Exmouth Diving report - Muiron Islands Wednesday 7 October 2009

Dolphins and humpback whales escorted us through Exmouth Gulf and out to the Muiron Islands for another great day of Ningaloo Reef diving here in Exmouth.  We started at Cod Spot and were hassled by the overly friendly spangled emperors as we made our decent down the mooring line.  The fish just got bigger and bigger after that!  White tip reef sharks were everywhere and an enormous bull ray went from having a snooze in the sand to kicking up clouds of sand searching for a snack.  Our best sighting today was the car-sized Queensland Grouper.  It has staked out some territory and is charging all comers. We didn't exactly get charged, but he did come in pretty close to us with a clear message to leave! Very cool to be a part of that!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 17m

We motored over to Whalebone for dive two and the green water had really brought in the fish life! There were jacks galore darting here there and everywhere with the largest jacks hanging out under the ledges. Sweetlips were schooling on the southern end and glassfish covered the reef edges. Brightly coloured and patterned nudibranchs crawled over soft & leather corals and peeked out from under staghorn. The whale skull has broken in half and the surge has pushed it up under one of the ledges. Really cool dive!
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m

We had more awesome snorkelling at Turtle Bay and on our trip home a humpback whale calf rolled onto its side and waved to us repeatedly. We think Mom was thankful for us distracting her calf as she laid quietly keeping an eye on things while Jr waved & showed off for us for more than ten minutes!