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