Dive report - Exmouth Gulf Friday 26 June 2009

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.