NEWS - Critter of the Day: Wobbies & new research

What a great response to our first Critter of the Day post yesterday!  Thanks for all the kind words and we're glad you enjoyed it.  Always feel free to leave your comments here on the blog, on Facebook or Twitter so more people can feel the love & connect with us!

Our most interesting response was from Adelaide shark ecologist Charlie Huveneer who sent us this request and asked us to pass it on to all of you (the bold print is ours):
Dear Diver,

I am a shark ecologist from Adelaide, South Australia who have been working on wobbegongs for the last 7 years. During this time, scientists from CSIRO (John Pogonoski and Peter Last), WA fisheries (Justin Chidlow) and myself have redescribed or described over 5 new species, including 4 in Western Australia. Recent work has also identified another potential new species of wobbegong found from Shark Bay to Broome/Ashmore Reef .

Unfortunately, we are finding it difficult to finalise the descriptions because of the small number of specimens available and the external similarities between these sharks. I was hoping that some of your divers might have taken photographs of any wobbegong species found in your area which might help us getting a better understanding of the speices occuring in Northern Western Australia. So that you know which species I’m talking about, I’ve attached a photo of the specimens we have. As you can see, some specimens look similar, while others look different. There is potential for all these sharks to be 1/2 species or maybe 4 different species.

Any photos/additional specimen would be greatly helpful!

In the hope that you will be able to provide some help,

Kindest regards,

Charlie





So if any of you have photos of wobbies, especially ones that seem to have fewer decorations around their mouths than our usual Tasseled Wobbegongs, please forward your images and information to Charlie (whose email address is on the photos above) or to us and we will be happy to forward them for you.

Please pass the link to this blog post on to your friends who may have dived here, too!

Critter of the Day: Wobbegong shark

Welcome to our first Critter of the Day post!  In this new addition to our blog we're going to show you some photos of a chosen creature, tell you a bit about it and let you know how likely it is to find one (or more!) during your time with Exmouth Diving Centre here on the Ningaloo Reef.

Sharks are always awesome to see on dives and we are lucky to have a great variety of them on our sites. One of the most popular sharks is the wobbegong. Tasseled Wobbegong Sharks (Euchrossorhinus dadypogon) are the most common on our dive sites, but we also see Banded Wobbegongs (Orectolobus ornatus and even the elusive Northern or Ward's Wobbegong (Orectolobus wardii on occasion. Wobbegongs can reach up to 3.5m in length and once they start to get long, they can also get quite broad in the head and fat in the tummy!

Wobbengongs are flat, very well camouflaged sharks that love to laze around in holes, under ledges and just right out on the reefscape. It's rare to see them swimming more than a few feet at a time so when we do find one swimming along in midwater it's a special treat.

Almost all of the dive sites that we visit during our half day tours (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) routinely have wobbegongs. It would be an unusual dive at Blizzard Ridge or the Labyrinth that we didn't see them.

We also see them at Bundegi in Exmouth Gulf and over on the West Side during Whale Shark Season. Fraggle Rock and Whalebone at the Muiron Islands (Wednesdays & Sundays) seem to attract more wobbegongs than some of our other sites there.

Wobbies can be very well hidden thanks to their markings so it's a good idea not to set your hand down on any reef structure, even the limestone areas, without making a careful check. They also love to hide out under ledges and behind big schools of glass or baitfish. It's quite easy to move under a ledge where you believe there's nothing there and come face to face with a wobbegong!

Our wobbegong sharks on the Ningaloo Reef tend not to be aggressive and it is possible to approach them quite closely,

but it is important to remember that they can be aggressive, that they have very sharp teeth & can "throw" their jaws out of their mouths AND they can bite their own tails so a respectful distance is always a good idea. A wobbie's bite can be very painful and they have a tendency not to let go once they latch on!

Often small shrimps, crabs and cleaner fish will be darting around on the back of resting wobbies so it's fun to sit for a moment and watch the other activity going on around the shark. On rare occasions nudibranchs may also be inching their way over slumbering wobbies!

