Thursday, December 31, 2009

SPECIAL - NEW YEAR'S DAY ONLY SALE!

Coming to Exmouth in 2010? Contact us today to make your booking and you'll receive a whopping 20% off any and all tours or courses you book with us!

This offer is only valid on NEW bookings made directly with us via email.

Your email with your specific dates & tour/course requests must be received by 11:59pm 01 January 2010, Western Australia time.

Your payment to secure your spaces must be received no later than 1600 on the 3rd January 2010, Western Australia time. We cannot offer any extensions on this fabulous offer so don't put it off!

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Tuesday 29 December 2009

Choppy conditions today around in Lighthouse Bay, but our dive sites never disappoint with the sheer number of fish, sharks, rays, turtles & other nifty critters!

We had some multi-day divers with us and their great desire was turtles so we headed to Labyrinth for our first dive. We found our first turtle about 2 minutes in and kept running across more and more scattered everywhere along the site. At the very end of the dive we even had one swim with us for a while! The nudibranchs have been busy laying eggs and we found a few bright pink egg spirals perched at the top of ledges & fluttering in the mild surge. Schools of snapper, sea perch and trevally hung out over the sand while small white tip reef sharks hid behind them. It was a great dive even though it was pretty dirty.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 4-6m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

Blizzard Ridge is covered in more weed than we've ever seen there before. Lots of cool baby fish and funky nudibranchs are hiding in there for those who have the patience to really look. Most of the big schools of fish that are normally around were a little scattered today instead of grouped up, but all the individuals were there. A big white tip reef shark cruised past our group nice and slowly as we were checking out a well camouflaged wobbegong shark hiding his head under a rocky outcrop. Olive sea snakes were abundant but most of them were tucked under and sleeping; one guy did check out each member of our group, poking his tongue out at each of us in turn. The highlight of our dive was coming across a big leopard shark resting in the sand. A few little fishes were busily giving his gills a scrub and we were able to lay quietly next to him for ages before we had to head back to the boat. Fantastic stuff to see!
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 4-6m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 13m

Exmouth Diving report - Muiron Islands Sunday 27 December 2009

We had a little more breeze come in earlier than expected today so the surface was a little choppy as we dropped in for our first dive at Cod Spot. Happily all of the fishes were excited to see us and we had a lovely dive. Big 6 banded angelfish seemed to be everywhere - or a couple were following us! - and we also saw more Emperor Angels than usual, too. A silvery school of small barracuda charged in and out of a big wall of baitfish while lazy cod circled around picking off the unfortunates on the edges. Gorgeous little red & electric blue sea stars scattered over the reef and nudibranchs added little outbursts of colour.  The top of this site always astounds us with colour and beauty, no matter how many times we dive it - there are just so many different shades of oranges, yellows, reds, purples, blues, greens and pinks.
WATER TEMP: 22C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m

We ducked around to the eastern side of South Muiron Island for lunch and our second dive. East Side Bommies had chop on the surface but the visibility was better and the fish life was really active. Our group kept getting circled by a big school of trevally - so close you could feel them pass! Scorpionfish, moray eels, reef sharks, more nudibranchs and huge clouds of pink anthias kept us engaged as we weaved in and out of the awesome bommies.
WATER TEMP: 23C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 7m

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Exmouth Diving report - Muiron Islands Thursday 24 December 2009

What a lovely way to spend Christmas Eve Day - out on the ocean checking out some diving on the Ningaloo Reef!  We headed north to the Muiron Islands (we were meant to go yesterday but it was a little too breezy to be comfortable!) and the sea was calm, the temperatures were hot and the underwater life was teeming!

Fraggle Rock was a little dirtier than we are used to but it more than made up for the lower visibility with an outstanding array of fish. In places, the fish were so thick we couldn't see the reef at all! 100s of nudibranchs were spotted, eels poked from holes, parrotfish & convict surgeons shimmied over the reef in big groups, big angelfish cruised past in pairs ... it was just a great dive for the fishies.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 13m

We decided to see if the other side of the Islands had some clearer water so headed to East Side Bommies. This site blew everyone away again. Masses of fish from top to bottom and covering every bommie. There were even schools of darts, fusiliers and trevally out over the sand. Blue spotted rays looked like they'd been electrified, their brilliant dots glowing so brightly you could see them for miles it seemed. Anthias, chromis and damsels danced merrily above their staghorn corals. Coral cod, blacktipped rockcod, huge estuary cod and brilliantly coloured peacock cod roamed over the whole site and at least one was hiding under every ledge. Perfect way to end the day before a smooth, gorgeous trip back to the marina.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 8m

Monday, December 21, 2009

NEWS: Christmas & New Year's Holiday hours & tours

Wow, it's nearly the end of 2009 already! Christmas is only four days away and we're gearing up for a busy couple of weeks as people come to Exmouth & the Ningaloo Reef for some holiday festivities in the sun & sea.

