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We know we've said that we've had magical, perfect, breath-taking days out before, but today put more than just icing on the cake!
We started with a fabulous dive at Central Station with sharks, potato cod, big turtles, lots of fish and manta rays! We'd tell you more, but we need to get to the rest of the day:
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
Breaching humpback whales, humpback whales coming within meters of us while we were snorkeling with the whale sharks, humpback whales spy-hopping to check us out.
Orcas feeding and showing off.
More manta rays!
THREE WHALE SHARKS around us at ONE TIME!! It was mind-blowing! The three were circling the boat and us while we were snorkeling - it was hard to keep track of which whale shark we were originally watching! They were devouring a big school of bait that was so thick in places we could barely see the whale shark through it. One of these guys was a whooping 9m and simply too big to describe!
There were also other types of sharks patrolling below the baitball and manta rays were cruising around and around us and the whale sharks, too.
Needless to say, we lost count of how much time we spent with the whale sharks, how many individual whale sharks (there were more than just those three!) we saw and how many drops we had :)
Just completely WOW!
A cool morning couldn't put a damper on such a fabulous day out to the Muiron Islands! We started at Cod Spot and it was teeming with fish. Three wobbegong sharks were hanging out on a single bommie while curtains of baitfish fluttered above them. Rankin cod, snapper, many spotted sweetlips, barracuda, parrotfish, surgeonfish and a couple of estuary cod led the numbers game in the mid to large fish category. Zillions of damsels and anthias brought tiny splashes of colour against the reef. We even had a swimming wobbegong shark!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
Dive two took us to Whalebone and on top of all the beautiful bright coloured corals, sparkly reef fish and nudibranchs we had a big roughback ray, a whiptail ray and a shovelnose ray! Turtles and small reef sharks showed up, too. A school of BIG barracuda cruised around us. And a manta ray! Yipppee!
WATER TEMP: 24C
VISIBILITY: 15-18m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
It was a stunning winter's day out Ningaloo Reef diving!
Northerly winds and a lot of slop at the top of the Cape made our choice of destination for our full day tour easy - we headed off the West Side where conditions were much nicer!
We started at Three Fins and though it was a little choppy on the surface, underwater was gorgeous! Honeycomb cod relaxed on the coral while schools of surgeonfish rolled over the site, flashing their orange spots & razor sharp white scalpels. A 6+ foot white tip reef shark cruised inches off the sand in a big circular route around the reef. Neon blue damsels, hot pink anthias and green parrotfish spiced things up with spots of colour and a sleek school of silver barracuda hung out in mid-water. Very nice dive.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 19m
We headed back north a bit so we could dive Central Station and it was again covered in fish life, just like Friday. Turtles, white tip reef sharks, a small black tip reef shark, big school of stripey pufferfish, anemonefish, fat rankin cod and tons of stingrays making a mess in the sand searching for treats. Another great dive!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 15m
The humpbacks weren't as LOOK AT ME today like they were Friday with all their breaching, but there were quite a few pairs or trios cruising along the reef, blowing big sprays into the air as they continued their northerly migration. Very enjoyable day to be out and about.
We started at Central Station for an excellent dive and snorkel in clear blue water. From the time we dropped in to the time we got out we were surrounded by every kind & size fish you can imagine - the fish life was just thick on the whole site! We also had coral shrimp, octopus, cuttlefish (yay!), turtles, blue-spotted rays, big roughback rays and a wobbegong shark. Ningaloo Reef was going all out today for us!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
The whale sharks weren't going to be outdone by such a great start to the day. We swam with four different whale sharks ranging from 4m - 6.5m and there were lots of other sharks popping up all around us. Again today we had multiple drops on every shark we swam with and every one of the four was nice and cruisy, right at the surface so we had lots of opportunity to relax and enjoy.
The humpback whales are also becoming more prolific and we saw small groups of them all through the day. On the way back to our mooring, we even had a couple breeching over and over and over - SO COOL!!
Chalk up another fabulous day whale sharking here on the Ningaloo Reef in Exmouth!
We love diving on the West Side! Today we started at Three Fins and it looked like all the reef creatures had been waiting for us to visit. We saw turtles, sting rays, white tip reef sharks, a small wobbegong tucked under a ledge, a solid curtain of mid-sized surgeonfish, big green and orange parrotfish, brilliant yellow trumpetfish and a single green trumpet hanging upside down. The ledges and nooks were filled with small shrimp, eels, a few nudibranchs and clear glassfish. Very pretty.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 19m
Central Station was also a fish-fest with good sized schools of trevally, threadfin pearl perch, stripey pufferfish, convict surgeons and a smaller school of short barracuda. Many spotted sweetlips and nor'west snapper were roaming around near the top of the reef. Several smallish green moray eels acted all shy when we passed but then stuck their noses out a bit more as curiosity got the better of them.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 15m
We saw a few humpback whales, some dolphins and a speedy manta ray as we cruised down the back of the reef. We also caught a glimpse of a minke whale as it came in very close the boat and then swam away. Nice variety of creatures here on the Ningaloo Reef today!
Blizzard Ridge started us off with feisty rankin cod circling each other and zooming through small schools of baitfish. White tip reef sharks were swimming slowly along the top of the ledge and several big roughback rays had snuggled right down in the sand on the lower edge. Colorful nudibranchs were everywhere including a couple of mating pairs. All of our usual schools - threadfin pearl perch, cardinalfish, snapper - were bunched up close together in the centre of the site and the anemonefish tucked in the hole were really active, swimming a good distance away from their host anemone. It seemed like every fish was on a mission today - lots of activity!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 13m
Gulliver's was awesomely beautiful blue today! We could see for miles underwater. Turtles, lots of white tip reef sharks, combined schools of sweetlips & snapper, butterflyfish and huge angelfish kept us eager to see more. The cleaning stations were super busy with rankin cod, estuary cod and many spotted sweetlips lined up and ready for the cleaner wrasse to dart in and go to work.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 25+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: slight
DEPTH: 12m
We love Labyrinth! There were so many turtles again today that we lost count! Most of them were just chillin' on the reef, but a few were swimming in lazily paths to the surface and back or scoping out new nooks to squeeze into for more naps. Big batfish were getting a good scrub at almost all the cleaning stations, while various cod and snapper hung out, waiting their turns. Coral trout were doing not much of anything but watching the world go by. Nudibranchs, shrimps, crabs and teeny eels played hide & seek with us as we peered into holes & into coral branches. We could have stayed here forever there was so much to see.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Blizzard Ridge was hopping, too. Fish, fish, fish and more fish. Big & little, silver, green, purple, orange, blue, yellow, stripy, polka dots, individuals, pairs and big schools. It was a feast for the eyes today. Olive sea snakes were out and about, sticking their heads in every hole they swam past and coming up close to our fins to see what we were doing.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10 m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Central Station was gorgeous today with a huge school of threadfin pearl perch, zillions of bright green, pink & purple parrotfish, blue-spotted stingrays, tiny moray eels, lionfish, turtles and two white tip reef sharks.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: moderate
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 16m
What a way to kick off June! We hit the water with our first whale shark of the day around 1pm and the whole afternoon was awesome. We swam with three different whale sharks and all of them were in clear water, very close to the surface and - our favourite - slow! Whale shark #3 was 8.5m and H-U-G-E!
We also saw dolphins, manta rays AND a minke whale who popped up right in front of the boat as we were cruising along the reef. Excellent day again!
It's not too late for you to head up to Exmouth for the mighty whale sharks in 2010. We expect great sightings all through June and well into July, so give us a ring on 08 9949 1201 or drop us an email to arrange your Ningaloo Reef visit now!