Wobbegongs aren't seen everywhere in the world so they are yet another creature that makes diving on the Ningaloo Reef a special experience every day.

Dive report - Muiron Islands Wednesday 26 August 2009

Another outstanding trip across from Exmouth Marina to the Muiron Islands for our full day tour today. Humpback whales were cavorting all along our path.

We started at Cod Spot and it lived up to its name with all sizes and types of cods darting to and fro chasing mid morning snacks.  White tip reef sharks were patrolling the reef edge and sticking their noses in crevices - we haven't seen this much activity from them in quite a while.  Ningaloo Reef's endemic sailfin catfish seem to have produced a lot of babies this year...there are rolling balls of juveniles everywhere we looked.  A huge roughback relaxed in the sand and didn't pay any attention to us at all.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: moderate
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 16m

Whalebone was awesome again. This is such a colourful site and it is always teeming with fish of all sizes. Quite a few many spotted sweetlip were grouped together at the top of the site, just keeping an eye on things as the world passed them by. More white tip reef sharks were out and about here, but they weren't as active as they had been at Cod Spot. The gorgeous gorgonian fans were playing host to what seemed like countless small triplefins. A spotted barramundi cod kept us amused for ages playing hide and seek. Two great dives.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 8-12m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m

We enjoyed a leisurely snorkel in Turtle Bay after lunch and a bit of relaxing on the boat. Turtles, rays, sharks, parrotfish, eels...the snorkel site was really showing off today.

Dive report - Lighthouse Bay Monday 24 August 2009

What a gorgeous day for a cruise around the Nor'West Cape here on the Ningaloo Reef!  We started today at Tantabiddi and followed lots of whales north to our first dive site in Lighthouse Bay.  Blizzard Ridge was outstanding for fish life, even for this normally active site it was amazing.  Huge schools of fish, zooming white tip reef sharks, wobbegong sharks out and about, olive sea snakes everywhere, blue spotted rays tossing sand far and wide as wrasse and parrotfish got into the mess to find tasty tidbits. Schooling mackerel. And we had a gorgeous eagle ray! Fabulous dive!
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Labyrinth's batfish population has exploded again and we had schools of small & medium batfish, random small batfish handing out under ledges all by themselves and huge batfish at several cleaning stations. Octopus were putting on a disco show of colours and patterns wherever we looked and there were tons of colourful nudibranchs out and about, too. Green turtles were abundant, white tip reef sharks were lazy and painted crays were bravely halfway out of their holes. Cute baby anglerfish, ugly frogfish and a gorgeous but poisonous cone shell. Great diving!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

We were accompanied by a good number of whales during our cruise down the Gulf and back to the marina. Couldn't have picked a better day to go from one side of the Cape to the other!

Dive report - Muiron Islands Sunday 23 August 2009

The Ningaloo Reef really turned on the charm for us today here in Exmouth as we traveled out to the Muiron Islands for our twice weekly full day tour.  Our first site was Fraggle Rock and it was covered in so many fish, we had to wave our arms to clear a path sometimes! Big schools of sweetlips and jacks spun tight circles on the edges of the reef while wobbegongs tucked up in dark holes, patiently getting cleaned by clear dancing shrimp. A green turtle eyed us off as we got up close and nudibranchs in all colours, shapes, sizes and patterns crawled along on urgent missions. Divers and snorkellers alike had a fantastic time here and it was hard to move to our next site!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Happily, the Maze proved to be just as active today! We had white tip reef sharks, big rays, trevally and barracuda, batfish and gorgeous painted crays displaying vibrant electric blue patterns. This site also has some nice swim throughs and they were all packed with glassfish, a variety of cod, some shy moray eels and small crabs scuttling over the ledges. All of the colourful reef fish were out and about here - parrotfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, neon damsels. Great dive!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m

We relaxed at our third site, Turtle Bay, with a big lazy snorkel. The current was very gentle and we just floated along while turtles came to check us out! More white tip reef sharks, blue spotted rays, batfish, anemonefish, parrotfish, you name it, showed off for us.