The dive centre will be open from 0900 - 1600 every day except for Christmas Day (25 December)and New Year's Day (1 January).

We have the following tours available over the holiday season - all of these have an 0800 meet time at Exmouth Diving Centre:
  • Tuesday 22 December 2 morning reef dives
  • Wednesday 23 December Muiron Islands
  • Thursday 24 December 2 morning reef dives
  • Friday 25 December CHRISTMAS DAY - DIVE SHOP IS CLOSED, NO DIVING AVAILABLE
  • Saturday 26 December 2 morning reef dives
  • Sunday 27 December Muiron Islands
  • Monday 28 December 2 morning reef dives
  • Tuesday 29 December 2 morning reef dives
  • Wednesday 30 December Muiron Islands
  • Thursday 31 December 2 morning reef dives
  • Friday 01 January NEW YEAR'S DAY - DIVE SHOP IS CLOSED, NO DIVING AVAILABLE
  • Tuesday 02 January 2 morning reef dives
There are still spaces available on all of our tours, but we do recommend that you prebook your tours as spaces are limited. You can ring us on 08 9949 1201, drop us an email or pop into Exmouth Diving Centre when you get to town.

Exmouth Diving Centre is located on Payne St, directly behind the Potshot Resort. We are a bright blue building with orange clownfish on the front so we're hard to miss! As you come into town (Murat Rd), you'll see the Caltex on your left - turn here (Maidestone Crescent) and go for not quite one block. You'll see Exmouth's swimming pool on your right - turn right here and we're just up ahead on the right hand side.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Christmas tree worms to get you in the spirit!


Sunday, December 20, 2009

Exmouth Diving report - Muiron Islands Wednesday 9 December 2009

Another day, another awesome time on the Ningaloo Reef! Today we headed up to the Muiron Islands where both our divers and our snorkellers saw more sea creatures than will fit in a log book (or in a trip report!)

Whalebon
e displayed its showy colours in the deep blue water - some of the soft corals even had a few polyps out feeding despite the lack of much current or surge. Parrotfish were everywhere showing off their dazzling scales as they noisily munched along the reef - bright green, shiny purple, deep rosy-pink, gaudy turquoise. Blue spotted rays were shoulder to shoulder with big sailfin catfish and neither seemed inclined to move out from under the ledges, instead putting up with the flapping and bumping of the other. Brilliant yellow flutemouths tried to hide behind some rankin cod, hoping to pounce on some unsuspecting lunch. Stripey nudibranchs of several species shimmied across the reef and peeked out from under corals. Gorgeous dive!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 13m

East Side Bommies - wow! Big cod, reef sharks, sting rays, turtles, schools of convict surgeons, black & white humbugs, neon blue damsels, sparkly green chromis, brilliant hot pink anthias, silver trevally & barracuda, orange & blue nudibranchs...total rainbow of never ending motion today. Outstanding!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Friday 27 November 2009

Whoops! I apologise for this blast from the past - I accidentally left it in our drafts folder instead of hitting the publish button!

Exmouth's Ningaloo Reef offered up another fantastic dive day for us. We headed to Gulliver's first up and although there was lots of food (ie floaties) in the water, we still had good visibility and pretty blue water. Today was a cod day: rankin, potato, coral, chinaman, estuary & black tipped rockcod. The octopus were also out and about, showing off their sexy legs & dazzling patterns. Of course, all the usual suspects - sharks, eels, rays, turtles, schools of fish - were glad to see us, too!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m

Blizzard Ridge had fabulous fish action again - it seems like our resident schooling threadfin pearl perch, snapper and fusiliers are multiplying every week! Big pelagics buzzed through the dive today, too: big spanish mackerel & some enormous golden trevally. Wobbegong sharks were snoozing right out in the open and moray eels of all sizes stuck well out of holes. The cleaning action here was fierce with big lines and multiple cleaner fish & shrimps on every customer. Love this dive site!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m