow along behind some of the divers, sneaking in close to the bubbles before flitting away again. Some very small octopus were doing their best to stay hidden in their holes - one day they'll learn to stop moving and changing colours when they want to stay hidden!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
A couple of our whale sharks today were swimming a little bit faster than we have gotten used to, but they weren't too fast...you just knew you'd had a pretty good workout once you got back on the boat for the next drop! We also had a nice mellow whale shark who kept an easy pace, which was a nice alternative.
Humpback whales came in pretty close to us so we got some nice views of them as they head north on their annual migration.
Another really nice day!
Our twice weekly full day tour took us off the West Side of the Cape from Tantabiddi today as we determined that the diving and snorkelling conditions would be better than heading north to the Muiron Islands. It turned into an astoundingly great day!
Beverly Hills was first up for diving and it was going off! A gargantuan school of baitfish was getting hammered by trevally, rankin cod, potato cod, estuary cod, snappers and the odd large mackerel zipping through. The swim throughs were packed with fish of all sizes and white tip reef sharks buzzed along the top of the site. The coolest thing on this site for many of the divers was a group of 9 large bullrays just lazing around in the sand. They weren't very active, but they covered a lot of ground since each of them was huge!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 22m
We had a little reef snorkel on Three Fins before doing our second dive of the day and as we were snorkelling along, what should pass us by? Humpback whales! They are incredible to see effortlessly glide by you while you're just hanging out on the surface!
Three Fins rocked underwater, too. A huge estuary cod and a big estuary cod were having a discussion about whose territory this was - very neat to watch! Manta rays cavorted above us, right near the surface - their silhouettes outlined by streaming sunbeams were pretty spectacular. In places along the reef the baitfish were so thick you could barely see where you were going. Yellow & silver-green flutemouths hung vertically along one wall of the site.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
Before heading back inside the reef for more snorkeling we took a little detour - to watch hundreds of spinner dolphins speeding along in front of the boat! Amazing!
We did another snorkel at Coral Bommies and the fish life there was outstanding, too. Quite a few larger than usual cods were patrolling the area while all of the usual colourful parrotfish, blue spotted rays, anemonefish, butterfly & angelfish went about their business.
An exceptional day out on the ocean!
We started our Whale Shark Adventure at Central Station for a dive and snorkel today. It was an overcast day which made things a little darker, but the water was very clear and blue anyway. Our best encounter on today's dive was swimming alongside a turtle who had a whole entourage of various fish cleaning his shell as he swam. Those fish stayed with him for what seemed like miles - when one would drop off, another would appear from no where. It was great fun to watch.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15-20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Multiple whale sharks let us swim multiple times with them again today. Our first whale shark was in very shallow water so we could see everything happening on the reef as we swam along! Later in the day we snorkeled with whale sharks out in jewel blue waters that really made their white markings POP. Another happy day!
Super day out! We of course had to check out Central Station for our dive on Ningaloo Reef and schools of fish were the order of the day. There were good sized school of threadfin pearl perch hanging in the blue on the edge of the reef and a large school of surgeonfish rolled over the reef in a nearly endless march. Some of the divers with good eyes managed to find the tiniest eel poking out of a hole and porcelain crabs were waving their mitts around from under their host anemones, hoping to catch dinner. We also had manta rays!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 16m
A gorgeous blue water day made for terrific snorkelling with the whale sharks on our Whale Shark Adventure. As has been the norm for almost this whole season, we had multiple whale sharks and multiple drops with most of them again today. Their spots and stripes really shimmered with the sunlight - it was gorgeous! Oh, wait, we said that already (but it's totally worth repeating!)
We got to watch some traveling humpbacks come very close to us with a group of three surfacing not more than 20m from the boat! And there were manta rays.
Like we said, gorgeous!