All through the trip out and back we had humpback whales strutting their stuff and on the dives you could hear whale song clear as a bell. It was a truly delightful trip.

NEWS - New tour for humpback whale watching!

We started our brand new Sunset Cruise here in Exmouth yesterday and we couldn't have asked for nicer people, better conditions or more humpback whales.

Our new tour meets at Exmouth Diving Centre at 3:30pm and takes you on a relaxing cruise up Exmouth Gulf as we watch the humpback whales, keep an eye out for dolphins, enjoy the pretty sailboats practicing close to shore and just generally enjoy the stunning evenings this time of year brings us on the Ningaloo Reef.

We provide light snacks, cool & hot beverages and the best crew anywhere to take care of everything you need. You are welcome to bring your own refreshments, too, and an esky with ample ice is provided!

We are back usually between 6-6:30pm so we get to enjoy the light changing in the sky over the Cape Ranges before coming back to shore. It's a wonderful way to end the day and is suitable for all ages.

Many thanks to Sharon Richards for this lovely whale tail wave from last night's tour!

Dive report - Lighthouse Bay Saturday 22 August 2009

Exmouth is rockin' with humpback whales and we saw heaps of them throughout our morning today again.  Our first dive was at Blizzard Ridge and all of the usual suspects were covering the site from end to end.  A bit of a sad sight today: one of the huge moray eels who has been living on Blizzard forever seems to be very unwell.  He was listless and leaning his head over on the reef, looking very sick.  We're hoping that it was a just the day after a big eel night out, but it doesn't look good for his continued existence. In happier sightings we had sharks, rays, anemonefish, big schools of five lined sea perch, tons of goatfish and an explosion of nudibranchs. Again, this site is just so thick with animals and activity - we love it!
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 10+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Gulliver's had some very big (fat) white tip reef sharks cruising around and some smaller ones just resting on the sand. One of the big anemones has some new porcelain crabs, it seems, and its fish were going nuts zipping in and out of anemone tentacles. The porite bommie was almost completely obscured by a big school of mixed fish: trevally on the outside, snapper, sea perch and goatfish all hanging out in a big group. Several huge roughback rays were lounging in the sand and a very well fed olive sea snake languidly swam around us before heading for the surface. Another fabulous dive!
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Dive report - Lighthouse Bay Friday 21 August 2009

Another stunner of a winter's day here in Exmouth with just a gentle breeze, barely any swell and stacks of action above and below!  Humpback whales galore showed off for us on our way to and from the dives sites in Lighthouse Bay and during our surface intervals.

Dive one was Blizzard Ridgee and it looks like the fish life doubled in the past few days!  Huge schools of snapper, perch, big eyes, squirrelfish.  Rankin cod of all sizes zooming here and there.  Olive sea snakes, lionfish, parrotfish, butterflyfish, bannerfish, nudibranchs and moray eels.  So much to see!
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Labyrinth was so busy it almost outdid Blizzard for sheer numbers of fish today. We also had excellent turtles, rays, white tip reef sharks and lots of very well camouflaged scorpionfish decorating almost every reef outcrop.
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Diver Bites NEWS; Diving medicals available again

Exmouth hospital is once again able to do diving medicals to the Australian Standard 4005.1 for those wishing to join our PADI Open Water Courses.  

Please note that availabilty for these medicals is very limited so you must book well in advance or get your medical done before you arrive in Exmouth.

Dive report - Muiron Islands Wednesday 19 August 2009

Glorious day!  Bright blue skies, calm seas, warm temperatures, clear water, amazing amount of marine life!

