Dive report - West Side Wednesday 22 July 2009

Our full day tour was beautiful today.  We started at one of our new, and as yet unnamed, dive sites.  There is quite a big swell again and so we did have a good surge - we made the best of it by just relaxing and enjoying the roller coaster feel of being swept 10 feet one way, then whoosh 15 feet the other way while watching all of the small reef fishes only move a few inches!  This site has great reef formations with ledges, gullies and outcrops just filled with activity and marine life: eels, shrimps, turtles, trevally, butterflyfish, angelfish, parrotfish, anemones, small sea fans and whip corals.  We could spend hours and hours poking around here.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: moderate to strong
DEPTH: 18m

We tried to escape the swell by coming inside the reef for the second dive of the day at Ranger Bommies. There was a strong current on this site today. The whole site was covered in reef fish - pufferfish in groups, bright orange cods, squirrelfish, damsels and humbugs. Several types of stingrays hung out under the bommies and off in the sand, while a couple of small white tip reef sharks slowly swam around and around. Lots to see!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 7-9m
CURRENT: moderate to strong
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m