Blizzard Ridge was super active with more baitfish schools and more predator action again today. Not quite as much as back in April, but strikingly more than even a couple of days ago. Olive sea snakes were also really active, we didn't see any sleeping - only swimming to the surface and back or searching crevices with their tongues poking in and out. Superb fish life thick all over the site again today.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth was crazy with batfish and turtles today. There were a couple of mutantly huge batfish getting cleaned at the back of the site; one of them had three cleaner wrasse busily scrubbing away at one time! Lots of colourful nudibranchs were out and about - many of them not even pretending to blend in or hide.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 12m
It was a day of big things surrounded by beautiful colours out at the Muiron Islands today. We did Cod Spot first and our favourite find was a big shovelnose ray. He rose out of the sand, trailing a jet stream of debris then circled and swam carelessly down the reef a ways before settling on the sand again. They are such fascinating creatures to see with their funky noses sticking out! Wobbegongs and white tip reef sharks, tumbling schools of yellow convict surgeonfish and a couple of turtles were just a few of the other highlights from this very active dive site!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: very slight
DEPTH: 16m
We headed to the amazing colours of Whalebone for dive two. There were more parrotfish of every possible colour combination and every possible size covering the site. Honeycomb cod lined the walls of one of the swim throughs while a big potato cod hung out a few meters off the sand, keeping his googly eyes on the divers. Gorgeous dive!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
The snorkellers had a great time at both of the dive sites and then everyone enjoyed a leisurely drift through Turtle Bay. Turtles, rays, sharks, eels, anemonefish, bannerfish, butterflyfish...colour and action all around!
Another brilliant day with the whale sharks and on the Ningaloo Reef! We started once again at Central Station and were rewarded with manta rays on our dive. Blue spotted rays are everywhere at the moment and some of them have blue spots that glow so brightly they look electrified! A white tip reef shark was practicing for the Shark Olympic Sprints as he was zooming full speed back and forth across the top of the reef with no apparent goal in mind.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
In addition to the fabulous multiple swims with multiple whale sharks today, we also got to snorkel with a manta ray who charged right at us and then started doing barrel rolls for more than 10 minutes with us! There were also several humpback whales cruising up the reef and we stopped to watch them for a bit. Super day!
Gorgeous day! We started at Central Station and all of the colourful reef fish were darting to and fro, their bright colours sparkling in the streaming sunlight. We saw quite a few octopus, including one brave occy gliding across the reef, tentacles searching a safe path in front of him, colours & patterns flashing. A huge bull ray had buried himself so well in the sand that only the tip of his tail gave his hiding spot away.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m
Our whale sharks were excellent again. We had multiple sharks and multiple drops throughout the day so we all got a good workout even though most of the whale sharks were swimming along nice and gently. One was cruising underneath us at about 12m and then tipped his head up and came straight up to the surface to swim beside us. No matter how many times we see one of these behemoths rise from the depths it's always amazing!
We had some great humpback whales swimming along the reef and flicking their tails out, too. It was another great day!
We had such a great time on our dive sites yesterday that we did the same two again today. There's obviously something in the water as all of the big guys - cods, reef sharks, trevally - were super active. One white tip reef shark was zooming all over Blizzard pausing only briefly to snuffle in a hole then he'd shoot out and zoom around again. It was pretty neat to watch as usually they aren't quite this active!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's had a surprisingly strong current today. The schools of fish were loving it: they'd smoosh together, drift a little ways and then each fish would start wiggling its tail and they'd move back to where they were before. It was like watching the Mexican Wave at a football game! Lots of critters that normally hang under ledges and way back in holes - various cardinalfish, shrimps, eels - were venturing out a little further than normal, maybe to grab drifting snacks?
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: strong
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Beautiful day of diving in Lighthouse Bay today. We did Blizzard Ridge first and enjoyed all of the big schools of fish, the active cleaning stations and the colourful nudibranchs scattered everywhere. This sites ledges hide all sorts of cool creatures - our pair of banded pipefish are still there, wobbegong sharks were sound asleep under several bigger ledges and schools of bullseyes screened off others.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's had some cute turtles swimming around and every cleaning station had a line of waiting fish. Pink anemonefish were crazily swimming in and out of their anemones all over the site; not sure why they were so active today but it was cool to see them out in blue water! Several of the white tip reef sharks had big cobia hanging out with them today.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