Whalebone was spectacular with vivid oranges, blues, yellows, purples, reds, pinks shining brightly over the whole site. Turtles, white tip reef sharks, massive potato cod, multitudes of parrotfish, schools of sea perch, funky nudibranchs, tiny moray eels...so much to look at!
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

East Side Bommies was also awesome. So many small, dancing chromis and damsels darting in and out of the staghorn coral it was dizzying. Blue spotted rays looked electrified, their spots glowing like neon. A few big pelagics - trevally, barracuda - were circling over the sand that surrounds the main bommies. A turtle chomped happily away while small wrasse and butterflyfish picked random bits off his shell. It was one of those dives that you never want to end!
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 10m

We also snorkelled today and there were turtles, rays, sharks, anemonefish, curious angelfish following behind our fins...fantastic!! And, of course, we saw humpbacks throughout the day, too.

Dive report - Lighthouse Bay Monday 17 August 2009

We started at Tantabiddi today but the swell was causing a bit of havoc with the visibility so we ran up to coast to Lighthouse Bay for our two dives.  It was awesome traveling up the coastline as the day was gorgeous and humpback whales were incredible!  We had breaching, spy hopping, tail slapping, fin waving and other antics.  A small group of three - two adults and a much smaller whale - were having a conversation that consisted of a lot big splashes, tail waving and general grumpiness it looked like.  Awesome to watch!

Dive one was at Blizzard Ridge and it was living up to its name today. Curtains of sand sifting through the water column reduced the visibility and made trying to take photos a real challenge. Happily, this site has such prolific & mellow fish life that we still had more than enough to see up close: olive sea snakes, schools of snapper, wobbegong sharks, white tip reef sharks, nudibranchs galore, rankin cod, coral trout, bannerfish and moray eels.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 3-5m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild to moderate
DEPTH: 14m

We moved to Gulliver's for dive two and there was far less sand and debris. The site was rocking with action - huge schools of fish, swimming wobbegong sharks, big white tip reef sharks including one with a great remora on his tail, huge sea stars walking up the sides of the walls, anemone shrimps, cardinalfish, bright parrotfish, turtles, batfish. It was a beautiful and active dive.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

FAQ - Whale Sharks: when should I visit Exmouth & the Ningaloo Reef?

We've been getting lots of emails and phone enquiries from people planning their 2010 Whale Shark Adventures so we wanted to put out a FAQ to help you select the best time to visit the Ningaloo Reef for the mighty whale sharks. There is a great deal of information out on the web and some of it isn't particularly correct, so below you'll find the best and most up-to-date information on recent whale shark seasons.

We expect the peak of the season from Exmouth to be late April through the end of June as this is the pattern from the last several seasons. Our 2002, '3, '4 and '5 whale shark seasons saw excellent sharks all through July. In 2006 the whale sharks began being unsteady by the end of the first week of July and were gone in the second week. 2007 & 2008 saw excellent sharks throughout the whole month of July.

2009 saw a very early start to the whale sharks and we had awesome trips from the middle of March. Whale sharks were steady until almost the third week of July; they were gone by about the 24th July.

Over the past several years the whale sharks have been sighted in the last week of March, but not each and every day as is usual later in the season. 2009 has been the exception with whale sharks every day since the middle of March. We expect to have good sightings by the third or fourth week of March, but you do need to be aware that it is the very beginning of the season and the whale sharks may not have arrived in numbers yet. Our planes and crew will do their very best each day...if the whale sharks are around, we'll find them!

If whale sharks are the absolute priority on your visit, then please try to move your plans to later in April or anytime in May or June.

The busiest time here on the Ningaloo Reef is during Western Australian school holidays in April. Accommodation and tours can book out 6 or more months in advance so if you are planning to visit during or near that time period, it is highly recommended that you secure your accommodation & tours as soon as your dates are settled. 2010 school holidays run from Friday 2 April - Sunday 18 April. The Easter weekend is especially busy and in 2010 it is from Friday 2 April through Monday 5 April.

Check back for more FAQs to help you plan the perfect Ningaloo Reef holiday or drop us an email with your questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

Dive report - West Side Thursday 13 August 2009

Oh so pretty day! We sure are spoiled here in Exmouth. Humpback whales everywhere we looked.  Two even swam between us and the reef at our first dive site as we were getting into the water.  They were only meters away!

