Dive report - West Side Saturday 25 July 2009

Still a bit of swell running here in Exmouth, but the conditions were pretty nice on the surface with a blue sky, warm temperature and a late sea breeze.  And the Ningaloo Reef was rocking under the gentle waves. We did O's Wall first up and it was very active.  A green turtle with the most gorgeous shell was rammed up under a ledge, tucked in out of the current, while little blue wrasse attended to his shell.  Bright yellow trumpetfish hung upside down above the coral, twisting side to side and keeping an eye out for any potential tasty treats below them.  One trumpetfish was shadowing a medium sized cod as it hunted - very cool to watch.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: strong
SURGE: mild to moderate
DEPTH: 22m

Central Station's manta rays were awesome today. There were three huge mantas hanging out at one of them. They'd float in, hover, quiver their wings & open their gills, then drift off and get back in line. We watched them for ages as it's just so mesmerizing. The massive estuary cod we've been seeing here was hanging around again today and teensy juvenile sailfin catfish tumbled in big waves across the sand. Happy dive!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: mild to moderate
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m


Two adult humpback whales and a tiny 2m baby joined us while we were on the surface. They all came right up to the boat and had a big play just off the bow! It was incredible!!