The Floats was rocking with tons of fish all making us feel very uncoordinated as they seemed to sway gently in the big surge while we slid for ten feet one way and 15 feet the other way. How do fish do that?! Despite the swell creating a big surge and kicking up a lot of sand under some ledges, there was a ton to see: polka-dotted barramundi cod, a congregation of rock cod, masses of sweetlips, busy school of convict surgeons and a lazy wobbegong shark to provide counterpoint to all the action. The best sighting of the dive was watching a good sized school of big tuna repeatedly attack one of the big baitballs - talk about adrenalin inducing action!

As the divers were coming to the surface at the back of the boat and waiting on the line, a mother humpback whale brought her very small calf within about 20m of them. The divers could see them on the surface and said if you thought she looked big from the boat you should have been in the water with them! Gorgeous.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: strong
DEPTH: 16m

Central Station had far less swell and even more marine life than Floats. We had a wobbegong shark so well camouflaged that even when he was pointed out up close it was almost impossible to see him. He was almost white and pale grey, very unusual colouring. A seemingly endless school of surgeonfish covered the reef as far as the eye could see and a big school of snapper charged around gobbling morsels from midwater. A gigantic turtle was head under a ledge, bum sticking out in the sand. He did his little turtle dance, rocking from flipper to flipper, before cruising away down a gully. Smaller turtles, and some not so much smaller, were cruising and snoozing along the site and we counted over 20 popping up for a breath while we were on the surface, too. It was a really nice dive!
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 6-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m

Diver Bites NEWS: Medicals unavailable

We have just been advised that Exmouth hospital cannot do any diving medicals at the moment and for the near future at least.  You must obtain your diving medical to the Australian Standard 4005.1 before you arrive in Exmouth if you wish to participate in our PADI Open Water Course.

Check back as we will let you know when medicals are available again.  Please note that we do recommend you obtain your medical for your course before you arrive as even at the best of times the numbers of medicals each week is limited.

Dive report - West Side Tuesday 11 August 2009

Two nice dives on the Ningaloo Reef today.  First up was the Floats and there were schools of fish everywhere.  The biggest school had to have been a bunch of surgeonfish - there were 100s of them! A huge school of fusiliers gave the surgeonfish numbers a run for their money, but we still think there were more surgeons. Rankin cod were out and about and one of the big potato cod hung just on the edge of our vision for most of the dive. Octopus were here, there and everywhere - most with a secure grip on their chosen rock but bobbing and changing colours actively. A very nice dive.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m

Humpback whales were plentiful as we cruised to our second site, Central Station. All of the usual suspects were happily relaxing and there seems to have been an explosion of smaller bright reef fish - damsels, angelfish, butterflyfish, tangs, fusiliers - especially in the shallower areas of the site. A big bull ray was nestled under a thick layer of sand and smaller blue spotted rays jetted this way and that.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 16m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m

Dive report - West Side Sunday 9 August 2009

A perfect winter's day here in Exmouth!  Ningaloo Reef diving is always pretty danged good, but today was one of those days you remember, even after 100s of dives.  We started at Three Fins and again were serenaded by humpback whale song through the whole dive.  It's a very cool sensation to feel it vibrating in your chest as you float along!

A big school of drummers made us dizzy as they endlessly circled in a great funnel that reached almost to the surface. As we hung motionless, they'd slowly engulf us in their school - you couldn't stay long as the shimmering silver bodies looping round and round made you lose your balance! The overhangs were packed with baitfish and lots of rankin cod were using them as a shield to hide out deep in the ledges. A big turtle watched us warily, not giving up his comfy resting spot for anything. Our best sightings today were the sharks - a 2m+ grey reef shark made return visits to check us out and a 3m grey nurse shark teased us by hanging out, letting us get a bit closer and then swimming a few more meters away.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 18-20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 18m

Nick's Lumps also had great visibility, tremendous reef life and loud whale song. Octopus, sweet lips, giant moray eels, masses of bullseyes, parrotfish in every colour, barracuda & trevally - this dive was a feast for the eyes no matter where you looked. Simply a great dive!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 18-20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m

This was our full day tour that we offer twice a week and so we also got to do a great snorkel on the reef. Turtles, rays, damsels, anemonefish, small reef sharks, pufferfish, flutemouths, angelfish, butterflyfish - too many different kinds to remember. It was a perfect snorkel.

Humpback whales were everywhere and we relaxed on the deck as we watched them swim up the coastline, slap their pec fins on the surface and blow great sprays of expelled breath high into the air. Not a bad way to spend a day!

Dive report - West Side 8 August 2009

We had a fabulous day even before we got out on the water today.  As we drove from Exmouth townsite around the Cape to Tantabiddi to get on the boat we saw an enormous wedge tail eagle dive down over the bush.  A split second later two kangaroos burst from their shady spot and the eagle chased them for miles.  These weren't baby kangaroos either, they were full sized adults.  Amazing experience - wish we'd had the cameras rolling!

The Ningaloo Reef gave us plenty of awesomeness, too. We dived at False Passage first up and had sharks, rays, turtles, big schools of surgeonfish & convict tangs and barracuda shadowing us. A very well camouflaged wobbegong shark was resting at the top of a ridge and didn't seem to mind the little blennies resting right next to his eyeballs.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 16m

Central Station was popping today. Mantas, big cod, huge rays, turtles, masses of parrotfish, crazy anemeonefish and showy octopus were just some of the highlights. It was one of those dives where every square inch of the reef is active and you don't even want to blink in case you miss something cool!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m

The humpback whales were loud again today - we had whale song through both dives. Sometimes it was so loud you could swear the whales were right above you! We also saw lots of blows along the reef as we traveled to each dive site. A stunning day to be in Exmouth, Western Australia!

Dive report - West Side Friday 7 August 2009

Exmouth's diving on the Ningaloo Reef was lovely today!  We were serenaded by LOUD whale song on our dive at the Floats - all of the divers kept looking up and around to try to catch a glimpse of the cruising humpback whales, but they didn't come by to check us out underwater today.  A huge group of black striped yellow convict tangs rolled over the reef from almost one end to the other.  The resident big potato cod kept coming in to check us out, then drifting off and up towards the surface to keep an eye on his territory.  Turtles, rays, reef sharks and lots of brightly coloured reef fish made this a lovely dive.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 19m

Plenty of humpback whales kept us company during our surface interval as we waited to jump in for our second dive of the day. Central Station had lots of action but no manta rays. The huge black tail-less sting ray was relaxing on the sand while an army of wrasse cleaned his back and wings. All of the usual suspects were out and about but our best sighting was a big grey reef shark who kept darting in towards us then just out to the edge of vision throughout most of the dive.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 18m

Dive report - West Side Monday 3 August, 2009

The Floats started us off with blue water full of food. Cod, sweetlips, snapper and trevally hung out in small groups and every now and again one of them would jet off, suck something down and return to his pals. A gorgeously coloured painted crayfish was out of his ledge until he saw all of the divers and bolted back to safety - his long feelers sticking out, twitching. A big moray eel and a green turtle with an amazing shell were also highlights.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: slight
SURGE: mild to moderate
DEPTH: 18m

Central Station was on the move today. Almost every creature we came across was swimming on important business. Parrotfish would take a break from zooming across the reef to munch loudly on bits of coral and the small trevally would group up before separating and heading off a little ways on their own, then group up again. Even the normally lazy turtles were swimming instead of tucking under a ledge. Could have been all the food in the water making everyone crazy...nothing went very far, but everything was in motion. The manta rays buzzed past, not bothering to stop at the cleaning stations for a good part of the dive. Near the end one did glide in for a pit stop, but it never really got into it - just had the little wrasse peck for a few seconds before it glided off into the distance.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 16m

Dive report - West Side Sunday 2 August, 2009

Another gorgeous day here in Exmouth!  We took our full day tour down the West Side again today and the creatures and conditions were fantastic! Humpback whales were abundant and we could hear whale song every time we were in the water.

Three Fins started us off with beautiful blue water for our first dive. A big school of the biggest goatfish we've ever seen tumbled over the reef then hung out in midwater. Some massive barracuda got up close and personal with the divers, giving us all a serious looking over before they slipped away. Big potato cod, white tip reef sharks, trumpetfish, all sorts of big angelfish & butterflyfish, silvery baitfish balls...great dive!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 15m+
CURRENT: none
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 19m

We motored to our second dive at one of our new and persistently unnamed dive sites. The water was still nice and blue but had far more floaty bits than Three Fins. It must have been food because there were about a million cods of various types all out and about, looking hungry. A large group of rankin cod decided to hang out with the divers and followed them for most of the dive. All of the creatures we've come to expect on this site - rays, sharks, eels, nudibranchs, damsels, pretty reef fishes, schools of snapper & sweetlips, turtles - were here again today making us eager to see what new critter would pop up behind the next outcrop or under the next ledge.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 16m

We also snorkelled inside the reef later in the afternoon and it was great! Tons of fish, a bunch of blue spotted rays foraging for food, anemonefish defending their hosts against all comers, a couple of small green turtles, plenty of sailfin catfish...just a lovely snorkel!

Manta & Humpback Explorer - Saturday 1 August 2009

August has started with gorgeous weather and seas filled with marine critters.  Today we headed out on our Explorer to see what Mother Nature had to offer us.

There were a good number of humpback whales around when we first headed out and they were simply swimming slowly north along the coast. There wasn't much wind today so every time they'd surface for a breath, the spray would form a big umbrella over them that hung in the air for a few beats before gently drifting down. It was cool to be able to see these sprays even on whales that were a long ways away.

The manta rays were super again today. We swam along with them for a while and then three of them turned around and swam back underneath us. They seemed moderately curious and would circle, swim away a little bit, come back around, roll under us and repeat the whole cycle again. We had awesome swims with this group and then a little later in the day we headed to another small group who were hanging out at one of the cleaning stations here on the Ningaloo Reef.

Humpbacks filled the time between groups of mantas and we cruised over to where a couple of whales were smacking tails, mini-spy-hopping and generally carrying on like teenagers at a party. We didn't get any full breaches but there was a lot of rolling around, fin waving and tail slappin. It was the perfect end to the tour!

Dive report - West Side Friday 31 July 2009

Two awesome dives to round out July here on the Ningaloo Reef in Exmouth.  O's Wall was teeming with fish life of all shapes, colours and sizes.  It was visual overload in places as schools of shimmery baitfish lined the wall and schools of bigeye trevally zoomed past on the other side of us.  A gorgeous spotted eagle ray took his time swimming towards us and then effortlessly left us far behind. A big loggerhead turtle didn't even blink as we all came in for a good luck, he just sat there, small wrasse pecking debris from his shell.
WATER TEMP: 21C
VISIBILITY: 105m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 22m

Central Station was buzzing! We had manta rays on the cleaning stations and along the reef at other points on the site. Doesn't matter how many times we see these guys, it's always a thrill! Huge roughback rays were lounging in the sand and orange, blue & green parrotfish chomped noisly the whole dive. Our favourite West Side school of threadfin pearl perch were hanging out almost motionless and two confused small spangled emperors had joined them in watching the world go by.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 16m

Diver Bites - WINNERS!

Thanks for being patient!  It took us longer than expected to get through all of the entries from our Diver Bites July ID Challenge.

No one identified every one of our 16 challenge photos correctly, but several came close and two tied for top Runner's Up honors.

Congratulations to Drew & Hisayo! These two tied with 12 correct Latin names and 13 correct common names. Each will win 20% off their next diving with us and a fabulous Exmouth Diving Centre hat! Emails will be coming your way soon.

A huge thank you to all who entered! Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook & Twitter for more contests!